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Zen Tea Bar Review – June 2017

Ragan Buckley
ByRagan BuckleyJul 4, 2017 | 2 comments

See what teas I got in this month's Zen Tea Bar box!

Zen Tea Bar is a tea sampling subscription designed to help you try out a few new brands and teas each month, since the selection on the market can be overwhelming.  Zen Tea Bar also emphasizes Zen culture and how humans connect to nature.

See what teas I got in this month's Zen Tea Bar box!

Zen Tea Bar provided us this box at no cost for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

See what teas I got in this month's Zen Tea Bar box!

The Subscription Box: Zen Tea Bar

The Cost: $10 per month, or $110 for an entire year—that's a $10 savings!

The Products: Tea samples from several different brands, as well as a few small accessories to help you fully enjoy your tea samples.

Ships to: US (free)

Check out lots of great tea subscriptions in the Drinks Subscription Box Directory!

See what teas I got in this month's Zen Tea Bar box! See what teas I got in this month's Zen Tea Bar box! See what teas I got in this month's Zen Tea Bar box!

There were a lot of little bits of paper in the box this month. There was a traditional information card, a card asking you to share on social media, and a few bits of information about storing your teas, as well as a Zen affirmation.

This month’s theme was seasonal, and each tea selected was assigned to a particular season. It may be difficult to read the information card due to the typeface, so I have included that information below, as well.

See what teas I got in this month's Zen Tea Bar box!

Bamboo Tea Spoon – Value $2?

There was a bamboo tea spoon for measuring the loose-leaf teas included this month.  It didn’t seem very deep to look at, but it was actually quite good at measuring even the full leaf tea. I also like that it’s an Earth-friendly material. (I have no idea what brand this is, so I just looked up a bunch of bamboo tea spoons online and took an average.)

There was some promotional literature from one of the tea companies in the box as well.

See what teas I got in this month's Zen Tea Bar box!

Disposable Tea Bags – Value $1

Not everyone has access to tea strainers (well, I have at least a dozen, but I suspect that is not standard…) so it was nice that they included some disposable tea bags (along with instructions). These worked pretty well. Here, again, I took a guess at hoe much these bags might cost.

See what teas I got in this month's Zen Tea Bar box! See what teas I got in this month's Zen Tea Bar box!

Art of Tea Pumpkin Spice Chai, 1 oz? – Value $5?

This is a seasonal tea from Art of Tea, so it’s not available right now, but it will be pretty soon. What I really liked about this tea was that, even if you brewed it for a bit longer than recommended, the spices didn’t take over the flavor. I tend to forget to remove tea bags so this is important to me! This is the “fall” tea for the seasonal theme and it really does work for that.  I’ve based the value on similar teas from Art of Tea. This one was provided loose.

See what teas I got in this month's Zen Tea Bar box! See what teas I got in this month's Zen Tea Bar box!

Numi Chocolate Pu Erh3 bags – Value $1.69 (Buy a box of 16 bags for $8.99)

I rarely buy Numi tea at Whole Foods because it is kind of pricey, so of course, I am always happy to receive it in a subscription box!  I looooove chocolate teas. I am somewhat iffy on Pu Erh (quality of this can vary a lot, and it may be an acquired taste). I think this combination is wonderful. I can clearly taste both aspects of the flavor and they work really well together. This is the “winter” tea and it is nice and warming. I know this will disappear soon. This one was provided in an unusual bag; I haven’t seen this before, but I guess it provides more surface area for water to interact with the tea leaves.

See what teas I got in this month's Zen Tea Bar box! See what teas I got in this month's Zen Tea Bar box!

Adagio Citrus Green Tea3 bags – Value $1.60 (Buy a box of 15 bags for $8)

This one was interesting. It smells a bit like something you clean the house with, but the citrus "flavor" was mild and not at all artificial. I think this brand is new to me, too. At any rate, I was pleasantly surprised by the flavor of this one. Once again, both the citrus and tea flavors worked well together and neither overpowered the other. This was the “summer” tea and was provided in a pyramid bag without a string or tag.

See what teas I got in this month's Zen Tea Bar box! See what teas I got in this month's Zen Tea Bar box!

Tea Source Machu Peach-U (1 oz?) – Value $2.47 (Buy 4 ounces for $9.87)

This is another new brand for me. It is a white tea (thus the light color below). The peach scent is stronger than the peach flavor; when you drink this, the peach does NOT overwhelm the tea (hard to do for a white tea, too). This is another one that stood up to a long brewing time (sometimes peach teas don’t, but it worked here). This was provided as a full-leaf loose-leaf tea.

See what teas I got in this month's Zen Tea Bar box!

Verdict: I calculated a value of about $13.76 for the June Zen Tea Bar. Of course, some of the values are estimates so that could go a few dollars either way. At any rate, I think that is a pretty good value for a $10 tea box, especially since I know some of the brands are a little expensive. I thought the “four seasons” theme was appropriate considering the box’s mission and that the selected teas really fit the theme quite well. I also thought the flavors in the teas were exceptionally well-balanced, with neither tea nor added flavor from other ingredients overwhelming your taste buds. And, this is an actual manageable amount of tea to get through in one month, even if you don’t drink tea every day.

What did you think of Zen Tea Bar?  Do you get any tea subscriptions?

Ragan Buckley
Ragan Buckley
Ragan stumbled across My Subscription Addiction in late 2013 and immediately subscribed to way too many beauty boxes. She's now focused on boxes for her cats and dog, vegan/vegetarian food boxes, and craft subscriptions (and she didn't give up beauty boxes entirely).

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2 comments

Heather P

Wow! An affordable tea box! I really loved this box & wish I could get this exact one – I’d gladly pay $10 for it!

Also, I have bought TONS of tea from Adagio & I loovvee their teas! They have a decaf Earl Grey that is just to DIE for! (Caffeinated one is spectacular too!)

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Ragan

I am coming around to liking Earl Grey. (The first one I had was not good and that colored my impressions for a long time. I have since had some that I liked.) But I am reviewing so many tea boxes these days that I pretty much never need to buy tea. I keep a bunch in my desk at work and drink 5-6 cups a day.

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