Date Box is a monthly subscription box designed to make date night simple! Each month’s box is themed and has what you need for a date night with snacks to make together, a couple’s activity, and a Spotify playlist to enjoy throughout the whole process.
My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
The Subscription Box: DateBox
The Cost: $34.95/month, with discounts available for longer commitments (31.45/month with 3-month prepay, or $27.96/months for 6-months prepay). Shipping is $5 per month.
The Products: A monthly themed box designed to facilitate a unique date night for couples, including snacks and treats to make together, an activity, and a Spotify playlist to play throughout your night!
Ships to: U.S.
Check out all of our DateBox reviews and the Date Night Subscription Box Directory!
Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!
Because this is a coffee-tasting box, the inside is a cool guided tasting set-up!
The first thing I pulled out of my box was an info booklet.
Inside was a little table of contents – I love that they had everything so thorough so I knew exactly where to look for whatever I needed.
The box I received this month was about “Focus.” The snacks and activity portion of it was roasting four different kinds of coffee beans together, grinding them, roasting them, and then having a little tasting event together.
I love the design of this booklet! They provided thorough instructions for every stage of the coffee roasting/brewing process.
Every month DateBox also includes an activity for couples. This month’s activity was interesting – it consists of sitting together, screen-free, touching hands or knees or whatever you’re comfortable with, and looking at each other in silence for four minutes. Then, you’re supposed to “relaxedly and slowly compliment each other, and continue for as long as it lasts.” And then have another four minutes of silent eye contact.
“I will now reward you with 5 minutes of uninterrupted eye contact.”
This moment from Baby Mama was the first thing that popped into my head when I read this. Anyone else? So, my husband and I gave this an honest go – really, we did. I don’t think we even made it one minute before cracking up. We did the compliments but of course, those got silly, too! Part of me hopes that the people that designed this exercise wanted things to end up this way – with us cracking up and goofing around. It was still a connection! There’s no way my husband’s and my personalities would last four eight minutes total of silent eye contact without doing something goofy. So, even though this activity wasn’t for us, it still made us focus and connect – just in a different way than described or intended!
Also included every month are conversation questions. The questions this month were all related to a successful (well, specifically completed as was intended) connecting activity. The questions include “what was going through your head in the time of silence?” and “did anything change from the first four minutes of silence to the second?” On one hand, I wish there had been more general connection questions included, but with an activity like this month’s you really do need some kind of follow-up and sharing of what was going on from your perspective to get the most out of it.
Also included was four sample bags of coffee beans to roast. The inside of the box’s lid has details about the tasting notes and such.
Stainless Steel Manual Coffee Grinder – Value $12.99
This is a cool grinder! I love that they included one in the box so that you’d have everything you need for the process. The handle comes off easily so it fit in the box or wherever you store it.
Pour Over Coffee Filters
Ceramic Pour Over Coffee Dripper – Value $11.99
DateBox also included a pour-over coffee dripper so you don’t need a coffee pot or anything to brew the roasted beans! I love that they included everything you needed from start to finish.
I also like how this is a pretty, simple kitchenware item I can use anytime!
The next item I pulled out were these four little tasting cups. They’re stainless steel and taller than what you’d use as a little sauce cup. Another item you can just have on hand in the kitchen.
And now the roasting process… You start by letting your skillet heat up over medium heat for at least 3-5 minutes, until drops of water sizzle and evaporate immediately. Then, you’re supposed to hear a “first crack” around the 5-minute mark and then wait 30-60 seconds to remove the roasted beans from the skillet into a metal colander. Let them cool, agitate slightly to remove any chaff and prep to grind.
Here’s how my first batch of beans turned out, and I’m not even confident I did it right… what was supposed to take 5 minutes took me 25 minutes (to hear a “first crack” and slight smell of smoke). I’m assuming this was user error? Maybe my skillet didn’t get hot enough? Maybe I should have used a cast iron (which I don’t own) or something instead of my ceramic-coated pan? Maybe my induction stove top wasn’t quite as effective as a range top stove would be? Maybe somehow my pan wasn’t hot enough when I put the beans in? I really don’t know. Subsequent batches did a little better since the pan was hotter but still took longer than the 5 minutes in the instructions.
I love this little pour over dripper. I’ve never owned one before but it’s a great way to control your coffee brewing and also make drinking coffee a little more of a ritual.
But let’s talk about the grinding process needed to get here. You’re supposed to grind the beans to a texture like sea salt. What they didn’t tell me was how to work the manual grinder. It took me a short while to realize there’s a little twisting piece inside that you can tighten or loosen to make finer or coarser grind. However, even after that, it took several minutes of really working the grinder to finish my beans. Fun to try, but I really think anyone who likes grinding their own beans would prefer an electric grinder.
It ended up being a cute setup! But whew, that was… a LOT of work for a coffee tasting (each batch of beans, ground and brewed, filled my 8 oz mugs up most of the way. I know the fun was supposed to be in doing this together and trying something new, which was pretty fun, but I don’t want to ever do this all again. My husband and I love coffee but we aren’t connoisseurs or anything and would have enjoyed the experience of a coffee tasting even without roasting the beans ourselves.
Verdict: I think DateBox has an awesome idea and love that they provide something different (that I don’t have to come up with or plan!) for a date night every month. I also love that these work as at-home dates so we can do them after the baby is in bed for the night – saves us the trouble of worrying about babysitting. This is our second DateBox, and our first box really impressed us and was perfectly right up our alley. This month’s, however, was just not as spot on for us. We appreciate trying something new though! And we ended up making it fun for ourselves, but we’re definitely looking forward to seeing what other boxes we’ll get in future months! It’s a natural part of any sub that not every month will be 100% perfect for 100% of the subscribers, anyway.
As a whole, my impression of DateBox is that they are well-developed and professional. I do recommend this for couples! I think it’s a great option for us to help intentionally carve out time together, and is worth the $34 price, especially since it made date night easy enough that we didn’t need to go out or get a sitter.
What do you think about DateBox?
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