Butiki TTB - Finished

So Stacy at Butiki is being awesome and providing a large amount of unflavored tea samples for a traveling tea box.

From the original thread:
We have a ton of samples and would like to do a little spring cleaning. The vast majority of these teas are not teas we sell. We would like to lump them in groups, so that they could be tasted at the same time so one could draw a conclusion about type of tea or location. For instance, we could lump together 2nd Flush Assams. Most of these will be unlabeled other then generally what they are. For instance, a label might say Assam #1, 2013 2nd Flush. These teas will all be unflavored.
Please note all of our samples are stored together and occasionally we receive unsolicited flavored teas. Due to a slight potential cross contamination we ask that anyone with a serious allergy not participate.
Most of these don’t have dates and we can’t be sure how old they are. We will try to keep this box to teas of higher quality and more recent teas.

http://steepster.com/discuss/7310-traveling-butiki-educational-box

So there you have it. I’ll be making the list from the people that expressed interest in the other thread, and any interest here. To keep it manageable there’ll only be 15 or 16 spots total. If more people than that express interest I’ll just randomize a list of names.

And here’s the inevitable rules, which are gathered from the various TTB threads floating about. Sorry there are so many but it’s better to be overly clear than foggy on the details.

Rules:
- Please try not to keep the box more than a week, two at the most. I understand that there’ll be alot to try but there’s also gonna be a bunch of people on the list waiting. Just something to keep in mind.
- Variety is awesome. So please replace what you take out with something of equal quality/variety to it. Don’t take all the white teas and replace them with black, etc. Lol!
- Unflavored teas only since it’s supposed to be an educational-y box to compare different, well, unflavored teas to each other. So nothing with added flavorings/stuffs please. This includes any jasmine, chai, genmaicha, lapsang, etc. teas just to keep it simple.
- Make sure teas are labeled with name & brand. Adding recommended steeping parameters wouldn’t hurt either, but aren’t necessary. And if you think it’s strong smelling or want to keep it contained, wrap it to prevent cross contamination. I’ve found wrapping it in foil is better than double bagging a tea, but that’s just me.
- It’s not necessary to replace, amount wise, exactly what you try since this so Stacy can clear out some samples, but be fair about it. Don’t sample/take half the box and only put one or two back. On the opposite end of it, try not to add more to the box than is in there. Since this is being shipped flat rate priority, weight isn’t that big of an issue, but don’t jam pack the box until it’s ready to explode. No tins either please.
- Please mail with a tracking number. It’s included free when you ship priority so don’t forget to get that number. Then send it to me and the person the box is being mailed to. Don’t post it on the thread please.
- When the box starts getting ratty looking, please replace with another priority medium flat rate box. You can pick up one free at the post office.
- Make sure you’re following me, the person behind you on the list and the next person up. You can follow everyone if you want, but it’s not an absolute necessity. XD
If you can’t contact someone because they’re not following you back, let me know and I can give them a poke.
- If you want to be dropped from the list please let me know. I’ve seen people drop off the face of Steepster before they’re supposed to receive a box and then there’s pandemonium for a bit while it’s all figured out.
- If something has come up and you want to be reshuffled on the list, let me know asap so I can do that.
- When you get the box, ask the next person on the list for their address. Then check and make sure they’re ready for the box before you send it to make sure nothing has changed.

I think that’s it unless someone wants to add anything? XD

Final Shipping Order.
Carol Who (IL)
Stephanie (IN)
Marzipan (KY)
Kat_Maria (PA)
Veronica (NJ)
Tea Sipper (NY)
Teamore (NY)
Kaylee (NY)
Back to me (IL) – Here

_TastyBrew (OR) – dropped out
CharlotteZero (CA) – MIA
Moraiwe (WI) (Moved due to no communication 7/25) – MIA

Unfortunately at this point in time I’ve had to drop the Canadians from my list. Sil dropped out completely and of the two people left, neither has said they’d be willing to ship back to the US. If that’s changed, let me know please. But for now, this is the list.

