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ThaiThaiBox Subscription Box Review – March 2016

Nancy Su
ByNancy SuMar 14, 2016 | 9 comments

ThaiThaiBox-March-2016-Box

ThaiThaiBox is a "monthly subscription box filled with surprise Thai products, including both food and non-food to enjoy." Boxes ship directly from Thailand. 

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Subscribers can choose from 3 boxes: Foods, Non-Foods, and Mixed. Non-Food includes household items while Mixed has both food and non-food. This review is for the Mixed box.

This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post  to learn more about how we review boxes.)

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The Subscription Box: ThaiThaiBox

The Cost: $29 per month for Foods box; $36 per month for Non-Foods box; $29 per month for Mixed box. Discount with longer subscriptions.

The Products: 6-8 different snacks and/or household items from Thailand

Ships to: Everywhere + free shipping

Check out the Food Subscription Box Directory for more food boxes and make sure to add ThaiThaiBox to your subscription list or wishlist!

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ThaiThaiBoxes ship on the 20th of each previous month so that they arrive in the first week of the month.

ThaiThaiBox-March-2016-Info

The info sheet arrived taped to the inside of the box. I'm very grateful that it includes colored photos of each snack next to its name as well as a description of the snack and key ingredients.

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Wai-Wai in Tom Yum Soup Flavor 

This is my first time eating Thai instant ramen. While it doesn't taste similar to tom yum soup, it is very spicy... If you're a spicy noodles fan, this won't disappoint. If you're more heat-sensitive like I am, I suggest only using half the spice packet.

Tao Kae Noi in Classic Flavor

As someone who dislikes dried seaweed snacks I admit this one is pretty good. It's crispy like Japanese dried seaweed but flakier and, in my opinion, tastier. Sadly the packet only contains one piece of seaweed.

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Lay's Tawan in Laab Sab Flavor

This is made by Lay's/Frito-Lay! These are puffy triangular chips with a slightly tangy, umami taste. The info sheet says that the chips are "Thai spicy minced pork salad" flavored but they taste more like barbecue to me. I would love to try more flavors.

Koh-Kae Original Flavor 

Apparently the company, Koh-Kae, only makes peanut snacks but they do it well. I used to eat something very similar to this as a child. It's a bit like those honey roasted peanuts with the crunchy shells, except this shell is smooth and has a hint of coconut. This is my favorite snack of the box! My only gripe is that the pouch contained more air than peanuts, as you can see in the photo above. I need more peanuts!

Khao Chong 3-in-1 in Super Rich

This is powdered coffee. The directions say to mix it with 120ml (about 4 ounces) of hot water, which is basically nothing. I tried that and thought it tasted way too thick so I added 4 more ounces of water. The coffee tastes a little sweet, a little creamy. Nothing too fancy but I liked it.

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Parrot Botanical Soap Bar 140g - $3?

This is a soap bar for the body and face. The first thing I noticed about the soap was its overwhelming floral smell. ThaiThaiBox even covered it in cling wrap but it wasn't enough to contain the scent. Unfortunately the heavy scent started giving me a headache so I may have to cut it up and repurpose it as room freshener or mothballs.

I couldn't find the exact type of Parrot soap online, so the link above is for 60g bars and not 140g.

Poy-Sian

This double-sided tube is a menthol nasal inhalant for relieving vertigo, dizziness, vomiting, and various other ailments. One side is for smelling and the other is for rubbing on your temples. Upon first smell it has a nice minty kick but goes away quickly. I also rubbed some on my temples and felt a nice cooling sensation. I'm not sure how effective it would be for relieving things like nausea and vomiting, but the tube is so small and fun I don't mind carrying it around.

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Twin Lotus Dok Bua Ku Toothpaste in Original Herbal

Ok. So. This is toothpaste is brown. It's also kind of gritty and hard to squeeze out of the tube. I know that it's herbal toothpaste and there is no artificial coloring and that's very impressive and all... but it's brown (photo below).

Color prejudices aside, it's not very minty and doesn't foam up. While I understand Twin Lotus is going for natural ingredients, I prefer more foaming action. Also a heads up: cuttlefish bone is the third ingredient on the list, so this is not vegan.

Amira tamarind candies

I've never eaten tamarinds before so I don't know if this tastes like the real thing. It is sweet and tangy and fruity. I like it!

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Above: Twin Lotus Toothpaste

ThaiThaiBox-March-2016-Pouch

Mini Coin Purse gift

Because this was the inaugural box, ThaiThaiBox added an extra gift for all subscribers. What a fun bonus! The coin purse is tiny. It can probably hold some coins or a pair of earbuds, but I do appreciate the gesture.

Verdict: This month's ThaiThaiBox has its pros and cons. The snacks were absolutely delicious and I hope ThaiThaiBox features more sweets in future boxes. One downside is the really strong-smelling botanical soap. Another is the toothpaste, which I just couldn't convince myself to use more than once. While it's difficult to calculate retail value, I think personal value would come from the the curation and novelty of trying interesting things directly from Thailand. If you want to discover authentic Thai foods and products, this would be a box to watch for.

What do you think of the first ThaiThaiBox?

Nancy Su
Nancy Su
Nancy began her subscription box adventure in 2014 and never looked back. She loves Asian beauty and is constantly in search of skincare holy grails. She hoards lipsticks. Her favorites are beauty, lifestyle, and jewelry subscriptions.

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9 comments

Kim

I used to live in Thailand so I was super excited to see a subscription box from Thailand. The items are typical of Thailand. Even the toothpaste. You run across some fairly disgusting things there. I opened this post thinking I’m going to be all over this subscription. But it’s way expensive for what it is. All of that stuff can be purchased for less than $10 combined. Including the coin purse. Even accounting for shipping, it’s still pretty expensive for what you get.

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nana

Nice concept, not so great execution.

I’d love to see a Thai box that had handicrafts, textiles and other decoration stuff. You can find such cool things for so little money in Thailand! Granted, I see this is a mixed food/non-food box so perhaps they do differently in the non-food box, but the non-food items here are not very appealing.

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Beth

Ewww that toothpaste.

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Donna

Great review! I would love to try the inhaler. I get motion sick and I’ll try just about anything. There is no way that toothpaste, though. It looks like mud and I don’t think that my teeth would like gritty anything. lol!

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Kat

The inhaler is great. I use it when I’m stuffed up, get car sick, etc.

My family is from Thailand and while, I didn’t get the box…seeing what’s in the box it doesn’t seem to be worth it to me. Maybe because I live so close to a Thai market in NYC I can most of the stuff there fairly cheap.

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Nancy Su

Thank you! And I’m gonna come out and say it. It looks like…
poop!

There. I did it.

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Ragan

Tamarind tastes like lime to me (which is weird because they look nothing alike and aren’t related).

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Vianny Soto

Did you try the fruit? Because it doesn’t taste at all like limes or any fruit related. Tamarinds have their own flavor and its really hard to explain the taste, a good way to have a taste as I doubt the fruit can be imported to the States its getting the juice which can be found in Amazon.

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Nancy Su

After looking it up on Google I thought they were peanuts! I expected peanut-flavored candies, oh the derp 🙁

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