Years ago, I loved subscription boxes until I found that more and more, they didn’t send me things based on my profile. That is where Sips By is different. This tea subscription service is $15 US a month and includes 4 teas with enough for 15+ total cups. They have teas from over 100 brands so can really personalize the experience so you are not paying for a box of teas you don’t love.
Their short quiz takes you through a few questions to get an idea of what you will like in your box. Choose whether you prefer caffeinated or non caffeine teas, loose or bagged, flavoured or straight teas, how often you drink tea, dietary preferences (including stevia!) and more. Then you choose your preferred flavours as well as ones you prefer not to get and more importantly, which varieties of tea you prefer. So if you hate green teas or find white tea too fussy, you can opt not to receive them.
From your preferences, Sips By send you four different teas each month. I went with no major preferences but filled in my flavour profiles. My preference lean towards black and dessert teas or more natural fruit teas and my box definitely followed my profile. I got a delicious Puerh with a latte recipe, a straight Cacao, Pomegranate Oolong in bags and Lemon Yaupon in bags.
With your subscription, you also get filter bags and a card with all of the details from your Sips By box, including a discount coupon if you want to buy more direct from the brands. The card shows you how to make your tea, ingredient lists, caffeine levels and more.
So what was in my Sips By October box?
I will be doing more in depth reviews of the Black Wolf tea and Cacao so check bag for them soon. I got a great mix of teas in my October Sips By box and liked all of them. Harney and Sons was the only brand I had tried before, so it was nice to get some new brands instead of the usual same old ones too.
Black Wolf by The Jasmine Pearl Tea from Sips By
A rich after dinner tea, The Jasmine Pearl Tea Black Wolf is best served as a latte. Since my new milk frother just arrived. expect a review on it as a latte too. It is smooth, rich and chocolatey with a fruity sweetness behind it. Not the flavours I would think to add together with peppercorns, elderberries, blackberry and vanilla with chocolate and puerh but it works really well.
MiCacao Cacao Tea from Sips By
This is pure Cacao and not really a “tea” in the normal sense. MiCacao Cacao Tea is a mix of cacao shells and nibs, this light chocolatey cacao tea is high in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals with 0 calories despite the chocolate flavour. Good for hitting that sweet tooth and kicking your caffeine habit.
Asheville Tea Company Lemon Yaupon from Sips By
Given the lemon balm, peel and lemongrass, I expected Asheville Tea Co’s Lemon Yaupon to be more like cold medicine. Instead, it is a super smooth cuppa of Yaupon with a gentle lemon flavour. This one came in bags but nice loose leaf inside, no dust. I love lemon but find most lemon teas to be too tart, overly sweetened or fake, Asheville Tea Company did an amazing job on this blend.
Pomegranate Oolong by Harney & Sons from Sips By
The final tea in my October Sips By box was Harney & Sons Pomegranate Oolong. This time in silken mesh bags which are great for on the go use, although the filters included in the box are good quality too. This bulked up to fill the entire pyramid style bag right away, so a lot of tea unfurling. As expected with any Harney & Sons tea, it was good quality and a smooth cuppa. The Pomegranate flavouring isn’t overly strong, definitely an oolong with flavour rather than a pomegranate tea.
Is the Sips By Tea Subscription Box Worth It?
At $15 US, you are paying around $1 per tea. I got four of each tea bag and definitely enough for 4 cups of tea of the loose varieties. I have found with some sub boxes that they overestimate the amount of tea you receive to make the cost worth it and that is not the case with Sips By.
You can easily skip a month in your account options. You also earn 25 points a month by rating the teas you receive so Sips By can better tailor your box. Once you reach 200 points, you get $5 off your next box. Save them for a free box at 600 if you prefer.
Shipping is included in the US so it is super affordable but $9.50 US to Canada. That did get me trackable Xpresspost shipping though so I got my box around the same time as US Sips By members and not the following month like some beauty boxes.
Want to sign up? Save $5 off your first month of Sips By here.