Tea Box Express is a monthly box of tea goodies! Rather than just having tea and nothing else, you’ll get a few edible treats and accessories as well.
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 Tea Box Express
The Subscription Box: Tea Box Express
The Cost: $25.50 a month + $6.49 shipping. Save with 3 and 6-month subscriptions.
The Products: Quality teas, edible goodies like cookies, and a couple of accessories
Ships to: US
Tea Box Express October 2018 Review
You can usually expect one tea (sometimes more), one accessory, and one edible item (sometimes more) in this box. Occasionally there will be other tea-themed items as well:
There was a card asking you to share your box contents on social media. This subscription typically does not have an information card with it.
The Chai Box “All Chai’d Up” (2 oz) – Retail Value $12
This was a tea-heavy box (I know that sounds strange for me to write, but this box often has only one tea and then snacks and accessories). I’m not complaining as I do love tea and drink it all the time. This was the only multi-use product in the box and it is just wonderful for fall with lots of warm spices. I drank it with just water but this would totally work in authentic chai style with scalded milk if you want to go that route.
Tea Drops in Vanilla White Tea - Buy 10 drops for $12
Tea Drops in Chocolate Earl Grey - Buy 10 drops for $12
Tea Drops in Cardamom Spice - Buy 10 drops for $12
How fun, these are compressed cakes of tea with flavorings. You are supposed to just drop it into your cup and leave it alone. The directions say it will dissolve, but that’s not really the case. Tea leaves don’t dissolve in water, no matter how finely ground, and there was just a ton of sediment.
Here is one of the drops. I will say, these are delicious, but after all the sediment in my first cup, I stuck these in disposable tea bags. I think the reason these are delicious is because they include sugar, so they have calories, which is not something I want in tea (I prefer not to drink my calories), but they were fun to try.
Tea Sprinkles in Boost – Buy 12 Sachets for $10
Tea Sprinkles in Glow – Buy 12 Sachets for $10
Tea Sprinkles in Refresh – Buy 12 Sachets for $10
These are from the same company as the Tea Drops, but these are loose bits of herbs and teas that you put directly into water. As with the Tea Drops, I have a bit of a quibble about the meaning of the word “dissolve”:
As you can see (this is the “Glow” one with hibiscus, hence the red color), there is a lot of stuff floating on top. I got a bunch of this stuck up under my Invisalign (yeah, I drink tea with them in) and had to take my trays out and brush my teeth. After the first one, these also went in disposable bags. I don’t think these have calories, or at least there isn’t loads of sugar added. These are tropical combinations, whereas I think of the Tea Drops as more conventionally dessert-like. (Flavor-wise, these are about what you’d expect from reading the ingredients lists. For example, the hibiscus one was tart.)
Fall Spice Infused Sugar from Beach House Teas (1 oz) – Retail Value $4 (found here for $1)
The main tea this month was chai, which is already spiced, but I found this to be lovely with some plain black tea. I did not know this company made infused sugars; I’d tried some of their teas before but never their other products. The only thing is, there are some pieces in here that may end up as sediment in your cup (which seems to be a theme for this box).
There was also a coupon for Beach House Teas.
Hastings Sugar Spoon
There’s usually one accessory in this subscription; it may be for measuring tea or infusing tea, etc. This month it is for measuring sugar and so it goes nicely with the infused sugar from up above. This is stainless steel and this brand is hard to find online (hence the lack of a link). But it seems to be of nice quality and its smaller size means you really have to think about whether to add that second scoop of sugar to your drink or not.
A Couple of Squares Handmade Cookies (1.2 oz)
This manufacturer’s website lists some online stores where you can allegedly find these cookies, but when I went to look, I didn’t find any of this brand’s products for sale. I think these are so cute, especially the frowny face on the mummy (this is often a problem for me with this brand, which shows up a lot in this box). The cookies are what I would call “crispy” for sugar cookies (hard but not stale) but they didn’t leave too many crumbs behind. These are allegedly sold at Macy’s and Williams-Sonoma locations if you want to go looking.
Verdict: I couldn’t calculate a total value for this Tea Box Express because two of the items weren’t available for purchase and some of the others could only be bought as part of a larger set of items. That being said, the cookies put a smile on my face, the spoon is useful, and I found out about several tea products I ended up greatly enjoying (even if they *do* have calories). Overall, I thought the teas were well-selected for this time of year; they pretty much all put me in the mood for fall.
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No, your subscription would start with the November box. From Tea Box Express:
Order by the 5th of the month to receive the same month’s box. Order after the 5th of the month and receive your first box starting the next calendar month. If you make your purchase after the 5th but we have extra boxes, we’ll let you know by email.
Value Breakdown: This box costs $31.49 (including shipping). The chai and sugar together have a retail value of $16, which leaves $15.49 to be divided among the other items. It is my understanding from past discussions with the folks at Tea Box Express that the cookies can cost $10 or more (they are sold at Williams-Sonoma), which leaves about $5.49 to be distributed among the tea drops, tea sprinkles, and spoon, so you’re basically getting those items for under $1 each.
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What did you think of Tea Box Express? Do you get any tea subscriptions?
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