Delivery & website information


Latest Delivery Information

General

Orders are dispatched daily. This is typically on the same working day if the order is placed before 15:00.

Our standard shipping is via Royal Mail. If your order is time sensitive you can opt for Royal Mail Special Delivery by 1pm. This service is providing next day delivery to most of the addresses in mainland UK.

Courier delivery is also available. Courier deliveries are typically dispatched next working day and have a one day delivery estimate to most UK addresses. Same day courier dispatch is available on most orders if placed before 10:00am. For international orders, courier delivery can be significantly faster than Standard (untracked) or Tracked Airmail.

Alternatively if you are not far from our office/warehouse (Battersea, SW8 3NS) we are more than happy to arrange a prior appointment for you to pick up your order. Please feel free to contact us (contact@curioustea.com) if you have any other delivery queries.

Information for our EU Customers – IOSS

Ordering tea from us to the EU has now become much easer! Your orders to countries in the EU will now be delivered duties paid through IOSS. You will no longer have to pay import VAT and handling charges in your country on orders that qualify for IOSS.

To qualify for IOSS, your delivery address must be in an EU country and the value of the order must be under £125 (excluding VAT).

We are sending all orders to the EU countries using IOSS. This means that we calculate and charge the applicable VAT rate of your country at checkout, allowing the parcels to be delivered without any additional customs procedures in your country. You will see the appropriate taxes calculated at checkout. If you are logged in to your account you should also see VAT inclusive prices for our products.

IOSS is not available on orders to EU countries above £125 (excluding VAT). Orders above this amount will be sent duties unpaid and you will be charged import VAT and handling fees in your country. For orders that are above this amount, any duties, import taxes and additional fees charged by your post service and customs authority remain your responsibility and we cannot be held liable for these. If your order is above this amount, we recommend splitting the order into smaller ones to take advantage of IOSS.

We are aware of some customs authorities still mistakenly applying import VAT and handling fees even when valid IOSS information is present on the parcel. If this happens, please let us know and we will resolve this.

Information for our customers in Spain. Deliveries by normal post are currently suspended. Spanish customs are currently unable to process IOSS orders. If you still would like to order without tax pre-paid (IOSS) and pay tax & processing fees on arrival in Spain, please proceed with the order. In that case please add an order note to say that you are happy for the order to be sent without taxes pre-paid and that you are happy to pay taxes & processing fees on arrival. Please note that in most cases the Customs / Correos are asking for payments in region of €60 per parcel.

Information for our customers in Belgium. Currently Bpost is unable to handle our IOSS orders for unspecified reasons. In most cases you will still be charged import VAT and processing fees. Please contact us prior to placing the order. If you have already placed an order and you were charged additional import VAT and fees by Bpost please contact us to have VAT amount charged on our website refunded.

If you have any specific concerns about the above please get in touch with us and we will be more than happy to provide further information and advice.

International shipping delays

We are sending out international orders as normal. Please note that our Standard International Post does not have tracking. We strongly advise choosing Tracked Post at this time as it provides tracking and speeds up the delivery. We strongly advise to review country specific International Incidents Update by Royal Mail. If your order is time-sensitive, please choose the courier shipping option.

Courier delivery

We offer UK and International delivery via select couriers as an express shipping option. The shipping fee is dependent upon destination country and the amount will be automatically calculated at checkout. The shipping fee is fixed so no matter how big or small your order is, it will stay the same. Delivery timeframe ranges from 1 to 7 working days depending on destination country and remoteness of your address. We included prices to some of the more popular destinations for your reference below:

  • £6.50 to addresses in the UK (dispatched next working day, for same working day dispatch please choose the Royal Mail Special Delivery by 1pm option).
  • £20 to USA.
  • £20 to Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands.
  • £22 to France, Germany.
  • £25 to Australia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Sweden.
  • £26 to Canada, Iceland, Israel, Norway, Switzerland.
  • £30 to Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, UAE.
  • £20-£30 to most other European countries.
  • £25-£40 to rest of world.

In certain cases couriers may charge an additional remote area delivery fee in addition to the standard delivery cost. In such case we will contact you to either request payment of any additional fees levied by the courier or to change your delivery options.

