The Journal · Discovery
Five teas a month: inside the Discovery Subscription
A flat black box through the letterbox, five names you have not drunk before, and your choice of teapot or cold brew bottle to keep.
It arrives flat, which is the first good thing about it. Through the letterbox, no card through the door, no afternoon spent waiting in.
Open it and there are five pouches. Lift the first one to your nose before the kettle has even gone and you get the whole thing at once: bergamot, or roasted rice, or dried pear and cinnamon. Whole leaf, so there is something to actually look at. And underneath, in the Welcome Box, whichever piece of teaware you picked: the glass teapot, or the cold brew bottle.
You make two choices in the whole thing. The taste, and the teapot or the bottle. After that it is just good tea arriving, chosen by somebody else, and that is the part people come back for.
The short answer
The Discovery Subscription starts with a Welcome Box priced £29 against £55.50, and it includes your pick of an Easy-peasy Teapot or a Cold Brew Bottle worth £32 that is yours to keep. Every box after that is £22.50 a month: £20 of tea and £2.50 delivery. Five whole leaf blends each time, about 75 cups, which is 27p a cup for the tea. You set the taste and we choose the five. No minimum term, and 4.9 out of 5 from 214 reviews.
What the Welcome Box holds
Pick the teapot or the bottle. £55.50, yours for £29 in the Welcome Box.
You set the taste. We choose the five.
This is the bit we are proudest of, and it is the opposite of a pick and mix. You tell us which way you lean and the choosing stops there. Every month five blends turn up that you would not have put in a basket yourself, and that is exactly why they are worth drinking.
Four tastes
Fresh, grassy, energising. For the morning drinker easing away from coffee.
Soothing botanicals, calming herbs, juicy fruity florals. The whole box drinkable after six.
Bold, juicy, naturally sweet. The one to cold brew and keep in the fridge door.
A seasonal mix, chosen by us for the curious. The most interesting box, and the one most people stay on.
The numbers, plainly
The Welcome Box: £29
Five 15g blends and the teaware you choose. £55.50, yours for £29. Teapot or cold brew bottle, one or the other, and it stays with you whatever happens next, and it is the thing that makes whole leaf as quick as anything else in the kitchen: one scoop, pour, two minutes, pour again.
Every box after: £22.50 a month
£20 of tea and £2.50 delivery. The same five blends a month, about 75 cups, so 27p a cup for the tea. Most of the black and green blends will give you a second steep on top of that.
Against buying the same five singly: £12.50 a month less
Five 15g blends from the tea shop are £7 each, so £35, and delivery sits on top. The subscription is £22.50 with the delivery inside it.
No minimum term
Skip a month when the caddy is full, pause it, or stop altogether, from your own account. Nothing to write, nobody to ring.
The teaware in the Welcome Box, worth £32. One or the other, and it stays with you.
The Flavour Promise
Here is the part that makes trying five new teas a month a comfortable thing to do rather than a gamble.
If a tea misses the mark, we credit it back. Tell us within 14 days and it goes back onto your Boteane account. One tea per box, up to three times in any rolling twelve month period.
We wrote that promise because we would rather you told us than quietly drank something you did not enjoy. It is also why we are happy to put a blend in your box that you would never have picked.
Where the leaf comes from
Every blend in every box carries the same sourcing, whichever taste you choose: Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, Ethical Tea Partnership, Vegan. Whole leaf throughout, so there are no bags, no glue and no microplastics in the cup. More on that in loose leaf or teabag.
Five new things to drink, and no decision to make in the morning.
Giving it to somebody else
It is the gift that keeps turning up, and you give it as a direction rather than a guess at a flavour, which takes the risk out of buying tea for somebody whose taste you do not know by heart.
The Subscription Gift Experience is £25 a month, prepaid in one go for three, six or twelve months, so nothing renews and nothing surprises them later. There is more on picking the right thing in the gift guide.
Five decisions you do not have to make
That is really what you are buying. Not a saving, though there is one. Five good decisions a month, made by people who taste tea for a living, landing flat on your mat, with the teapot or the bottle you chose in the first one.
Two hundred and fourteen people have given it 4.9 out of 5. Start with the Welcome Box and see what turns up.
Questions we get
How much is a tea subscription?
The Boteane Welcome Box is £29 and holds £55.50 of tea and teaware. Every box after that is £22.50 a month, which is £20 of tea and £2.50 delivery.
What do you get in a Boteane subscription box?
Five whole leaf blends in the 15g size, about fifteen cups from each, so roughly 75 cups a box, and more again if you re-steep. The Welcome Box also brings an Easy-peasy Teapot or a Cold Brew Bottle worth £32, which is yours to keep.
Do I choose the teas myself?
You choose the taste and we choose the five teas inside it: Green Tea, Caffeine-Free, Fruity Tea or Surprise Me. That is the point of it, and the Flavour Promise covers you if one misses.
What is the Flavour Promise?
If a tea in your box misses the mark, tell us within 14 days and we credit it back to your Boteane account. One tea per box, up to three times in any rolling twelve month period.
How much is a cup of Boteane tea on subscription?
About 27p a cup for the tea, based on £20 of tea and roughly 75 cups a box, before any second steep.
Can I pause or cancel a tea subscription?
Yes, from your own account, at any time. There is no minimum term and no notice period.
Is a tea subscription worth it?
The same five 15g blends bought singly are £35 plus delivery. On subscription they are £22.50 with delivery included, so £12.50 a month less, and the teaware in the Welcome Box is worth £32 on its own.
Can you give a tea subscription as a gift?
Yes. The Subscription Gift Experience is £25 a month, paid once for three, six or twelve months, so it never renews on them.
Five teas, the teaware you choose, and nothing to decide in the morning.
Start with the Welcome BoxGiving it to somebody else: the Subscription Gift Experience.
JoJo