2018 Tea Advent Calendars
I just placed and received my first Bird & Blend order this week and THEN they post that they have TWO advent calendars. *sigh They have a tea and a matcha version. I’m swooning, but am not about to place another order with the steep shipping fees.
https://birdandblendtea.com/us_en/tea-gifts-tools/christmas-collection/advent-calendar.html
Who else is doing an advent calendar? David’s usually does one. So does Damman Freres. Anyone else hear or know of one? It’s such a cute idea. I wish every company would do one.
I generally buy at least 2-3 tea advent calendars, I love them!
This year I ended up with 5: Bird & Blend (both tea & matcha), Palais des Thés, Simpson & Vail, and Tea Revv.
Tea – 12 Days:
52Teas (www.52teas.com/christmas-promotion/)
Tea – 24/25 Days:
Adagio (https://www.adagio.com/gifts/tea_advent_calendar.html)
Amitea Organics (Etsy) (www.etsy.com/listing/613106392/tea-advent-calendar-organic-tea-advent)
Angry Tea Room (https://angrytearoom.com/products/advent-calendar)
Artful Tea (Etsy) (www.etsy.com/listing/547868180/tea-advent-calendar-christmas-countdown)
Bird & Blend (https://birdandblendtea.com/uk_en/tea-advent-calendar.html)
Dammann Frères (www.dammann.fr/en/advent-calendar-2018.html)
David’s Tea (Loose Leaf) (https://www.davidstea.com/us_en/gifts-and-sets/24-days-of-tea/960518US01.html)
David’s Tea (Sachets – Organic) (https://www.davidstea.com/us_en/gifts-and-sets/24-teas-to-love/960581US01.html)
David’s Tea (Sachets – Herbal) (https://www.davidstea.com/us_en/gifts-and-sets/24-more-sleeps/960580US01.html)
Fortnum & Mason (www.fortnumandmason.com/products/christmas-tea-lovers-advent-calendar-59g-2017)
Fortnum & Mason (Rare Teas) (https://www.fortnumandmason.com/products/rare-tea-wooden-advent-calendar-2017-210g)
Palais des Thés (https://us.palaisdesthes.com/en_us/advent-calendar-2018.html)
Plum Deluxe (www.plumdeluxe.com/product/tea-lovers-advent-calendar)
Simpson & Vail (www.svtea.com/Advent-Tea-Box/productinfo/C0264/)
T2 (https://www.t2tea.com/en/us/gifts-packs/tea-packs/the-big-book-of-secret-teas-and-brews-to-please-advent-calendar-T145AK404.html)
Tea Revv (https://tearevv.co.uk/products/2018-advent-calendar)
Teabox (https://www.teabox.com/products/stroke-of-joy)
Teapigs (www.teapigs.co.uk/tea/teapigs-tea-advent-calendar.htm)
THE O DOR (www.theodor.fr/en/tea-advent-calendar/321-tea-advent-calendar-russia-3760104718122.html)
Others:
Bird & Blend Matcha (https://birdandblendtea.com/uk_en/matcha-tea-advent-calendar.html)
Wow, you are going to have a fun December! I wish that A Quarter To Tea was doing one.
The B&B ones are the only that I haven’t tried of companies that I think I’d like, but yeah… steep price. :(
Here’s the weird thing, I feel like their USD prices are off? At least, they’re higher than the exchange rate that Google has listed.
And if I purchase the item in GBP, it doesn’t automatically change to USD for my shipping address. And then PayPal processes it as GBP and I don’t get charged the increased price.
Weird?
Wow, that’s a cool trick! I wish I had known that a couple weeks ago! I wonder if they have to manually change the currency so it’s easier to leave the USD prices a little higher to allow for a buffer?
I think it also depends on what your bank/credit card charges for international transactions. Some charge additional fees when they convert the currency.
Wow I didn’t know there were so many tea advent calendars! The one from Palais de Thes is really fancy.
I contacted Tea Pigs they are not releasing their advent calendar to the US this year. And their UK site doesn’t ship to the US :’-(
And…I just bought the T2 one lol. I’ve been wanting to check out that company for a while. Good looking out Cameron! :-)
Hah, I found it completely by chance. Went to their site to copy a tea photo and description for the Steepster entry. :P
I bought David’s Tea advent calendar back in 2016. It was a great intro to the brand, but last year I found that too many of the teas in the calendar were the same as the year before. If they have a little more variety this year, I might consider purchasing again.
I think that’s true for a lot of the calendars. Most companies want to include their best-selling “classic” teas, which tend to be the same every year.
Then they also generally add some seasonal holiday teas, which may or may not be different from year to year.
Same. I got one pretty early on in my exploration of David’s and it was a really fun intro. I don’t think I’d order again tho now that I know what I like and don’t like of theirs.
