Here you will find information about most aspects of Curious Tea’s products and business.
If you can’t find an answer to your question then please email us contact@curioustea.com.
Subscriptions
How does the subscription work?
When you buy one of our tea subscriptions you will receive on a monthly basis a box containing two or four types of high-grade premium loose tea. The contents of the box are different each month, so that way you will be able to experience a wider variety of tea. This is perfect for broadening your tea knowledge and for trying out new types of tea.
How much does a subscription cost?
Our subscriptions start at £10/month. This cost varies depending on subscription type, length and whether it is recurring or a one-off subscription. The price includes free delivery within the UK.
How do I pay for my recurring subscription?
When you buy one of our recurring subscription plans you will be billed immediately for the first month (or three months depending on subscription length). All subsequent payments will be taken automatically on the 10th of every month (or on 10th of every third month).
You do not have to do anything for the subscription to be renewed but you are of course free to cancel at any time.
Payment methods we currently accept via Stripe are: Visa, MasterCard and American Express. Our transaction will appear as ‘curioustea.com’ on your statement.
How do I pay for my one-off subscription?
When you buy one of our one-ff subscription plans you will be billed immediately for the whole subscription term (currently 3, 6 or 12 months). This is not a recurring payment and your subscription will end automatically at the end of the subscription plan term.
Payment methods we currently accept via Stripe are: Visa, MasterCard and American Express. Our transaction will appear as ‘curioustea.com’ on your statement.
When will I get my tea?
We aim to dispatch your first box of tea as soon as possible after you first subscribe. If you subscribe before the 15th of any month, that month’s box will be dispatched on the 15th of that month. If you subscribe after the 15th of any month, that month’s box will be dispatched immediately, normally within 1-2 working days. All subsequent boxes are sent out around the 15th of every month.
For example, if you subscribe on the 5th of January, your first subscription box will be dispatched on the 15th of January, with subsequent box sent out on the 15th of February. If you subscribe on the 25th of January, your first box will be dispatched 25-27th January, with subsequent box sent out on the 15th of February.
Please allow 2-3 days for delivery within the UK and 5-20 working days for addresses outside the UK.
If you haven’t received your tea box, please get in touch with us at contact@curioustea.com and we will do our best to make sure you get your tea box as soon as possible.
What kind of tea will I get?
We only source high-grade premium loose tea. Some teas that we feature are very special and rare and are impossible to find in shops. This ensures that we supply to you a truly unique tea tasting experience.
Our Discovery Subscription delivers four 10g taster packs of different teas. This box features a wide variety of tea and will feature any of the main tea types: white, green, yellow, oolong, black, pu-erh.
When you subscribe to a Classic Subscription you can choose three types of tea: light, dark and mixed.
Light tea boxes are perfect for those who love green tea or similar teas of lighter colour and character. These boxes typically feature green, white, yellow, lightly oxidised oolong or other similar types of tea.
Dark tea boxes are perfect for those who love black tea or similar teas of darker colour and character. These boxes typically feature black, red, pu-erh, heavily oxidised oolong or other similar types of tea.
Mixed tea boxes are perfect for those who love all kinds of tea. These boxes feature one of the teas from the Light box and one of the teas from the Dark box. Perfect for broadening you tea experiences.
What else do I get with my subscription?
Every monthly box contains tea cards or leaflets to explain each tea selected in that month. The tea cards also have a space for your tasting notes so you will be able to record your tea experiences as you go along. They also feature a handy brewing guide to make the most out of your tea.
Further you will have full access to our tea tasting blog, which will feature further information on our teas, tea recipes and other tea related articles.
Do you deliver outside of the UK?
Yes, we do. You will be charged an additional shipping fee at checkout for international delivery depending on destination. For subscriptions we currently charge £4/month delivery for our European zone and £6/month delivery for our international zone.
Delivery outside the UK takes around 5-20 working days. Our tea is supplied in sealed foil pouches so will not be affected by long transit.
Please check with your local authorities whether importing of tea for personal consumption is permitted in your country, as we cannot be held responsible for any non-deliveries due to actions of your country’s customs.
How much is delivery?
Delivery within the UK is included in the total monthly price.
International delivery is charged at £4 for delivery within Europe and £6 for delivery in the rest of the world.
For countries within the Europe zone please see the list used by Royal Mail.
How will the tea be delivered?
Our tea boxes are specifically designed to fit through most letterboxes in the UK, which means that you do not have to be in to take delivery. On rare occasions our box may not fit in your letterbox, in which case it will be held by your local post office for collection. Our boxes are delivered by Royal Mail in the UK and your local postal service in international destinations.
For international delivery our boxes may or may not fit your letterbox. If in doubt please contact your local postal service. The dimensions of our Classic Subscription boxes are 34cm x 23cm x 2cm. The dimensions of our Discovery Subscription boxes are 25cm x 17cm x 2cm.
