The blog post below is from our friend Lizz who is an active writer and true tea enthusiast. Between her blog ‘The Tea Addicts Confessional’ and her community-based tea website ‘Stylin Tea’, she stays quite involved in the industry. We would like to share with you her Tea Sparrow tea reviews, articles, and our all shared daily dramas. This is one of Lizz’s first blogs about us and one of our first company reviews!
Thanks again Lizz, Michael
Tea Sparrow! It’s All You Need
I love Tea Sparrow. It is so worth it. Last year I took my Christmas bonus and bought myself a six-month subscription to their herbal and regular monthly tea sampling packages. They do all the taste testing and send out the very best blends from a variety of tea vendors. Through them I have discovered brands of tea I didn’t know existed and blends of tea I never would have purchased. And so far they have filled my cupboard with some really good tea.
I mention it because every now and again I come across tea companies that have their own monthly subscription service. The choices are overwhelming. And you really have to decide what type of tea to subscribe to and they don’t seem to offer as much tea at such a decent price.
For $40 a month I am sent two boxes of tea. The first box contains four different herbal blends. The second box contains four assorted types of tea. There has been one crossover between the herbal and assortment per month. So essentially each month I get seven different tea blends to try from different tea companies.
And the quantity of the tea I receive is perfect. They send one ounce of each tea blend. They package it in self-sealing bags which are labeled with the tea company’s names. This means you can reorder the tea from the blender if it is one you really like. There is enough to share with my mom and co-worker, Jane.
The only downside is that it is shipped from Canada, so at least one box takes longer than the other. But they offer free shipping in North America so I can’t complain. I just have to be patient. Not something I have ever been known for.
I have not received this month’s (technically last months) mixed sampler yet. However, January’s box contained a sample of Chai Americaine. It was a blend from Florapharm who is a German vendor I had never heard of before. It contains black tea, cloves, cardamom, orange peel, and cinnamon. It is very reminiscent of Harney & Sons’ Hot Cinnamon Spice Tea (from the pyramid bags, not the tea bags!)
The best feature of Tea Sparrow is they have all of the information about the tea company each tea is from on their website so you can check out other available blends. So I discovered Florapharm is available at myaromatica.com which is in British Columbia and shipping is ridiculous (not their fault of course) but they do take PayPal and VISA since you have to pay in Canadian funds. Would I ever have placed an order to try a tea from them? Nope. But Tea Sparrow has given them a seal of approval and I now know they make quality blends so in the future it is feasible. They have lots of lovely teas to choose from on their website.
And that is what Tea Sparrow is all about. They connect consumers and vendors and spread their love of tea throughout North America and beyond. I really appreciate the staff and their vast knowledge of tea, not to mention their golden taste buds which seem to pick up the most subtle of flavors.
With so many tea companies out there from my beloved Harney & Sons and Kusmi to places I have never actually ordered from like Upton, it is good to know there is a group of people that will try to find the best and most unique tea blends for me to discover. And so far, every single sample has been a winner. Even the ones I wasn’t really interested in, like the peppermint blend.
Happy sipping!
Lizz Taylor