Here's Hoping Traveling Teabox Round SIX (US only) (Closed for signups)
**Not splitting into two boxes this time
The teabox is now on the way back to me, so it’s time to see if there is any new interest. Zen (Zentealife.com) has also sent me a few teas to include in each teabox (including the amazing Sweet Coconut Island which I’m excited to have other Steepsterers try!) Please only try one serving of any Zen teas you might be interested in so others can have a try.
There is also a new rule:
Please try to include teas you know are on the newer side. No old teas that are years old. If a tea has lost its original flavor (even unflavored teas can do this), then there isn’t really a point to trying a really old tea in a teabox. And once the age of one tea is questioned, you start to question more of them. Not fun! It’s not like I think there are old teas in the box, since I do a good job of removing teas I’ve seen before. But I would hope no one is adding teas that are years old to the box. The fresher the better.
I was also a little disappointed that a few people didn’t write in the forum post which teas were removed and added. I really like that the forum post is there for that, so I don’t have to include a heavy journal to increase the price of postage. Even just editing the same forum post many times as you remove and add would be fine. Or writing them down on your own piece of paper and then reposting them on the forum when you’re finished helps. I think it’s more fun to see the evolution of the teabox through the lists of additions/removals so please do that.
On to the copy & pasted older stuff, please read if you’re new:
Not to offend anyone, but I reserve the right to include people who have been on Steepster a while, who I deem are more trustworthy, who I know are active with trading, just so there is less chance for the teabox to get lost. There will be many sign ups, so I have the right to be extremely selective. I think that worked for previous rounds.. Please do not be offended if I do not choose you! Or you can start your own teabox. :D I will update this thread with the shipping order, which is how you’ll know if you’re participating in this round or not.
It’s called the ’Here’s hoping’ traveling teabox because not only am I hoping it works, but it might give others more confidence that other boxes might work (but I guess it has been working!) I know many people have been disappointed by these boxes before. The ’here’s hoping’ teabox is quite big – please keep in mind shipping costs around $15. It will have everything from full ounces, to enough tea for a cup or two, and some teabags. The teas you include can be your 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! And just as long as they aren’t older teas. The idea will be to replace an equal amount of tea that you take out.
ROUND SIX // Please follow a couple people before and after you (and me!)
Sensiblyscript – NC Received 2.27.16 Sent 3.15.16
TeaNTees – NH Received 3.18.16 Sent 4.12.16
Kayla – MI Received 4.16.16 Sent
Inkling – WI Received 5.12.16 Sent 5.28.16
Skysamurai – MN Received 5.31.16 Sent 6.13.16
Michelle – TX Received Sent
FlyAwayBirdie – CA Received 8.5.16 Sent 9.2.16
Rosebudmelissa – MD Received 9.12.16 Sent
taipwnsu – NY Received 11.24.16
Back to tea-sipper – NY
RULES:
+The teabox will travel within the US only. Sorry! I want to keep shipping costs down!
+ Please only try one serving of each Zen teas you might be interested in so others can have a try, as they were generous enough to provide samples. Writing tasting notes for them would also be great!
+ Please send the delivery confirmation number to me and the person you are mailing the box to. Please do NOT post in this thread with the delivery confirmation number due to privacy issues.
+ Post updates on the box in this thread. Also include on this thread what you added to the teabox and what you removed since I will not be including a notebook for that, to keep shipping weight lower. A few participants in the past didn’t do this, which is disappointing, since it’s fun to watch the evolution of the teabox. Gradually editing the same forum post as you add and remove is fine. Or writing them down on a piece of paper next to the teabox and then adding them to the forum post when you mail the teabox is another way to make it easier.
+Make sure each tea added to the box is labeled with name and brand. Please do not add older (couple years old) teas to the teabox. Trying teas that have lost their flavor (even unflavored teas lose flavor) isn’t the point of the teabox! It also isn’t fun to guess which teas are not the flavor they should be. I try to do a good job of removing teas from the teabox that I have seen before.