Postage fees

We have a simplified postal fee structure that offers free delivery on all of our tea for all of our customers anywhere in the world, subject to a minimum spend:

  • free delivery to UK on any order of £30 or over, otherwise just £2.
  • free delivery to Europe on any order of £70 or over, otherwise just £5.
  • free delivery to Rest of the World on any order of £90 or over, otherwise just £7.
  • free delivery to USA on any order of £120 or over, otherwise just £8.

Free standard UK delivery is via Royal Mail 48 post. You can upgrade any UK delivery to Royal Mail 24 for just £1.

All our international deliveries are send via Royal Mail Standard (Airmail) post. You can upgrade any international delivery to a tracked service for only £5 per order. This is typically either Royal Mail International Tracked & Signed, Royal Mail International Tracked or Royal Mail International Signed depending on destination country.

Due to fragile nature and value all our Yixing tea pots are shipped only via the courier shipping option. Delivery options follow courier pricing above.

Our monthly subscription boxes follow a different structure. Subscription boxes are sent by standard mail in the UK (free) and Royal Mail Standard (Airmail) post within Europe (£4.00 per box) and the Rest of the World (£6.00 per box).

All shipping costs to the EU countries will have VAT added at the rate of that country.

UK
 Basket under £30Basket £30 or moreYixing TeawareSubscriptions
Royal Mail 48£2.00Freecourier shipping onlyFree
standard shipping only
Royal Mail 24£3.00£1.00
Courier£6.50£6.50
Europe
 Basket under £70Basket £70 or moreYixing TeawareSubscriptions
Airmail£5.00
(+ VAT for EU)
Freecourier shipping only£4.00 per box each month
airmail only
(+ VAT for EU)
Tracked£10.00
(+ VAT for EU)
£5.00
(+ VAT for EU)
Courier£20.00 – £30.00
(+ VAT for EU)
£20.00 – £30.00
(+ VAT for EU)
Rest of World
 Basket under £90Basket £90 or moreYixing TeawareSubscriptions
Airmail£7.00Freecourier shipping only£6.00 per box each month
airmail only
Tracked£12.00£5.00
Courier£25.00 – £40.00£25.00 – £40.00
USA
 Basket under £120Basket £120 or moreYixing TeawareSubscriptions
Airmail£8.00Freecourier shipping only£6.00 per box each month
airmail only
Tracked£13.00£5.00
Courier£20.00£20.00

Packaging information

All our teas come packed in resealable zip foil and kraft pouches. These pouches are designed to keep the light out and to keep the tea airtight and away from moisture and odours. These are perfect for short term or long term storage of any of our teas to keep them fresh and away from harmful elements.

Packing our teas in slim resealable zip pouches also provides us with greater packaging flexibility and leads to reduced shipping costs for our customers. Smaller orders (around 1-10 10g sample pouches or 1-4 full size 50g pouches) are typically sent out in flat Large Letter packaging. This packaging is designed to fit through most letter boxes, allowing for delivery with your usual post. Larger orders are sent as Small Parcels.

If you have any special delivery instructions, please provide that information in the Order Notes when you place your order. Alternatively please email us on contact@curioustea.com with your order details and we will take care of the rest!

Delivery times

Your order will be typically dispatched within 1-2 working days of an order being placed. In most cases however, your order will actually be dispatched same or next working day unless we are particularly busy. All expedited orders (such as Special Delivery and International Tracked) will be given priority and we always endeavour to dispatch same or next working day. You will receive an order dispatch email when your order is on its way.

Delivery within the UK from the date of dispatch typically takes 1 working day for Royal Mail 24 and 2-3 working days for Royal Mail 48. All of our orders are dispatched from London so the actual delivery times may vary.

International delivery aims are 5-10 working days for Europe and 10-20 working days for the Rest of the World. Unfortunately we do see occasional delays with our deliveries, especially due to customs checks and formalities within the destination country. International tracked deliveries may sometimes be delivered faster than Standard Airmail post. We always fill out the relevant customs paperwork if required by the destination country. You should not have any problems buying small amounts of tea for personal use but if you are unsure about importing tea to your country, please contact your local customs office. If you have any queries, you can always email us on contact@curioustea.com with your details and we will do our best to assist!

Free tea samples!

Ordering from Curious Tea is a fun and rewarding experience! We provide a complimentary tea sample on orders over £20 (excluding gift orders, selection boxes and subscriptions). We will try our best to tailor the complimentary tea sample to your order and try not to repeat anything that you might have tried previously. If you have any special requests, you can submit those in the Order Notes when you place your order. Bigger orders do get more samples!