How will I be billed for your subscriptions?
Your subscription will be billed on the 10th of every month (on the 10th of every third month for quarterly subscriptions). The payment will be processed by our system automatically and you do not need to do anything to renew a subscription.
How much tea will I get?
Each Discovery Subscription monthly tea box contains four 10g pouches of tea, 40g tea in total. 40g of tea is enough to make minimum 16 cups of tea. All of our tea is high-grade premium loose leaf tea and as such many of these teas are suitable to be infused more than once, good for making 32-48 cups of tea on average.
Each Classic Subscription monthly tea box contains two 50g pouches of tea, 100g tea in total. 100g of tea is enough to make minimum 40 cups of tea. All of our tea is high-grade premium loose leaf tea and as such most of these teas are suitable to be infused more than once, good for making 80-120 cups of tea on average.
Do you offer refunds?
Due to perishable nature of tea unfortunately we are unable to offer refunds if the tea pouches have been opened. If you have changed your mind and have not yet opened the tea pouches, please return your tea box to us and we will arrange for a refund.
If you are unhappy about any of the teas that we supply or for any other reason, please first contact us at contact@curioustea.com and we will do our best to resolve any issues.
How do I cancel my subscription?
You can cancel your subscription at any time through ‘My Account’ page on our website. Please ensure you cancel before the 5th of the month you want your subscription to be cancelled on to avoid any further charges to your card. Quarterly subscriptions can be cancelled at any time, however you will still receive three monthly boxes as per your plan and you will not receive any pro-rata refund of your subscription.
Can I suspend my subscription?
You can suspend your subscription at any time through ‘My Account’ page on our website. If you have any problems, please get in touch with us at contact@curioustea.com.
Can I buy more than one subscription?
Yes. If you would like to purchase more than one subscription with different shipping addresses, simply complete the checkout process for each separate subscription that you require.
Do you offer gift subscriptions?
You can buy a gift subscription at any time. You can choose to have the subscription sent directly to the person you are gifting it to by specifying their shipping address during checkout. You can also add a gift message that we will include with their first box!
Our teas
What is the shelf life of your tea?
Our tea comes supplied in sealed zip foil pouches that protect the tea from moisture, smell, sunlight and other conditions that may adversely affect the quality of the tea. Sealed tea should remain good for at least a year. Some quality loss may result in tea being stored for longer (1-2 years for green and 3+ years for black) periods of time.
Where does your tea come from?
Our tea is sourced from many countries around the world, but mainly comes from India, China, Japan and Taiwan. We work in partnership with growers, suppliers and tea brokers to deliver to you truly unique high-grade premium loose tea that is often impossible to find elsewhere. Each tea we supply is identified by country of origin and has clear sourcing information.
Why do you not supply flavoured tea?
We strongly believe in supplying only high-grade premium loose tea. The vast majority of flavoured teas are produced using very poor quality ingredients, especially the tea itself. Many flavoured teas also feature artificial flavouring. Since tea quality is our paramount consideration, we decided not to supply flavoured teas since most of them do not meet our quality standards.
Of course there are certain exceptions, traditional jasmine tea being one of these. Accordingly when we may occasionally source a ‘flavoured’ tea, it will only make it into one of our subscription boxes if it is of the highest quality.
Does your tea contain any allergens?
Our tea products are NOT SUITABLE for people with severe allergic reactions. If you have a severe allergic reaction please DO NOT purchase our tea products. Many of our tea products are processed in the open air. As we source our teas from a wide variety of sources, we do not have full control of where and how the tea products are processed. As such we cannot guarantee that they will be completely free from allergens or traces of allergens at source. Our tea products are packed in a protective environment where traces of nuts or other allergens may be present.
How do I brew my tea?
Each tea will come with instructions on how to make the most out of that particular tea by brewing correctly. You can brew all of our teas without any special equipment, but generally having an accurate way of measuring the temperature of the water you prepare your tea with makes for a more rewarding tea tasting experience.
When brewing your tea make sure you use fresh water but not bottled mineral water – spring water or simply tap if possible is best. Unless making black tea, most teas benefit from pouring water that has cooled a little after boiling. If boiling water is poured over green and similar delicate teas, this will result in tea scolding which produces a very bitter liquor.
Follow the brewing guidelines for each tea, but also experiment, as you may prefer your tea stronger or milder than the recommended guideline.
Our website
How can I manage my account?
Please log in using your username or password to our website to manage your account. From my account section you are able to perform yourself a number of operations, such as managing you addresses, payments details and subscription details.
What if I have a technical question or problem?
If you experience any problems using our website please get in touch with us at contact@curioustea.com and we will do our best to resolve the issue as soon as possible.