I am getting 52Teas and Bird & Blends. I don’t plan on doing any more than that, though!
the last couple of years I would get the 52teas advent calendar, but I forgot this year :(
I got excited about that Matcha one until I saw the price, hot damn!
Yes, I still have 4 more available. I don’t know if there will be more than that yet but right now I can say firmly that there are 4 boxes available.
Ya, the matcha one was hefty! I love the B&B “pick 5” matcha sampler set, since you can try five flavors and they come in little tiny sampler jars since I usually don’t need gobs of matcha around, and I imagine the advent calendar would have used those little sampler jars I like. The only bad thing about that “pick 5” sampler from B&B is they only have a pretty limited selection of their matcha collection available to pick from, hardly any of their really unique/weird matchas are available to put into it… I wish they’d just allow the whole collection into the pick 5 sampler set. I want to try so many of them without having to get a whole jar that would take me eons to finish off (especially if I ended up not caring for it). I thought the advent calendar might include sampler sizes of more of their collection, so I was pretty excited… and then I saw the cost. Ya… I don’t need matcha samplers that badly.
I was just looking at their matcha sampler today! And then I was sad that it didn’t let you pick their new Toffee Apple or Spearmint S’cream flavors… :’(
Regarding the matcha advent calendar, I wonder if it’s the little mini tins or if it’s just single serve sticks like in the tea advent (they put matcha in a couple of the days)… If it were tins I might be willing to spring for it for the price.
Maybe I’ll email them and ask…
I’m in the same boat. I want to try their matchas but the advent calendar is way too steep and I considered the pick 5 but the options were limited. Probably for the best I don’t buy more tea anyways.
If it is single-serve sticks then it definitely isn’t worth the advent calendar price, IMO!
Seems we are all in agreement they need to add way more flavors to the pick five sampler!
That was my thought, too. I did email them, so hopefully I’ll know for sure in the next couple of days. I may break down and buy it if they are the 5g mini-tins.
I’ve got the hot dish (from a Bird & Blend rep):
“It’s actually a mix of both – the Matcha Advent contains 6 of the single serve Stix, 16 of the mini tins which contain 3 servings, a surprise gift and a mini Matcha whisk!”
Cameron B, thanks for reporting back. Alas, at almost $100 USD, it is still too rich for my blood :(
VariaTEA, I would buy it. My problem is they want to charge £13 in shipping on top of it and there’s no free threshold for international… :’(
Not having a free threshold for international (or even a discount) has been a problem I’ve had with B&B for a long time, especially since when I usually do buckle down and order, it is a huge bulk order that typically does end up being that much. I’ve taken surveys complaining about how bad us international Teabirds have it, especially when it comes to the shipping charges and their discount sales; I’m on their mailing list and therefore get “early access” to the sales before they go live on their site, but being in a different timezone than the UK folks, all the discount tea will be sold out by the time I wake up, see the e-mail, and go to the sale link. It’s very frustrating!
I sent them an email asking if they’d considered a free shipping threshold for international. She said they can’t because they’re a small business, but then also said this:
“If you still fancy a Matcha advent I’d be happy to get some extra tea goodies included in your to make up for the fact that your not eligible for free delivery.”
Makes no sense to me… Why not just have free shipping over £75-80? Then I would spend that much just to get the free shipping…
Right?
Though to be fair, there is a Canadian company that charges even more in shipping than B&B, and B&B are sending me packages from across the ocean. I mean, British Columbia borders Idaho and they charge $20 in shipping? No. Absolutely not. No matter how much I want one of their teas, I will not be jipped that way. * shifty eyes *
I’ve done the Dammann Freres calendar before, and I had a good experience with it. Last year I didn’t “officially” do an advent, but I was working at DAVIDsTEA (still am, technically) and we sort of played along with the bulk of the calendar at the store with the featured TOTD.
I think I may do the Dammann Freres calendar again this year; I sort of regretted not doing it last year. However, I’m also intrigued by the idea of doing one for a tea company that’s new to me as a quick intro to their offerings. I’ll have to check out some of the companies that Cameron listed, as a few of them are new to me.
I love the DF calendar, I would get it every year. I’m just not sure I want to brave the shipping cost this year… Was asking around about a group order, but I don’t think there are enough people interested to warrant one.
