Simple Loose Leaf is a loose leaf tea subscription box. Choose from the standard box (which contains some caffeinated teas and some herbal teas) and a decaf tea box.
Simple Loose Leaf provided us this box at no cost for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About Simple Loose Leaf
The Subscription Box: Simple Loose Leaf
The Cost: $9/month (save with longer subscriptions)
The Products: Four different hand-packaged loose leaf teas; this is a review of the standard (caffeinated) box and includes a black tea, a green tea, an oolong, and an herbal tea (the types received per month may vary a little – you won’t always get an oolong, for example)
Ships to: The United States for $2.99 and Canada for $9.49
Simple Loose Leaf October 2018 Review
There isn’t a monthly theme, and there is already brewing information on each pouch of tea (as you will see below), but there was a simple brochure this month. (As an aside, I am a fan of the new, smaller box – less cardboard waste.):
Here is the booklet that came with this shipment.
4 Reusable Linen Tea Filters
If you are new to drinking loose leaf tea, not to worry. Simple Loose Leaf has you covered with these reusable tea filter bags. I used these to brew this month’s teas and they worked quite well. You’ll get a new set of 4 bags every month, too. I am happy to see that these are unbleached.
Mao Zhen Hair Needle – Buy 2 oz for $7
This is an Asian-style green tea with a fine (narrow) leaf, hence the name. Although the product description mentions the aftertaste, I didn’t notice that so much. However, I was drinking one tea after another and that may have affected my perception. This one is advertised as being good for multiple brewings – just add 30 seconds each time. I haven’t tried this yet but it seems like a good project for this afternoon. This one is definitely best as a hot tea.
Om Herbal – Buy 2 oz for $8
Although this contains several things I like or am neutral about (cardamom, saffron, ginger, cinnamon, rosebuds) it also contains licorice root and lemongrass, which I don’t like at all, and fennel, which tastes a lot like licorice. There was an overwhelming licorice flavor to this one. I may try to mix this with something that’s way too tart as I have a few like that and I think they have the potential to balance each other out. (Sorry if my reaction seems a bit strong but I really don’t like licorice and lemongrass in tea.)
Rose Grey – Buy 2 oz for $6
This was my favorite of the bunch. It basically just tastes like Earl Grey tea, as rose petals and flowers on their own aren’t too strong in tea. There’s some lavender in here as well. I have come to appreciate Earl Grey in the past few years. I do have some rosebuds meant to be consumed as tea that I could add for a slightly stronger rose flavor, but this one is pretty good on its own.
Rusty Roots – Buy 2 oz for $8
This one is interesting. It has whole cloves and black peppercorns as well as turmeric. The base is green rooibos along with lemon myrtle, which I wasn’t really familiar with before, but which reminds me a little bit of lemongrass (only more pleasant than actual lemongrass). I am honestly not sure what I think of this one after only one cup, but there is enough for several more cups so I can make a decision. To me, the strongest flavor was (I guess) the lemon myrtle while the turmeric wasn’t super obvious, which is probably for the best.
Verdict: This subscription is only $11.99 (including shipping to the US), so you can think of this as getting four teas for $3 each. There’s enough in each bag to brew about 5 cups (if you measure, which I admittedly usually don’t), which works out to about 60 cents per cup, with the bags thrown in as a nice extra. You can extend the value a bit by doing repeated brewing of the green tea since that is suggested on the product page. These are often exclusive blends and/or hard-to-find cultivars, often not available in retail packaging at these small sample sizes, and it’s a great way to try some new blends before committing to a full-size purchase. As usual, I was definitely a fan of most this month’s selections (except where lemongrass and licorice were involved).
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No, boxes ship on the first of the month so your first box would be November’s.
Coupon - Use code SUBADDICT to get $2 off any Simple Loose Leaf quarterly order!
Value Breakdown: At $11.99 per month you are paying about $3 per tea.
Check out all of our Simple Loose Leaf Team Box reviews and the Drinks Subscription Box List for more tea subscription boxes!
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What did you think of Simple Loose Leaf? Do you get any tea subscriptions?
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