It is Subscription Box Saturday! Today’s subscription box that we are looking at is the June SimpliciTEA Box from The Tea Experience. This tea subscription is all about supporting and exploring teas and small businesses and brands. The Tea Experience is a New York tea company that specializes in fun teas and experiences. They gifted me their June SimpliciTEA box, and here was what I thought:
What is the Price?
The price for a month-to-month subscription is $25 plus shipping. This June 2020 tea subscription came with a pair of garden gloves, a small gardening shovel, 4 blooming teas, a tea coaster, a single green tea packet, a fragrent soap, a silicoln tea infuser, and two honey drops.
How was the Packaging?
The box came in minimal packaging, with branded packaging tape. The tea came in a plastic pouch, but a bit of the aroma did escape making it not completely airtight. But it was very cute and looked to be in the shape of a mason jar. The soap was the more fragrant and I would have loved to see a bit of better packaging for that, because the entire fragrance dominated the box.
What is the Sourcing Information?
I could not find the tea on their website and could not find any tea sourcing information. Most of their tea does not have sourcing information from what I can see though.
How were the Products?
Strawberry Lilly: I infused this flower for about 5 minutes. The aroma of the flower balls honestly reminded me somewhere between strawberry chocolate cake and chocolate-covered strawberries. The green tea taste is completely covered up with the other notes in the tea. I can mostly taste the lilly taste with hints of strawberry and fruitiness. The entire tea was very smooth and easy to drink. I will say that the blooming flower steeped fairly easily, but I will say that I wished it stayed together a bit more. The leaves came out of the form a bit and scattered around the bottom of the cup after I removed the initial flower. I do wish the ingredients were easier to find, I did not find it on the website and I still feel like there might be an ingredient missing from the list I received from the owner.
Ingredients: Green Tea with Strawberry Flavoring
Green Tea + C: If you need to get Vitamin C in any way, tea really is the best way. But full disclosure, I am not a huge fan of vitamin C packets and the taste of them. But given the current circumstances, having this in the box is probably a good move.
Ingredients: Organic Green Tea, Acerola Cherry, Citric Acid, Ginger Root, Citrus Extract, Sodium Bicarbonate, Malic Acid, Organic Orange Peel, Turmeric Root, Coconut Water Powder, Stevia
Honey Melts: I love honey. I honestly tried to put this in tea, but I am not big on honey in tea and the honey did stick a bit into the mug. So I just popped it in my mouth like a piece of candy.
Silicone Tea-Infuser & Tea Coaster: I have mixed feelings about silicone teabags, but this one worked well enough. I grouped these two together because they are pretty self-explanatory but they work well.
Gardening Shovel, Gloves, & Fake Plant: Out of the entire box, I could have gone a bit without these three bits. I will most likely keep the gloves in the garage, but I am not sure where I will use the fake plant or the smaller gardening shovel.
Soap: I always love homemade soap and am purchasing them at craft shows. This was a nice addition to the box because I haven’t been able to go out and purchase my own stash from small companies. The sent was a bit too powerful for me, so I might keep it as more of a decorative piece.
Would I Purchase from this Company Again?
I personally would have liked a bit more tea in this tea subscription, especially for the price of $25. I am not a very avid gardener (some would say I have a brown thumb) but I thought the theme would be fun as a gift (especially since the packages are put on the website prior to people buying them, depending on your subscription, you could pick and choose). The themes change each month. So, I would not purchase this subscription box again based on the tea, but I would consider buying a box for a friend if I liked the look of the box. One additional note is that I would have liked a list of what was in the box and what small company the product came from.
Happy Subscription Box Saturday! I honestly was only planning on doing this series during the quarantine but I think I will continue it for a little while more, while I am continuing to find small tea brands with subscription boxes. I hope you are continuing to enjoy it, Happy Brewing!
-Danielle