Anlina said

Hidden Gems TTB - Discussion/Interest? Canada maybe US too?

I have so many great teas in my cupboard that have next to no tasting notes on Steepster, and some excellent local tea shops that haven’t been logged by anyone but me.

I’d like to share some of these hidden gems with people, and I was wondering if there would be any interest in a travelling tea box that focuses on teas and companies that don’t come up on here a lot, particularly places that are local to you.

This would be Canada only, unless two people want to volunteer to pay shipping across the border, and I’d like to keep it fairly small to keep costs down. One Canadian has expressed interest in shipping to the US, so if we can get one American who can ship back, then we can open this up to US signups as well.

I’d also like to make tasting notes for whatever you try mandatory, since this box will mostly be relatively unknowns.

Does this sound appealing to anyone?

15 Replies
Ubacat said

I’d be interested but the only teas I’d have to contribute would be from online places. I do have a few Tea Emporium teas but have found they’re not the best.

Anlina said

That’s cool. I feel like there are quite a few teas you can get online that aren’t represented a lot on here, too.

Ubacat said

That’s true. I know for most of my Tealux teas I was always the one setting it up when I wanted to leave a review. This got me thinking about a tea I bought from someone local at a craft show. She will be back at the show this Christmas and she has an amazing green tea I loved.

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This is a great idea. I love passing along the local teas from my area. I have tried to pass along all of my local favorites when ever I get a chance. Unfortunately I can’t justify the shipping to Canada, but I may have to start one here in the US.

Anlina said

Thanks. You definitely should! :)

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I’d be in! :)

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VariaTEA said

I would like to participate. This is a great way to get around the issue of Canadian tea boxes getting overloaded with DAVIDs teas.

Ubacat said

I am not a big fan of David’s Tea and I’ve never shopped at Teavanna so I’m okay with that!

VariaTEA said

I do like DAVIDs but it is easy to find so it sort of diminishes the excitement when you open a TTB and it is all teas anyone can easily get from a chain store. Tea boxes are about trying something new which is why I think Anlina’s idea is great.

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Anlina said

I’m probably going to hold off on getting this started till Steepster is a bit less broken and there’s more activity around here, but if there’s any more interest, please do post or send me a PM.

Uniquity said

I think it’s a great idea but I don’t have any sort of local tea shop or hidden gems. Mostly Davids and Teavivre. I’m okay with it but it doesn’t make for much sharing! I also tend to go for high quality unflavoured teas which don’t tend to get a lot of love in smaller shops (at least that was my experience when I lived somewhere with indie tea shops).

Anlina said

Personally, I would be okay with some Teavivre teas in the box. A lot of their stuff is really well reviewed, but there’s also lots of Teavivre teas that have next to no tasting notes, and I think those would be great to share.

I will be including a good mix of flavoured, unflavoured and tisanes in the box when I get it started, so hopefully there will be something to appeal to everyone in there. I think you’re right though – little independent shops tend to focus more on flavoured blends than straight teas, as far as I’ve seen.

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MissB said

I’m happy to join as well; I have a ton of tea from weird places that aren’t well populated on Steepster – although most came from online sources, or from my travels.

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Kayla select said

I would be interested in participating :)

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Reki275 said

I’d be interested! I have a few teas from local sellers that I thought were really good. Wonder how much the shipping would cost within Canada to pass it on…

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