What is the best tea subscription on the market?
Hello everyone! New to steepster, semi new to tea.
I know currently of three businesses that will deliver a monthly supply of various teas in exchange for a monthly subscription. This concept appeals to me, as I have enjoyed just about every tea I have tried and would love to have different samples to explore even more.
I know of Steepster, for 24.99 a month with 5 teas with two servings each. This seems a little steep (pun intended) to me.
Adagio is very affordable coming in at 39.99 for six months, but you have to choose a specific type of tea, and I would like to have a more varied sample. Plus I’ve heard a few complaints regarding quality of samples.
Finally there is teavana which is of course obscene at $130 for 6 months with only 2 2 oz samples a month.
Does anyone know of any others? Any preferences or good experiences with the above services? I’d love to just get on a subscription and enjoy my surprise teas each month vs hunting them down.
I loved Canton (UK). 8 GBP (postage to Europe mainland included). 25gr. of one special tea (pu ehr, black, oolong, green, etc…).
so far, it’s the best tea sub I had. Twinnings UK is quite nice too and not too expensive.
What types of tea do you prefer? Are you looking for plain teas or flavoured? Is there any type of tea you dislike? This might help with recommendations.
There’s also Amoda, which offers three smaller samples for $12 a month. They usually mix it up between different types of tea, although they’re usually always flavoured teas.
They get their tea from a variety of vendors which is useful if you want to branch out and explore places you’ve never tried before. I had it for 4 months last year and enjoyed most of it, although I did get a few teas I wasn’t crazy about. I signed up again for this month because they had a special vendor involved that I didn’t want to miss out on.
For $12 though, it’s not that big a risk, and you can cancel anytime.
I’ve had Amoda since December and really like it so far. Seems like they provide one tea each from three categories: herbal, green, and black/oolong/pu’erh. That last one is a little weird to just lump together. I personally don’t mind because I can’t have black tea, so it’s nice to not be stuck with it every month. I haven’t been madly in love with every single tea, but a substantial majority of them have been quite good. One was undrinkably bad. Not sure what to do with it, actually… Probably put it up for swaps.
By the way, it’s $12 Canadian, not US. I was rather confused the first time I saw the charge for $10.82.
I know Verdant has some subscription services here : http://verdanttea.com/tea-of-the-month-club-subscriptions/
I have never subscribed but their teas are very high quality.
I really enjoy rooibos and black flavored teas, but then again I have not had much else. I enjoy herbal a great deal as well, and some types of green. I haven’t had any experience with white tea, yellow tea, or Pu-Erh, and some other different teas. That’s why I really want to be able to have a variety delivered so I can really explore the different teas available.
So far Amoda looks to be the best bang for your buck, but it still comes in pricey at $12 for a little over 2 oz of tea. Where I can buy 3 oz of a single tea for $6 from some online shops (depending on the type of course) it just doesn’t weigh out price wise. I suppose there isn’t any way for the companies to offer it cheaper as they have to factor in shipping costs.
I haven’t tried it myself, but 52teas has a subscription page:
http://www.zoomdweebies.com/Subscriptions_c_23.html
I like their teas, but dislike green tea, and so I wouldn’t drink any of the greens, so I don’t participate in the subscription.
I was tempted to subscribe but the extra $100 (Canadian) ruined the deal for me.
So far, I’m really digging the 52teas tea that I’ve ordered and tasted.
I guess I should chime in here. I love my subscription to 52Teas. I’ve kept it going for several years now, and it’s one that I probably will never cancel because even though there are the occasional teas that I’m just sort of ho-hum about, there’s enough teas that I’ve gotten from them that I was sort of ho-hum about it when it was announced and then when I tried it … I ended up loving it.
I’m addicted to 52Teas, I think.
@sandra i bought loads of tea from the canton tea club… didn’t made myself member so far tough because i got a year subscription with jingtea for the moment. You know jing?
I believe Simple Loose Leaf is very affordable. I think shipping is free or minimal. I’ve sampled some of their herbal teas and I think they are on par with many other places. I can’t comment on the higher grade of teas.
http://www.simplelooseleaf.com/
Their concept is a little different than others in that you can actually pick your teas. Read up on the site. Also, ask questions of the owners. They are helpful.
Shipping isn’t free, but it is very reasonable. If you purchase a six month subscription I think it works out to about $1.75 per tea.
I actually did a huge write-up on their service when it launched in October. I’ll be doing a follow-up post sometime in January to discuss some of the many changes they have made since the launch.
Feel free to check out the review on my blog:
http://www.notstarvingyet.com/index/2013/10/7/simple-loose-leaf-bringing-tea-directly-to-your-door.html
I do want to disclose that Simple Loose Leaf has provided me with a $50 credit to use towards their subscription service. It did not cover the cost of everything and I paid $9.54 out of pocket.
I have been very happy with the service so far and I’ve been subscribed to it for three months now. There was a tea I disliked immensely and said as much in my review, but since they have a 100% satisfaction guarantee I was able to work with Andrew, one of the owners, to find a tea I would enjoy much more. I absolutely agree with MelissaTea that the owners are very helpful.
TeaHorse is very good but its changing owners atm so subscriptions are on hold for now. £11.95 a month – 4 teas plus tasting notes
I’m partial to Cha. It’s a monthly subscription program that pairs you with recommended teas every month. You can take the questionnaire on the website and see what category of tea drinker you fall into, then decide on whether to sign up or not.
Disclaimer: I’m the tea guru for their program so this might be a little biased but its a fantastic service, imho :)
www.tastecha.com
It was fun to do the survey, and see the result! (BTW, the recommended tea was English Breakfast Tea [“because you are a traditional tea drinker”].)
Best wishes,
shrubtse
It’s a cute site!
I’m not so sure about the survey. It’s fun, but I would like the option to see the other results in case I’m not happy with what it selected. (It gave me a green tea, which… I’m not usually in the mood for!)
Yes, I know what you mean about the survey. The result it provided for me was one tea that I quite dislike. Perhaps the survey needs some fine-tuning!
Best wishes,
sherubtse
The quiz was VERY cool but not accurate. I was recommended Pan Fired Japanese Green Tea which is definitely a no for me. Might be better for others though. :)
I’m just curious about what kind of teas you get in each category. I got naturist each time I tried it with slightly varied answers. I don’t mind the selection though I wouldn’t want it every month. Right now I drink way more black than green, though I drink more plain teas than flavoured.
I got Alchemist and “Peppermint Dream”. I even selected “Arm wrestle Robocop” and didn’t get Adventurist.
I’m interested in trying Cha but I’m a bit annoyed that the website doesn’t tell you whether you get to pick your categories or what the categories even are… I even went as far as to make an account but it was asking for payment information before it told me anything else… Clarification would be nice.
This comment thread is very old but I was just looking at it again and decided to take the quiz. They provided me with the three teas that, if you had asked me cold, I would probably tell you I disliked most. I am surprised at how wrong it was!
I think that Herbal Infusions (the company associated with the survey) has gone way downhill in the past year or so. Pity. It was a good shop when it first opened.
Best wishes,
sherubtse
I think the idea behind this quiz was pretty amazing :) I did enjoy the teas it picked for me, but it didn’t give me a “title.” I do enjoy picking my teas though….
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