Here's Hoping Traveling Tea Box Round EIGHT - CLOSED
Signups are now open to Steepsterers in the US for round eight! Please post in your reply which state you’re in, after reading this entire post.
Thank you to everyone who has allowed this to continue and be successful to round eight! 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, just to give an idea on shipping costs.
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:
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 eight!) 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 and they are FRESH teas! The idea will be to replace an equal amount of tea that you take out.
ROUND EIGHT participants // Please follow a couple people before and after you (and me!)
Mastress Alita – Received and mailed
Ken – who will split up the box with others to end the teabox for now. I might start a teabox again later. Received!
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 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 tea shop name and name of the tea.
+ 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, in an inside flap of the box, please write “Here’s Hoping teabox – round ___” Please do NOT use a USPS priority box to replace, 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 eight! 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
The seventh round is here: https://steepster.com/discuss/15048-heres-hoping-traveling-teabox-round-seven-us-only-signups-closed
And if any tea companies would like to send me some samples to include in the traveling tea box, I can request that tasting notes on Steepster be written for those that try them (of course, that doesn’t always work.)
I must say… as the organizer of the tea box, I am the person who would see the most repeats of teas before I remove old teas from the box and there are STILL 57 teas from the teabox I want to try.
I’m also willing to hear suggestions on the teabox, if it might help anyone to participate?
It may just be tea-box fatigue. I’m not getting many takers for the puerh plus TTB either.
GASP how can anyone have tea-box fatigue?! ha. Thanks for letting me know though. I was thinking the teabox wasn’t fun enough for anyone. If it helps anyone decide, the teabox probably won’t be moving for a month or more so I can try some teas…
Now I’m HOPING more people sign up! Free teas to try at the cost of exchanging teas and shipping!!!
Sorry to see the waning interest. :( I have participated in the last 2 rounds and loved it! You do a great job organizing, tea-sipper. Personally, I’m stepping out of this round just because I feel like I’m likely to see many of the same teas I’ve already sampled (or added myself!) because of past participation.
Thanks for your comment, even just the reasons why anyone doesn’t want to participate would help me improve the teabox. I hope you didn’t see too many repeats on teas! But if past participants skip every other round, I don’t think they should see repeats. DEFINITELY not every third round. But I understand what you mean. :D
Figured I would chime in! This past round is the only time I’ve done this box and I think when I signed up for it was before I came to the conclusion that most flavored teas and blends are not for me. Since that definitely dominates what’s in this box, it just doesn’t make sense for me to participate. I really enjoyed being a part of it, though, especially because it gave me the chance to meet up with another tea drinker in person and I did get to sample some interesting things, have enjoyed samples of straight tea from the box and have more samples I grabbed that I’m still looking forward to trying, and I super happy I got to share the things I added. So, long story short, I think this is a great box, just probably not the best match for my palate at this point in my tea journey. If the straight tea to blend ratio was more balanced and the box was scaled down in size I would be more interested in doing another round, as shipping it at its current size is pretty pricey for those of us who live far apart.
I thought the box was doing well balancing the flavored teas and unflavored, but I guess it wouldn’t seem that way if you don’t want to be drinking flavored at all. I also try to get the shipping list so that each person is mailing to the closest person to them on the list. I’m glad you got to meet up with another Steepsterer! Thanks for chiming in — it helps. :D
I would love to do something like this, but I’m still new around here. I’ve been reviewing tea on Wordpress for almost a year now, but only discovered this site and forums recently, so I understand if I need to wait until the next round. I think this is an awesome idea, though!
Bumping this again. Anyone else? I just went through the teabox again and I think it will be very overhauled. I removed 45 teas so far that were old or had one serving left for me to try. There are hardly any herbals or rooibos blends, if not seeing those in the teabox would appeal to you more.
I think we have a group of 3 or 4 here in vegas that would be interested. Should I ask them to sign up individually or just split the tea’s when it gets here.
It might be a little tough to keep track of what is removed and added to the teabox with 3-4 people at once! Have they been on Steepster a while?
Honestly, if there continues being so little interest, I might just stop doing the teabox for a while, send it to Mastress Alita and she can take out and add what she wants, then she could send the box to you and you can share it with the few people who would like to participate to end the box for now (as in, split the box however you guys want to and then no need to mail the box on). This might actually be the perfect solution to ending this teabox for now. One person who knows a few people who would like to take part in the box in the same area. I might start the teabox again later on. My interest and fun in doing the teabox sure hasn’t waned over the years, so I will miss it. But I’m glad the teabox has never been lost or “stolen” since I started this. Steepsterers are awesome.
So Ken, is that something you would want to do? Disperse the teas in the teabox between the few people who might be interested? I guess you would need to decide how to do that. I don’t know if you meet up with the others or what… Or you would want to mail it to others after you have the teabox a while or just hand it over after you try the teas you want to try?
That could be fun sharing it with everyone, most of us have plenty of teas to replace into it. I can hold it till interest starts up again and then just mail it on to the first person on the list.
