Here's Hoping Traveling Teabox Round SEVEN (US only) Signups closed.

Thank you to everyone who has allowed this to continue and be successful to round seven! The teabox has been to dozens of people now. :D Shipping was around $12+ from one place in NY state to another place in NY state for round six.

New rule: NO thin ziplock/sandwich bags to store teas in. No matter what teas get stored in thin ziplock bags, they rarely have tea box participants trying them. Shipping tea around that won’t be drank is not the point of the tea box. Investing in better pouches is better for your own tea collection too!

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. 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! round seven!) 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 $12. 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! The idea will be to replace an equal amount of tea that you take out.

ROUND SEVEN participants // Please follow a couple people before and after you (and me!)
KiwiDelight – New York Received 2.17.17 Mailed
Canyonlands – Washington Skipped – no reply
Sboula – California Skipped – no reply
Inkling – Wisconsin Received 4.6.17 Mailed 4.26.17
Sensiblyscript – North Carolina Received 4.29.17 Mailed
Blodeuyn – Kentucky Received 5.30.17 Mailed 6.30.17
Babble – Florida Received 7.4.17 Hand delivered! 7.23.17
Inkay – Florida Received 7.23.17 Mailed
DrJim – Massachusetts Received 8.11.17 Mailed 9.2.17
back to Tea-Sipper – New York Received 9.5.17

RULES:
+The teabox will travel within the US only. Sorry! I want to keep shipping costs down!

+*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.

+ Use nice packaging to put tea samples in (no ziplock/sandwich bags). 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.

+ 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 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.

+ 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/costs 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.

+ 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 month at the 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.

+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 – round ___” 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 seven). 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 seven! 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
The sixth round is here: http://steepster.com/discuss/12553-heres-hoping-traveling-teabox-round-six-us-only-closed-for-signups