I mean, I’d be down for a group order with them but since we’re not in the same country I don’t think group ordering would save me anything on shipping :/ I was scoping their site out last night though – definitely tempted to bite. I may be moving across the country (potentially) soon though, so I’m also trying REALLY hard not to purchase ANYTHING right now and to save for potential moving costs…
That’s true. It’s really a shame that the shipping is so unreasonably high between the US & Canada. We’re right next to each other! :P
I was thinking of making an order too, but I want to try so many teas… 100g is too much. It’s not so much the shipping that stops me, it’s that I feel wasteful when I know there’s no way I’ll drink up 100g worth of multiple teas before they start losing their flavor. :(
^ This. I won’t even purchase teas from companies that won’t offer sizing lower than 100g anymore. I typically want samplers or 1-2 oz. (25-50g) because I prefer sampling lots of different flavors than stocking large amounts of just a few teas, and 100g is simply too much for me. I live alone in a tiny apartment and don’t have the storage space for teas in that quantity. Not long ago I went through my bookmarks and removed all tea companies that didn’t offer sizes lower than 4 oz/100g.
Hey Ros, it looks like everyone interested in the DF group order is Canadian (except me) so you may be in luck.
I got the 52 Teas one this year since I loved it in the past…even if I didn’t always have it in time for the actual countdown. I also am debating about this one by Tea Revv: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/612526784/24-seasonal-tea-blends-christmas-gift?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=tea%20advent%20calendar&ref=sr_gallery-1-1
I’ve never tried their stuff and this relatively cheap advent calendar seems like a fun way to do that. Tbh, I may order it and just not wait :PI thought about that one too, but was only able to find one review on Steepster of their teas so I’m hesitant now.
I always like to find new tea companies and their flavors seem fun. I will probably try them out and if it is terrible it is no big loss.
I had the Tea Revv one last year, unfortunately I don’t remember whether I liked it, and I wasn’t on Steepster so no notes. So I figured I’ll get it again since it’s quite inexpensive compared to some of the others!
They have two on the Etsy site. I just reached out to see what the difference is between the two. Cost wise I think they are priced the same but shipping is different so I am curious. I shall let you know once I hear back if you’re interested.
The light blue colored box is the same packaging as last year’s, while the greyish one with the penguins is new. I ordered the penguin one.
It also says in the light blue listing:
“Please follow the link below to our brand new 2018 calendar:
www.etsy.com/uk/listing/612526784/24-seasonal-tea-blends-christmas-gift
You will be shipped the new 2018 Calendar by purchasing this listing :)"
Just wanted to add that I’m working my tail off to get the teas done in time to be able to ship out earlier in November in the hopes that my customers in Canada do receive it in time for the countdown!
@LiberTEAS, you are awesome! And anytime I didn’t have the teas for the countdown, it was definitely NOT your fault. It’s because I sent them to my Dad in LA and he took forever to forward them on to me.
Just noticed that Adagio has an advent calendar this year as well:
Yeah I tried with your link then tried going through the site to it and both times says its sold out
Hm that’s odd, I can still add it to cart. I did notice that the link changed though.
Zephyr, the link Cameron B. put up in her first post does work. I can’t get this one here to work, but the top link does.
Yeah it’s out of stock. I added my email to be notified if it comes back into stock but I doubt it will. They probably underestimated how many people would want one lol
I’m waiting to see the Lupicia one!
^Most likely! They just released the Halloween stuff in the US same as the Japanese stuff.
There is a Lupicia store close to where I work. I’ll have to stop in in a couple weeks and see if it’s out!
Tea Sensei, let me know if you see it there. That is the one I can stop by when I head into work.
Guys. I saw a video on Instagram of the ‘advent calendar’. It was a gift with teabags and that box was holding them. I’m bummed. It’s cute though! We might get it in November sometime or December.
Sad day! Well hopefully someday they will join the advent calendar craze. I just love being able to get a bunch of samples from a company all at once like that :-)
I bought the 52Teas one, as I have done the past few years. In the past I’ve tried the David’s Tea one, but since some of the teas contain milk or stevia, I will not be buying it anymore. I really want the Simpson & Vail one, but their shipping to Canada is atrocious ($30+) Bird and Blend also has high shipping costs. I’d happily pay the minimum cost (eg $50 minimum) if I could get free shipping, but as it is I’m paying as much for shipping as I am for the item. Tea Revv looks fabulous but contains dairy too.
I’m with you, I’d much rather companies not put sweetener or chocolate in their teas… They just get oily and weird when brewed anyway.
Same that is why I stopped buying DT. I really hate the taste of any of their teas that have chocolate in them :-(
@Cameron – I think it really depends upon the chocolate that’s put into the blend. The chocolate chips that I use are just unsweetened chocolate & sugar. No other weird ingredients. Every ingredient I use is Vegan friendly so no milk. I don’t like stevia so I avoid that. Some of the additions have a wee bit of sugar, like the aforementioned chocolate chips or sometimes I use vegan/gluten-free/allergen free sprinkles or candied ginger. The amount of sugar that comes from these ingredients is so minimal though.
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