The idea wouldn’t be to replace the teas when it gets to you in Vegas though. It would be to split the teas however you want to get rid of the teabox entirely. I would want to start fresh IF I ever decide to start a teabox again. It would probably be at least a year or two IF that happens. I wouldn’t want you to have to worry about it that long and I wouldn’t want teas sitting around waiting for that long to be drank either. So basically the teabox would just be free teas for you and whoever you’d like to share with, that is why it is perfect to send to you to end it because you already have others who are interested in the teas. It would be a LOT of teas for one person, that is why. :D
Ahh okay, sure we easily have enough people hit to split the tea with. Probably 10-15. Thank you
Ok awesome. I will be mailing the teabox to Mastress Alita in a couple weeks and then she can send on to you. Thanks
I’m interested, but in Canada. If you decide to open it to other countries, I’m in. The Canada tea box isn’t running until later in the year, so there are probably a few of us up here. The issue would be slightly increased shipping cost.
Sorry Arby, but it does get expensive even in the US. I think I’m just going to stick with my plan in the above post.
I’m interested, but I’m pretty new (this is my first comment after lurking for almost a year), so it’s fine if I don’t qualify.
The teabox is on the way to the final two destinations where it will be discontinued for a while. Somehow this box cost me $24 to mail which is the highest EVER. Is this why others didn’t want to join the teabox? Maybe the price was that high and no one wanted to mention? It’s usually around $10 less for me to mail this thing. Anyway, here is what I removed from the teabox either because it was old or because I wanted to finish it:
Removed:
52Teas – Candy Corn
52Teas – Cinnamon Pear
Marketspice – Cranberry Cream
teaguys – ?
? – Lychee Black
Menghai Dayi 7572 Ripe Puerh 2009
2006 6FTM Bangwei Raw
2011 Norbu Yong De Spring Raw White buds
Teavana – Spiced Mandarin Orange
Adagio – Thai Chai
Adagio – Formosa Oolong
Bumble – Chailand Curry
Two Tea Guys – Peach Oolong
2015 Tokoron Shincha
Tosa Bancha Yunomi
Faeries Finest – Gyokuro
American Classic – Island Green
Plum Deluxe – Poolside Sipping Green
Golden Tips – Rose Herb Green
Just Organic – Marvelous Minty Green
Adagio – Silver Sprout
Golden Tips – Chrysanthemum White
Teavivre – Jasmine Silver Needle Mo Li Yin Zhen
Red Leaf Tea -Matcha Samples
Bees Teas – Mint Chocolate Chip
Naked Teas – Nutty Enough
Davidstea – Cocomint Cream
Lupicia – Mimosa
Republic of Tea – Holiday Spiced Plum
Dragon Tea House – 99 Golden Bud Raw
Lahaha – Keemun
Perennial – Golden Monkey
TeaSource – WuLing Mountain
Golden Tips – Nilgiri Breakfast
Perennial Tea Room – Mulled Spice Plum
52Teas – Chocolate Bacon
52Teas – Tomato, Basil, And Black Pepper
2016 Poundcake
Love Some Tea – Apple Delicious
Love Some Tea – Tropical Sunset
The Tea Smith – Emerald Sun
American Tea Room – Nirvana
JK Tea Shop – 2015 Ban Yan Premium Wuyi Da Hong Pao Rock
Lahaha – Lily & Lychee
Beleave – Sweet Surrender
Stone Leaf Tea House – Amacha
Davidstea – Sleigh Ride
VAHDAM Teas – Okayti Premium Darjeeling First Flush Organic
Zen Tea Life – English Breakfast
Teavivre – Black Tartary Buckwheat Whole Embryo
Whatcha – Kenya Hand rolled Purple oolong
Soleil – Eden
Yunnan Sourcing – 2015 Yang Luo Han Shou Pu-erh
Teas I added:
Justtea – Purple Leaf
Simpson & Vail – Cocoa Shells (2)
Simpson & Vail – Plum Black
Simpson & Vail – Chocolate Chai
Simpson & Vail – Green guava
Bluebird – Strawberry Split
Zen – Sweet Tropical Fruits
52Teas – Lemon Ginger Cookie oolong
52Teas – Brownie Batter Honeybush
Angry Tea Room – Spicy Chocolate Rooibos
Angry Tea Room – Caramel Popcorn Movie Night
Zen – Phoenix Pearls
Yunnan Sourcing – Wild Arbor Feng Qing
Yunnan Sourcing – Black Gold Bi Luo Chun Spring 2017
TS, yeah, concern about shipping cost was the reason I didn’t join. Looks like you got a lot of nice teas, though!
I really hope it wasn’t this high for everyone that participated in the past, though I did try to find the person closest to each person within mailing distance, but sometimes it was tough to get it back to the other side of the country and some people did send from one side to the other. I would feel terrible if the price was as shocking to them as it was to me!
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