Monthly TTB Club - Closed!
As soon as I heard about Traveling Tea boxes, I knew I wanted to participate in them. The ability to try a wide variety of new teas, share teas I loved and pass on teas I didn’t care for to someone who would appreciate them more really appealed to me. After participating in one tea box and starting another, I decided it would be fun to try something a little different. When joining this club, each member will pick a theme and put together a small box of tea. Every month they will mail out the box they currently have and receive a new box of tea in the mail. They can then spend several weeks trying teas, making sure to replace what they took with new tea before mailing it out the next month.
-This club will be US only.
-Sample as many or as few of the teas as you like. If you like a tea, feel free to keep it. Replace the amount of tea you took before sending the box on to the next person. The teas you include can be favorites you want others to try or things that just weren’t “your cup of tea” just as long as you think someone might like them! It’s a great idea to take a look at the wish lists of the next few people after you to see if you have anything they’d like to try.
-Follow me and the people who are before and after you in the list so that we can PM each other when needed. PM the next person during the last week of the month to ensure that they are still active and available to participate. If you do not get a response from the person after you on the list within 1 week, move on to the next person, making sure to let me and the person you are skipping know they are being skipped.. Let me know if something comes up and you would like to be skipped for a month or drop out of the club.
-Please send out your box as close to the 1st of the month as possible. Please update the thread when you receive a box and when you are sending one out.
-You will be required to pay for postage when you send the box out. Please keep the weight of the box between 8 ounces and 1 pound. This should keep shipping costs to about $5. If you ever get a shipping quote over $6, you can always opt to move the tea to a small-sized flat rate box.
- Buying a tracking number is appreciated, but not required. (it is included with priority/flat-rate shipping if you use that option). Please send this number both to me and to the next person on the list.
-Please either send the tea in its original packaging or make sure that it is labeled with the tea name and company. Recommended steeping parameters are also appreciated.
-Please make sure to package teas appropriately so that strongly scented teas do not contaminate the other teas, and so that no teas escape and wander the box while in the mail.
- Please replace a box if it becomes damaged.
- New participants must have some activity and history on Steepster. Since this box requires long-term commitment, I’d prefer people who have been regularly active for at least the past six months and who have participated in swaps and/or TTBs.
-I’d like 6-12 participants for this club. Each participant will be putting together a box with a theme. The themes are as follows:
Black and Puerh
Green, White, and Oolong
Decaf and Herbal – rosebudmelissa, Maryland
Sugar and Spice (Dessert teas and Chai/spice teas)
Fruits and Flowers
Unflavored
Variety Box #1 – ThainofBuckland, North Carolina
Variety Box #2 – Skysamurai, Minnesota
Variety Box #3 – TraceyC, California
Variety Box #4
Variety Box #5
Variety Box #6
Mailing Order:
Skysamurai, Minnesota
TraceyC, California
ThainofBuckland, North Carolina
rosebudmelissa, Maryland
If you have any questions, just comment here. Please include the state that you live in and the theme you would like for your box when you sign up.
I’ll take the black and puerh
Great idea! Obviously still earning my chops here, but I’ll be watching from the sidelines!
Thanks! Hopefully this will go well enough for a second round and you can join us then.
I would like to sign up. I’m from North Carolina, and I would be interested in a variety box.
This is a really cool idea! If someone finishes a box early and wants to trade with someone else who finished early could they do a trade?
I’ll do a variety box.
Glad to have you. I don’t know if trading is a good idea. The logistics might getcomplicated because we want each box to cycle through to everyone. I have considered starting a tea box swapping group, but I decided I was more interested in this right now.
Sounds like a fun idea and we will have something to look forward to each month. I’ll do a variety box.
Tracey
What date should we have our boxes ready by?
I think the beginning of February would be best. I’m still hoping for a few more sign-ups, and that should give everyone plenty of time to put their boxes together.
I am interested in participating, but I won’t know until next week if I can truly commit to this. How long will sign ups be open?
Assuming we don’t fill all our available slots before then, I’ll probably close the sign-ups on the 25th. Boxes will be sent out the first week of February, that should give plenty of time for everyone to get each other’s addresses and finish up their boxes. Is there a particular theme you’d like? I can hold it for you until you decide.
Just another thought to consider. What if people want to drop out or join along the way? Will you open up spots or just wait for someone to drop before adding more.
I would assume that if there are any openings, then it would be easy enough to add new people to the list and include them the following month so there’s enough time for them to put together a box and for everyone else to be notified of the addition.
I think the possibility of skipping a month or dropping out of the club was discussed above, but I don’t know what kind of arrangements would need to be met first. I’m guessing any other boxes would need to be sent elsewhere, but what happens to your own box? Does that stay in circulation?
I’ll probably sort most of these things out on a case-by-case basis. The goal is for everyone to receive every box once, and to end up with the box they started with. It shouldn’t be too tricky to add or drop people if we need to, although since I’m keeping the sign-ups open for quite a while, I probably won’t want to add anyone unless someone else drops. If you do drop, you would send on the box you have, and the box you started with would be sent to you. Skipping a month would make logistics rather tricky, so hopefully no one will need to, but we can make it work if necessary. Ideally though, we will all stay for the duration, and pass the boxes smoothly in a circle, and none of these issues will come up. I will wait and hope.
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