178 Replies

Could I be added to this list? =)

Sure thing.

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Sil select said

One thing to note, thee is no such thing as a flat rate priority box in Canada. :)

Good to know. It was more from the US to Canada with the flat rate box. I dunno about getting it shipped back from you, though I guess the person who receives it back here in the US can switch the box back to a flat rate,

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moraiwe said

Can I be added to the interested parties too, please?

Sure.

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Instead of choosing Steepsterers randomly, it might be a better idea to be selective. I think that is how my tea boxes have worked so well. If you went on randomness, you might pick someone who joined Steepster last week and will disappear from Steepster next week. (I still feel terrible I wasn’t able to include you, Shadowfall, in the teabox I started – yes, I remember most of who I wasn’t able to include because I feel terrible.)

Also, is there a rule where you have to pay the flat rate price to reuse the priority flat rate box? If someone doesn’t, they destroy the box. I’m not sure though. I’m just worried someone sending it, or even a postal worker themselves won’t remember to use the flatrate price, and later on the box is destroyed.

I didn’t really want to be like ‘You, you, and you can participate, but you can’t’ since this is a learning sort of thing that Stacy was wanting to do. But I can see your point about it. Once I close the list, I’ll give people’s accounts a close study. XD (And don’t worry. I’d honestly forgotten about not being included in your box. Lol. I understood I was too new.)

The flat rate box actually says ‘flat rate priority’ on the box, so I’m not too worried about someone being charged something other than the flat rate. If someone goes to mail it and the postal worker tries to charge them the flat rate, the person should just say something about it being flat rate and it should be good.
I also don’t see why the box wouldn’t be able to be reused as long as it isn’t like, leaking tea out the sides or something. Lol. And you can always pick up a replacement box at the post office if it does get destroyed….or am I misreading your concerns about that?

No, I think you got what I meant. :D I think I have reused flat rate boxes and envelopes in the past (even if I flipped them inside out, and the only thing you see is brown cardboard) and if I didn’t pay flat rate anyway, they would get destroyed by the post office until I eventually found out what was going on. They wouldn’t tell me I had to pay flatrate even if the packaging was inside out. So maybe it’s just me that is a bit wary of flatrate. Ah well.

Yeah. If you flip a flat rate/any priority box inside out, they’ll either refuse it when you try to ship it, return it, or I guess destroy it. Though now I think all priority boxes have ‘priority mail’ printed everywhere on the inside. So you can’t just flip them inside out.

Yep, this was a looonngg time ago, before they started printing ‘priority’ on the inside.

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Could you add me to the list?

Yep.

Also wanted to add that if I make the list, I wouldn’t mind shipping over the border.

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I would love to be added to this list…..I’m a rookie and it would be a brilliant experience!

Added.

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Hi Everyone! Just finished organizing this box. Was able to fit 84 teas into the medium flat rate box. Based on the teas in this box, I’m thinking this box is best for beginners or those who would like to compare Indian teas, Kenya teas, or Taiwanese oolongs. Here is a link to some pictures, so that you guys might be able to decide if this box is right for you. http://s1094.photobucket.com/user/butikiteas/library/Butiki%20Educational%20Box Each picture is labeled. The pics are less fuzzy when you blow them up, though you will need to squint. My cellphone is not great with pictures. The teas are separated by country and grouped together. I tried to chose a variety of teas and teas where there are a few of the same type. I did try and add some really special grades of teas (for instance the highest grade offered at certain Darjeeling estates and both of the Taiwan black teas. There are definitely some lower quality teas in there, particularly the TGYs and the Keemuns but I did try to go for a variety. Let me know what you think.

Also, wanted to mention that the best way to utilize this box might be to sample as many teas at a time as possible and only use the samples once. That way everyone can try a wide variety, instead of maybe taking out a few teas you would like. For sampling, I typically use 2 grams with 6oz of water.

Kaylee said

Ooooo! That looks great!

^Excellent! :)

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Still really excited!

Great! :)

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Sweet. Looking forward to this!

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I’m in!

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