+ To those with allergies, please know that teas might mingle.
+ Please add an equal amount of tea that you remove. As much as I love flavored teas, they seem to be taking over the box. It would better if there was a balance between unflavored teas and flavored, so try to add an equal balance of unflavored and flavored (ie: If you add five flavored teas, try to add around five unflavored). Just as long as the flavored teas being added aren’t more than the unflavored… just something to keep in mind!
+ Please only keep the teabox for a couple weeks at most. It should give you time to sample some things in the box, but not too long that it is held up. Let me know if something comes up before the box gets to you and I can move your place in the list.
+ Please make sure you are following at least a couple people after you and before you on the shipping list (and hopefully they will be following you) so you can get their address quicker, and in case the next person doesn’t respond. Also, ask for the next person’s address as soon as you get the teabox. Check to make sure the next person is ready to get the box shortly before you mail it out as something may have changed (I’ve lost many packages asking for addresses way before I mail something.)
+ Use nice packaging to put tea samples in. Try not to include strong smelling teas that might contaminate other teas in the box. For example, I store all of my smoky teas away from the others and I wouldn’t put them in a teabox. They’d make all the other teas smoky! Sometimes sandwich bags are permeable enough that the teas will affect the others. I recently put a tea that was smelling through THREE sandwich bags into one of these and it doesn’t smell through the pouch at all (and they have other sizes): http://www.ebay.com/itm/50-3-5×5-Ziplock-Stand-Up-Pouches-Bags-SUP-AA-Clear-Silver-/310658911232?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4854b6cc00 I know there are other options out there, but those work for me! Please don’t include anything too heavy like tins.
+Make sure the box isn’t too beat up before you send it to the next person and replace with a new box if necessary. Also, since there are so many teaboxes out there now, in an inside flap of the box, please write “Here’s Hoping teabox A OR B”. Please do NOT use a USPS priority box to replace the box, since if someone doesn’t pay priority shipping for the box, it WILL get lost in the mail. In the warmer months: Tea is supposed to stay cool, so if you can rescue the teabox from a hot porch as soon as possible, please keep that in mind.
+If you’re trying to search for this thread, just remember TEABOX (one word) and search for that in the forums (and make sure the thread is for round six). There aren’t too many search results for TEABOX.
+It’s also a nice idea to look at the Steepster shopping/wish lists of the next couple of members after you on the list, to see if you have any teas they’d like to try!
Thanks everyone! I’m looking forward to round six! If you’re interested in signing up, reply here with which state you’re in!
The first round is here: http://steepster.com/discuss/4583-plus-plus-the-heres-hoping-traveling-teabox-sign-ups-are-now-closed?page=1
The second round is here: http://steepster.com/discuss/6032-plus-round-two-usa-heres-hoping-teabox-signups-now-closed-for-round-two-usa-only
The third round is here: http://steepster.com/discuss/7446-plus-heres-hoping-teabox-round-three-signups-closed-usa-only
The fourth round is here: http://steepster.com/discuss/9172-heres-hoping-traveling-teabox-round-four-us-only
The fifth round is here: http://steepster.com/discuss/10744-heres-hoping-traveling-teabox-round-five-us-only-closed
I’m still interested!
Sounds good! To anyone that has already participated in other rounds, you are MORE than welcome to join again!
I’d be interested in joining! I haven’t participated in this particular TTB before, but have been a fairly active swapper and TTB member (most recently, the Holiday TTB and Herbal TTB). I live in Wisconsin, if you’re grouping people by location.
I’d love to join! I haven’t participated in this TTB before, but I’ve had successful swaps and participated in the Not My Cup of Tea TTB previously. I live in New Hampshire. Thank you! :)
You might have more interest If you split up what is in each box (ie. flavored teas in one, unflavored in the other; or Black tea in one, everything else in the other), some people are more likely to sign up for a specialized box. Even if people can add whatever tea they want to the boxes, starting them differentiated might appeal to some. The other option would be to delay sign-ups for the second box by a month or two. I’m not interested right now, since I’m drinking less tea while I’m pregnant, and just signed up for a teabox, but I might be later in the year. Also have you seen this?
