Robb Vices is “a membership program centered on a monthly delivery of storied treasures.” Each month, they send a collection of curated products and/or experiences.
Subscribers should expect boxes to include “vices” like “exceptional wines and spirits to enjoy, foods to taste, tools, toys, accessories, and gadgets.”
This is my first Robb Vices box, and immediately, I was shocked by how BIG this box is! It's about the size of a briefcase and roughly the shape, too, with its plastic handle. I felt like I was cracking into a treasure chest or something.
This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About Robb Vices
The Subscription Box: Robb Vices
The Cost: $89.95 + shipping (For reference, shipping to DC is $7.95.) (less with longer subscriptions)
The Products: Each box contains a curated selection of products and experiences and provides subscribers with a taste of the good life!
Ships to: Robb Vices ships to all states except ND, UT.
Robb Vices January 2018 Review
Robb Vices is starting the new year with an exquisite, upscale introduction to tea. Let's check it out:
As is the case with every Robb Vices shipment, this one was topped with a little mini magazine highlighting the month's featured brands and giving thorough context to the whats and whys of the items in the box.
In addition to each brand, each item is given a moment in the spotlight. There are even recipes and tips for how best to put the products to work.
Tea Forte Tea Over Ice Pitcher Set & Tea Sampler - Retail Value $49.00
According to the booklet, this hand-blown, heat-resistant glass pitcher set was designed to "transform a refreshing glass of iced tea into an event." The smaller of the two pitchers handles the brewing—there's even small, lightweight lid with a hole in the center through which you can thread the string of the bag. Placing the brewing tea on top of the second pitcher, which is full of ice, helps cool the concentrated, brewing tea. Once the tea's steeped, you can simply pour it over the ice. Any heat will melt just the right amount of ice into water, diluting the tea just so, and bam! It's ready to serve!
I found the pitchers to be quite light for what they are. The smaller one is designed to nest into the larger pitcher, so it's less precarious than it looks (though I was still pretty cautious about it while moving the set from counter to table). The smaller vessel is about 4.5 inches tall, and the bottom one is just over 5 inches—according to the Tea Forte site, this system should produce 24 oz of iced tea.
Tea Forte includes five teas as part of the $49.00 set. They all come in pyramid-shaped sachets inside pyramid-shaped boxes. (As I understand, pyramids are an ideal shape for tea bags.) There's just one bag per box, but they create some really tremendous, rich flavors:
Raspberry Nectar is the tea I brewed for the photo above. The color is gorgeous, and the deeply fruity flavor tasted almost dessert-ish. (I had mine cold, but I bet it'd be really decadent warm.)
This Ceylon Gold flavor is what I think of when someone says "tea". This variety of black tea has a lot more depth to it than I'm used to with black teas, which usually strike me as a little one-note. This tea is almost coffee-like, not in flavor, but in its deep, black, richness.
I don't usually reach for fruity teas myself since the flavors (at least in mainstream teas) can get too candy-like for my tastes. I love that this Ginger Pear tea has a smooth, refreshing quality to it. The ginger also balances the gentle sweetness of the pear in a really nice way.
This Mango Peach flavor seems a little out of place for me here in the middle of a frosty, Pennsylvania January. If anything, it deserves to be enjoyed over ice on a beach or at a resort or at least on a shimmering summer day. I love the tropical kick that this tea delivers. Again, it's not too sweet—just juicy and deliciously crisp.
And finally, I thought this Blood Orange tea would overwhelm my palate, but there's something earthy and almost roasty about the fruity flavor that makes me keep sipping it. It's not the typical, straightforward orange flavor I expected.
Tea Forte Lusso Platinum Plated Tea Infuser - Retail Value $100.00
My current collection of tea infusers is made up of those novelty-shaped, silicone-type infusers. They're not bad, but they also aren't the most reliable. (I've had several moments where the basket pops open, or where the holes in the basket are too big and let finer leaves float on through.) So this infuser feels like a Rolls Royce in comparison! The silicone "cap" on the bottom fits firmly in the bottom of the metal basket, and the holes are just big enough to let flavor through, but not leaves. Most of all, I love the little metal "stem" it has at the top. It's threaded down through the silicone cap so that the entirety of the infuser is one unit (no losing parts in the kitchen drawer). It's also tall enough that there's no chance of it drowning in my favorite super-deep mug. And if that wasn't enough, there's a small, square, ceramic base to sit the whole contraption on when I'm done steeping my tea (or just while it's hanging around my counter and wants to look nice).
Of course, a tea infuser is not complete without some loose-leaf tea to use with it! Tea Forte supplied three unique blends:
Blueberry Merlot Tea, 3.53 oz. - Retail Value $15.00
This tea has an earthy berry flavor, and I loved how the blue flowers gave the tea water a beautiful blue-gray tone in the first minute or so of steeping. I didn't notice the sage flavor outright, but I liked the mild, sophisticated flavor of the tea overall.
African Solstice Tea, 3.53 oz. - Retail Value $15.00
This tea is like drinking a party! There are so many flavors at work here—it's fruity, it's tart, it's floral—and the copper color is gorgeous in the cup. It feels like the kind I'd drink to welcome the first warm, sunny day of the year.
Moroccan Mint Tea, 3.17 oz. - Retail Value $15.00
Earthy and refreshing at the same time, this smooth, delicious tea is absolutely delicious. I'm typically a green tea drinker, so this blend of gunpowder and mint teas is a nice break from the ordinary for me. The mint isn't overpowering—just cool and perfectly complementary to the grassy flavor of the gunpowder green.
Three Little Figs Small Batch "Sparkling Nectarine" Jam - Retail Value $12.50
The last little treat in this box was a nectarine jam that's sort of an artisanal twist on marmalade and just as divine on toast with tea. This jam is so pretty! Even the taste is pretty—it's a bit like a fancy mimosa. I'm not much of a jam person, but I'm eager to try this in the recipe they included in the booklet. It's a fancy grilled cheese with a pop of this jam for extra flavor. Yum!
Verdict: I was so impressed with this box! So many boxes feature tea in them, from book boxes to self-care boxes to boxes explicitly focused on tea... In short, I've seen a lot of subscription box tea. But somewhere between the gorgeous quality of the items and the super sleek presentation, I realized that this collection of tea was something out of the ordinary. I love the variety of exquisite, high-quality flavors from Tea Forte, and as an avid tea drinker, I'm really excited to add the new tools from the box to my repertoire!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No. Sign up by the 1st of the month to receive that month's box.
Value Breakdown: This box cost $97.90 for this box, but there was about $206.50 worth of retail value inside. That means that, proportionally, the individual items cost:
- Pitcher and sampler set - $23.23
- Infuser - $47.41
- Blueberry Merlot tea - $7.11
- African Solstice tea - $7.11
- Moroccan Mint tea - $7.11
- Jam - $5.93
Check out all of our Robb Vices Reviews and find other specialty boxes in the Artisan Subscription Box Directory!
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What do you think of the January box from Robb Vices?
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