Dollar Tea Club October 2020 Review
Tea Sparrow was not the only tea discovery subscription service I signed up for during the quarantine. I also discovered Dollar Tea Club, which is exactly what it sounds like – a subscription service where you can sample three new loose leaf tea blends every month for a dollar. There’s a catch – you still have to cover shipping and handling. However, if you’re super into tea like I am, then maybe you’ll think it’s worth it, too. Dollar Tea Club lets you customize your subscription and include other products with your monthly samples, such as honey sticks, premium tea filters, and full-sized bags of mystery tea. I decided to include one full-sized bag of tea with my subscription to make the shipping charge worth it and that was definitely the right decision! Today I’m only going to be reviewing the monthly samples everyone will be getting in the month of October because full-sized addons are individual.
HOW IT WORKS:
Each month for $1 plus $4.50 shipping & handling, Dollar Tea Club subscribers will receive three mini bags of seasonal loose leaf tea blends that include caffeinated and non-caffeinated varieties – enough for 2-6 cups of tea per pouch, depending on the type. Upon signup you may also choose to specify teas you don’t like, but that preference will only apply to full-sized addons and not the monthly samples. Click here to check it out – use code REFK8CAUWKCCV for $1 off your first order. They rarely offer coupons so this is the best deal I found, but feel free to share a better one in the comments below!
Loved a blend from your monthly sample pack? You can purchase more here.
How I brew my tea:
- For a single cup, I normally use either my Kusmi Tea mug or this Magisso tea cup.
- To make a full pot of tea, I use a programmable Breville Electric Tea Maker. It’s an investment, but well worth the cost if you live in a household where multiple people drink multiple cups of tea per day.
- I sometimes also make tea the traditional way using a classic porcelain tea kettle but I hate cleaning those so I only do it for special occasions or when we have people over.
Berry Merlot – Black tea infused with berries and flower petals. It smells exactly like red wine, and if I had my eyes closed I would totally think that’s what it was. In this blend, sweet, boozy notes from dried elderberries and black currants contrast with the sourness of hibiscus flowers and the bitterness of black tea leaves. I first made it hot, and the flavor was way off – it was like drinking a cup of hot wine without spices. Don’t get me wrong, I love mulled wine, but plain hot wine without additional ingredients? Yuck! Later, I tried making it over ice with a few drops of monk fruit sweetener, and it came out tasting kind of like sangria. Needless to say, I liked it a lot better this way.
To make one cup of tea, I brewed 2 tsp for 4 minutes in boiling hot water.
Ingredients: Elderberry, currants, hibiscus, black tea, natural flavors.
Cool Cucumber – Green tea with cucumber, simple and sweet. My husband said this blend reminds him of Jolly Ranchers, but I can’t confirm if his comparison is correct because I never tried them. I immigrated to the US in my late 20s so I didn’t grow up with those candies, and as an adult, I didn’t feel the urge to try them for “cultural experience”. Pretty sure I was over 30 the first time I tried a jelly bean and a Reese’s cup, haha! But I digress… This blend was my favorite of the three and the one I’d consider buying a full bag of. It was sweet, refreshing, ultra fragrant, and just overall balanced and soothing. I loved it both hot and iced, sweetened and unsweetened. It has a very prominent cucumber taste, and dare I say even a little minty – although mint isn’t on the list of ingredients. I think this tea will be popular with most people.
To make one cup of tea, I brewed 1 tsp for 2 minutes in almost-boiling water. I brewed these same leaves again later for 5 minutes in slightly hotter water – still tasty!
Ingredients: Green tea, cucumber pieces, natural flavors.
Ginger Peach – Sunny rooibos with calendula petals, ginger, and green blackberry leaves. Sounds like an interesting blend on paper but most of the fun additions got lost under the strong peach natural flavoring. It was good, but a little underwhelming since I had high expectations based on the ingredient list. Rooibos teas are very versatile so you can enjoy them hot and cold, sweetened, and unsweetened – they’ll be delicious either way!
To make one cup of tea, I brewed 2 tsp for 5 minutes in boiling hot water.
Ingredients: Rooibos, ginger, calendula petals, blackberry leaves, natural flavors.
BOTTOM LINE:
Not my favorite month with Dollar Tea Club but it was worth it to discover the Cool Cucumber blend which I will be buying in full size.
Are you a tea or a coffee drinker? Do you like trying different loose leaf teas?
