BiteToSavour Tea of the Month

*This subscription box company has closed its Tea of the Month box as of August 2015 and is no longer in operation. We’ll leave this listing up as a historical record!*

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BitetoSavour work with local artisan producers to find high quality food products for their boxes. In January 2015 they launched 2 new subscription boxes to add to their flagship seasonal produce box: Tea of the Month and Chocolate of the Month (review coming soon).

I’m never home during the day which usually means a weekend trip to the post office for an item that’s been put in a box about 5 times the required size (thanks Amazon). But this box was just sitting prettily in my mailbox when I got home after work one day, like it was no big deal. Clever. I liked it already.

I carefully unwrapped it without knowing how protected the teas inside would be, but there were 4 sturdy sample packages delicately covered in black tissue paper with BitetoSavour’s logo sticker holding everything in place. There was also a little promotional leaflet for another subscription box, a ‘Welcome to BitetoSavour’ one and some information on the Miss McKeowns brand, the producer of the tea in this month’s box. The context that this last leaflet provided was great, I felt a lot more invested in the teas without even trying them and it speaks to BitetoSavour’s mission of publicising local producers.

The teas inside were all from Miss McKeowns and were in stiff, foil-lined, 10g sample bags – enough for 4 cups of tea each according to the packaging. This month’s tea blends (all loose leaf) were a great selection, a variety of black, green and herbal teas:

• Mint Humbug (Herbal)
• Pear Champagne (White & Green)
• The Grey Lady (Black)
• Gingerbread (Black)

The Pear Champagne grabbed my attention purely because champagne flavoured tea isn’t something I’d come across before and having confirmed there really was no alcohol in it, I opened that one first. The sweet smell of pears with a hint of strawberries started floating around the room very shortly after I’d opened the package and the flavour was lovely and light; a great combination and very fresh.

I generally don’t like mint teas. At all. But caramel I can get on board with (no problem), so I was curious about the mint humbug! I put a tentative level teaspoon of leaves in (less than recommended for a cup on the packaging) because I wasn’t convinced I was going to enjoy it but I was surprised by how much flavour came out of so ‘little’ tea! What’s more, the flavour was full (without being heavy) and felt like ‘authentic’ mint humbug. It started off caramel-y without being sickly and then left you with that freshly-brushed-teeth cool from the mint after you swallowed it.

Each sachet came with brewing instructions and a little about the tea written on the back (as well as ingredients).

Having looked up the teas on the Miss McKeowns website, each 10g pack has an RRP of £1.99 plus delivery. There were 4 sachets in the box adding up to roughly £8 plus delivery, which means that in terms of value for money – where you’re paying £10 minimum for a monthly subscription which includes delivery – you’re probably getting exactly what you pay for. The value is certainly in finding new and unique teas from local producers which you don’t have to go out and select yourself.

All in all, the teas were fantastic quality, the presentation was very practical and the selection was spot on. Some people may require a higher RRP value from their subscription box in which case this might not be the box for them, but it certainly is a great box for the tea lover – especially the adventurous one.

BiteToSavour source locally produced artisan foods that are carefully selected by their tasting team and send them to you through a variety of BitetoSavour subscriptions, so you can experience and discover new flavours and products throughout the year. They are also dedicated in helping passionate small producers get products onto the market.

One-off box: £12.00

Three Months: £30

Six Months: £60

Basic Shipping: £4

None at the moment.