The Date Crate is a subscription service that sends you everything you need for a creative surprise date for $34.99/ month (plus shipping). They also offer an option for a more intimate date night for those who are 18+ which features more intimate themes, such as bubble baths, for the same cost.
This is a review of the $43.98 ($34.99 + $8.99 shipping) a month Date Crate Box.
This box was sent to us at no cost for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About The Date Crate
The Subscription Box: The Date Crate
The Cost: $34.99 a month + $8.99 shipping (less for longer subscriptions)
ACTIVE DEAL: Save 15% off your first box!
CODE: MSADATE15
The Products: Everything you need for a creative, surprise date experience with your partner.
Ships to: the US for $8.99, Canada for $25, and Worldwide for an additional cost
The Date Crate November 2018 Review
This month our box theme centered around coffee and I love the way they incorporated the theme into the design of our welcome card. They also included some coupons for 15% off a box. My husband and I both love coffee, so this was a great date idea for us, but it definitely felt very specific and might not appeal to everyone. Although it would make a great gift idea if it wasn't for you.
We received this list of everything that was in our crate as well as a note about what to expect. We were learning about coffee beans, roasting them and sampling them together. They also included a guide to the four different types of beans we received as well as some instructions for how to brew them. Each bag brewed one cup of coffee.
The first step to our date night was to roast our beans. They gave this detailed sheet about how to roast them either in the oven or on the stove top. They explained the different shades we could achieve and how each one would taste and then gave instructions for roasting them to each different shade from blond to dark.
4 Coffee Bean Packets in Brazilian Cerrado, Colombian Supremo, Pumpkin Spice, and Hazelnut Creme
These are the four different types of beans they sent us. The two green shades are the Brazilian Cerrado and the Colombian Supremo which are the ones we needed to roast. The flavored coffees; pumpkin spice and hazelnut creme were already roasted and ready to go.
My husband got to work roasting the first set of beans in a pan. We kept them on for about 9 minutes while they roasted and got dark. They cracked and smoked a bit and filled our whole house with the amazing scent of roasted coffee which I could smell even when we went up to bed!
Once they were roasted to the desired color, we moved them to a colander and shook them around to separate the "chaft" (the flaking skin) from the beans. We repeated this process with the second batch of green coffee beans as well.
Manual Stainless Steel and Ceramic Coffee Grinder - Estimated Value $10-15 (The prices ranged on this one, but I linked to one that looked very similar as far as the features and also had no branding on it like the one we received!)
While my husband worked on the roasting, which needed constant attention while stirring, I got to work cleaning out our new coffee grinder. I thought it was nice that they included this so that we could get the freshest coffee possible and I liked the presentation of this one - very simple and packaged in a nice little storage bag complete with instructions.
I removed the lid at the top and then poured in my beans. I was able to fit the entire contents of the bag inside the compartment. Then I replaced the lid and attached the handle and started grinding. I was able to adjust the little knob inside to make the ground finer or more coarse depending on what I wanted. I began with a finer grind, but soon switched when I felt like it was taking forever. This coffee took me so long to grind that I actually gave up and used our electric grinder (Is that cheating or just being efficient?) for the other coffees and that was much more effective!
Five Coffee Filters
Melitta Pour-Over Coffee Brewer Cone - Retail Value $3.99
Once our coffee was roasted and ground it was time to brew. They gave us these five coffee filters as well as our own single cup coffee brewer. I am loving how they really included everything we needed to brew our fresh cups of coffee!
They included directions for brewing on the side of the box and it also included a few coffee filters inside which was nice.
Here is our simple brewer. You just set it on top of your mug, add your filter, fill it with coffee and pour your water in to let it brew.
I set up our four mugs while I boiled some water for our coffee. We kept the bags underneath so that we could keep track of which was which.
Each mug received one cup of water to brew our coffee with and I was able to pour it all at once and let it slowly brew before I moved onto the next cup. It didn't take too long for each one, just a minute or two and it was done.
Here are our four cups of coffee. My husband and I went through and sampled them all and were pleased with the fresh, robust flavors. We both really enjoyed the Brazilian and I also really liked the pumpkin spice which had a good amount of cinnamon spice to it. They all felt like nice, quality cups of coffee. Fortunately, my husband and I are the types of people who can drink coffee before bed and still get to sleep, but others might want to try this during the day!
There wasn't a ton of instruction for our date other than the directions for the coffee, but they did include this game for us to play while we roasted our coffee. We actually found that we were too busy with the grinding and roasting to play so instead we had a nice coffee date and played as we sat down and relaxed after roasting and brewing. The game was Two Truths and a Lie, which was so incredibly challenging for us because we have been together for 10 years and know everything about one another! The object is to write down two true things about yourself and one lie and the other person has to determine which is the lie. If you got it right, you got a kiss, but if you got it wrong, you get Bean Boozled.
Jelly Belly Bean Boozled Jelly Beans - Retail Value $2.50 (found here for $1.25....if you dare!)
My husband fared much better at this game, while I was wrong three times and had to take my chances with this awful, horrible, disgusting pack of jelly beans! In the box there are several different colors and the ones that are the same could either be something very normal like coconut, or something very awful like spoiled milk. I was the very unfortunate recipient of a toothpaste flavored jelly bean, spoiled milk, and the most disgusting thing I've ever tasted; a moldy cheese one. Oh, it was horrible. I was gagging and it was very unpleasant. Thank goodness I had several cups of strong coffee to help wash it down and they also gave us some nice treats which really helped!
Lindt Lindor Truffles (4)- Buy 12 for $9.99
This chocolate really helped to distract me from the taste of that jellybean! We received two milk chocolate truffles and what I think are the stracciatella flavored truffles, which were my favorite. They went very nicely with our coffee.
Nonnis Biscotti (2)- Buy 8 for $2.98 here
You can't have a true coffee date without biscotti, right? We received one limone biscotti and one cioccolatti to go along with our coffee.
In the end, we had a nice time sipping coffee, playing our game and enjoying our treats and just reconnecting as a couple for an hour or so.
Even with this little date crasher, it turned out to be a fun date night experience!
Verdict: This was our first time receiving The Date Crate and at first I have to admit I was a little bit disappointed at the idea of washing dishes and "cooking" after we had just gone through our whole nighttime routine of dinner, dishes and putting the kids to bed so we could have our date. After we got started though and had some time to talk and work together as a couple, I felt more relaxed and just enjoyed the process. I liked how they provided almost everything we needed to get the freshest coffee possible and that they included snacks to go with it as well as a fun game for us to play. It made for a very well rounded experience and I sort of like that there wasn't a specific itinerary for our date. The cost of the box is $43.98 ($34.99 + $8.99 shipping) and I think that with all of the items we received it was a decent value, especially since we enjoyed our date experience...all except for those jelly beans. Did I mention the one time my husband was wrong, he got a coconut one? Not fair!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No, you will get the December box. From The Date Crate:
Subscribe by the last day of THIS month to get NEXT months box! Ships out on the 5th, renewal on the 11th.
Coupon - Use code MSADATE15 to save 15% off your first box!
Check out more date night boxes in the Lifestyle Subscription Box Directory!
Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!
What do you think of this month’s The Date Crate?
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