Traveling Tea Boxes- big commitment?
I’m thinking of starting a caffeine-free traveling tea box, but I’ve never done one before, so I just wanted to know, is this something that is difficult or takes a lot of commitment, or is it pretty straightforward?
I started one last summer and it more or less runs itself. It is best to keep an eye on it, though, because some people drop out of steepster or lose interest so someone needs to have all the PM accesses and make sure things keep moving. I spend no more than a few minutes per week.
It is a lot of fun, though frankly the first person on the list is providing a service and you have to wait for many months until the box comes back to you (I’ve got another month or so until mine returns, and I’m looking forward to it).
BTW: I don’t do caffeine after 4 PM so think a decaf box is a great idea.
Yeah, I’m sure the worst part is waiting. The way I see it is, all these teas that I don’t like are just sitting in my cupboard anyone, so theres no hurt in parting with them anyway :) lol. So about the PM accesses, you can’t just follow everyone and PM them that way?
I found it was easiest to just create a google form to collect their emails, usernames + addresses.
This is just my way of working, but I have a spreadsheet on which I keep track of when people receive and ship the box. At this point, four people have dropped out (sometimes without telling anyone. That’s the biggest hassle: trying to see if people are still interested in the box when they’re not responding to PM.
I started the Canadian travelling tea box, we are currently in round 2. The only thing I found hard/stressful is keeping an eye on the box and making sure it keeps moving. It does not take a lot of time though. Everyone that has participated in the Canadian box thus far has been really good. (We are currently keeping an eye on our box that seems to be lost in transit with Canada Post but it seems to be on the move now – tracking is important). You just need to make sure everyone in the group understands the requirements- post when you receive and when you send out the box. My best advice would be to keep the group small and ask for input from the people participating. If the group makes up the rules/ guidelines as a whole, then they are more likely to follow them.
Also in regards to keeping addresses and stuff, it just ask that people follow the person in front of and behind them in the shipping order so they can PM about addresses. We have never had anyone drop out without letting us know, but the plan is if the person is not responding to PM then we skip that person and move to the next. If the skipped person resurfaces then we can put them back into the shipping order in a different spot.
We had a box straight up stolen by someone who completely disappeared off the site after taking it. It sucks that everything people had done was just meaningless to her but for every jerk on Steepster there are 20 awesome people (rough, low estimate), so if that happens you can be sure the box gets replaced. Also don’t even bother trying to say hey have it back out in x number of days because it won’t happen. Just really letting it run itself along its path is the only way to do it unless you want to pull your hair out.
One more question: Is it generally a faux pas to sample (as is take one teaspoon) of a tea from a bag without taking the entire bag and replacing it? Or is that the generally accepted norm for this type of thing? (I hope my question makes sense)
I’m happy to see another teabox started up! A low-caffeine box makes it special. :D I think it’s fine to sample any of the teas in the box without taking the entire package, just as long you don’t sample 40 teaspoons without adding 40 teaspoons back in… you’d still have to replace the tea that is sampled. Personally, I love sampling teas, then if it isn’t for me, I leave the rest in the box.
I agree that’s what the tea boxes are all about. Sampling as many teas as possible. You sample a few, if you like them you can take the rest, if you don’t like it you leave it for someone else. Generally speaking while the tea box is in your house – it’s your tea. Drink as much or as little as you like, as long as you replace what you took with equal amounts considering quality. I think it would be a faux pas to take all the high end straight teas and replace it with flavored tea bags.
In the traveling tea boxes are you sending bags or loose tea ? In baggies or canisters or something? What quantity is usually sent… 2 oz. ?
It really just depends on what you want. Either tea bags or loose leaf. Loose leaf can be in their original packaging, in ziplocks or other types of baggies. You can send tins but that makes the box altogether heavy which may be detrimental to shipping cost. The quantity depends on the type of box and people participating. Sometimes up to 50g of one type of tea, sometimes 1 tsp. The key is to replace the quantity of tea that you took out, and keep a variety of tea in the box. You can touch base with the person you are sending the box to, to see what kind of teas they like, etc.
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