The Journal · Gifting

How to choose a tea gift that gets used

Three questions, four price points, and the mistake almost everyone makes.

Everyone has the cupboard. Second shelf, at the back, behind the good glasses. A hamper with eight sachets of something with cinnamon in it, three of them drunk, the rest going nowhere.

Nobody sets out to give that. It happens because of one honest instinct that turns out to be wrong.

The mistake is variety

When we are not sure what somebody likes, we buy more kinds of it. Eight flavours feels generous. What it actually means is seven they did not choose, and a decision they have to make every time they open the cupboard.

One thing they will finish beats eight things they will try. That holds for tea, chocolate, wine and candles alike.

Three questions before you buy anything

Do they already drink tea, or is this an introduction?

An existing drinker wants depth: one blend they have not met, in a size they can live with. Somebody new to loose leaf wants no fuss, which means the brewing kit has to come with it or the tea stays in the box.

Ritual or speed?

Some people want the pot, the warm kitchen, ten minutes. Others want it in the cup and out of the door. The first gets a teapot pairing. The second gets an infuser, which asks no more of them than a bag does.

Is caffeine a factor?

If they have said anything at all about sleep, or about coming off coffee, this is the detail that makes the gift land. Ask us for caffeine free rather than guessing.

Five Boteane loose leaf tea pouches laid out in an open black gift box, seen from above

Five blends in the black box. The same box sits behind every price below.

What to spend, and what you get for it

The four gifts that get used

£20+

The gift card. Not a cop out for somebody particular. It is the right answer when you know they have opinions and you do not know what they are.

£25

Five blends in a black presentation box, tea only. Best for somebody who already owns a pot or an infuser. The Subscription Gift Experience sits at the same price, and you choose the direction: fruity, green, caffeine free, or let us surprise them.

£35

The same box with the glass infuser. Send this to anyone who owns no loose leaf kit. It is the difference between a gift they admire and a gift they use on the morning it arrives.

£49

The box with the Easy-peasy Teapot or the cold brew bottle. The version that turns into a habit. Buy this for somebody whose kitchen you can picture.

Above £49 you are not buying a better gift, you are buying more of it. If you want to spend more, spend it on something that keeps arriving rather than something bigger on the day.

Make it look chosen

The reason a hamper feels generic is that it looks assembled rather than picked. Two things fix that and neither costs anything. Ask for the giftable packaging rather than the postal box. Then write one sentence on the card about why this one: you said you were off coffee after six, so this whole box is caffeine free.

That sentence is the gift. The tea is what carries it.

On timing

Nearly half of UK shoppers start buying Christmas gifts before December, and for a gift like this the early buyer gets the better outcome. A box that arrives in the first week of December is drunk through the whole of Christmas. The same box arriving on the day competes with everything else on the table.

If you are buying for somebody who notices the difference between good and excellent, buy it while there is still time for them to ask you where it came from.

Questions we get

What is a good gift for somebody who does not drink coffee?

Loose leaf tea with the kit to brew it. A five blend box with a glass infuser at £35 gets used on the day it arrives, unlike tea sent on its own.

What do you buy somebody who loves tea?

One blend they have not met, in a size they can live with, or a subscription gift so that something new arrives more than once.

Is a tea subscription a good gift?

Yes, for anybody who already drinks tea daily. You pick the direction, fruity, green or caffeine free, and they get the discovery without the decision.