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cM9_FQLiFBfpVDv_3Ia2tb1resdyQWLp7eFPBzVpG28/edit#gid=0
It’s great for keeping track of what’s in the box, and what people have tried.
You might also be interested in this thread I just created: http://steepster.com/discuss/12573-official-star-traveling-tea-box-star-thread
Thanks for all of your suggestions – always looking for those. I have to take stock of the teabox soon, so maybe it won’t be splitting into two boxes quite yet. If you wanted to sign up, I could add you last so that the box won’t get to you for a while? I also didn’t see the main TTB thread – thanks!
Rosebudmelissa – I updated what was in the box on the other thread for round five. Everything after Teavana’s Fig Rose are herbals, if that gives you an idea. However, there are many teas I will be removing as I’ve seen them before.
To everyone reading: I’m not sure if I want to split the box quite yet. Let me know what anyone thinks I should do!
The $30 might be how someone is mailing it though, or the farthest difference… I’m not sure.
I guess I should clarify: from CA to NY it was $32 but I think others mentioned spending $30 too, even though the furthest zones would be from CA to NY, as I try to make the route as short as possible.
Alright, sign me up if you can put me near the end. If you want to give away rather than toss any of the herbal or decaf teas from the old box, I would be interested since I wasn’t part of that round.
If you wanted to pay a small amount for shipping, I could definitely mail you a ton of herbal and rooibos. I would feel better about removing a bunch of these, if I could mail them to you. And if you don’t like them/not interested, you can toss them. :D
So I just took stock of the box again, since Rosebudmelissa offered to find a home for many of the herbals (I feel better for these teas!) I removed many of the teas. And between the teas that I find a serving of that I’ll try myself and remove (and I’ll still be trying other teas too), it will still be a giant beast of a teabox but it won’t be too bad. Not $30 bad. If I split the box into two, I don’t think there will be enough variety. Maybe next time. I do think it makes it easier that each type of tea is in its own giant ziplock bag. I can’t believe it was all jumbled together before!
I just wanted to clarify: I don’t THINK there are old teas in here (and I would be the one to know, since I am getting the box back every round) but I just don’t want other people to guess at which tea is old and which isn’t, which is why I had to make the new rule no-years-old-teas. I’m not sure why more people aren’t signing up…
It’s probably a combination of the cost of shipping and the other ttb’s people are participating in. I know there are several ttb’s from the fall that are currently running, the puerh box just opened sign-ups, and the new puer beginners box just had sign-ups. Sometimes if people just signed up for a box, they want to wait awhile before signing up again. I would recommend reducing the size of the box if at all possible, and waiting a month or two if you don’t want to run the box with a smaller group.
But the shipping order list could always be worked around… and it usually takes months for a teabox to go through everyone anyway. Hmm. I guess too many teaboxes is a nice problem to have anyway. :D I’m guessing right now, the shipping of the box would be around $20-$25. But I guess that depends on the zone it is being mailed to.
I would like to participate. It would be nice to try out new things =]
MN
Oh and I will not be around from feb 26 – march 6
Count me in!! :D
I live in North Carolina.
ETA: Oh yeah, I’ll probably be out of town for Spring Break the week before Easter. And I might do some traveling in the summer too (do TTBs take that long to get around? I’m not sure).
It’s kind of hard to judge when a teabox will get to you, but if you want me to move you around in the list when it looks like the teabox will arrive when you will be gone. (I can move anyone in the list, if they ask me to.)
Interested! I will understand if I am not selected to participate as I realize I have more so been lurking in the background the past several months and not actively participating or writing tasting notes. Life is starting to return to a more manageable pace where I can expand my tea horizons instead of just drinking my few staples.
Michigan
Out of town March 11-13
Login or sign up to leave a comment.