Our
Story—
Here at Tea Horse we’re obsessed with loose leaf tea. It’s wonderful flavours and varieties - we believe that everyone should experience all it has to offer. It’ll elevate every cup of tea you have from something ordinary to something extraordinary and will make your day just that little bit better. And anything that does that can’t be a bad thing, right?
Ordinarily the tea we have available to us just isn’t that good - and we don’t even know it. But with thousands of different varieties out there to discover, the world of leaf tea can be complex, overwhelming, and steeped (nice pun there) in language and traditions that are not familiar to the likes of us mere tea-drinking mortals.
So we decided we wanted to help people to experience lots of different, high quality gourmet loose teas from all over the world, in a simple, inspiring way. We spend all of our time picking out the best and most exciting teas on offer, so our subscribers can experience new and tasty flavours every time they have a cup of tea.
To ensure we always select the finest tea, we work with Master Tea Taster Tim Clifton, whose wealth of experience and knowledge is invaluable. His skills, developed over 30 years in the tea trade, including as a Director of the UK Tea Council, enable us to identify and taste only the best teas that we like and think others will like too. That way, we can give our customers the quality and exciting tastes that you deserve.
How
It
Works—
Each month, we choose a tea-based theme to help us to curate an exciting and varied selection for you. Then we taste lots of teas to find the best. We package them up beautifully and post them out to you at the end of every month.
In the box you’ll receive:
- 4 x 15g or 20g packs of loose leaf tea.
That’s enough to make at least 10 cups of each tea. - 40 x tea filters. These bio-degradable, unbleached filters are for brewing the loose leaf tea - you just pop the tea in, pour on the water, brew the tea and then chuck it in the bin afterwards. Easy and hassle-free.
- A little booklet with lots of lovely information on the teas.
If you love one of the teas you try (and we hope you will!) you can buy more of it from our shop.
Sign me up!Tea
Horse
Mission—
Perhaps you’re wondering - why the name Tea Horse? We’re named after an ancient trade route, the Tea Horse Road. Brave men faced the elements to carry tea along an arduous trail over mountains and through valleys, from China to Tibet, where they traded it for horses. We were inspired by the stories we read, and the trail runs through an incredibly beautiful part of the world.
Like the tea porters of China, we are on a mission to deliver tea to people, to help everyone experience something out of the ordinary. To make loose tea accessible and show that it’s not old fashioned or stuffy or pretentious. That it doesn’t have to be expensive and that it’s not complicated to brew. And that loose leaf tea has a rightful and well-deserved place in our tea cups, every day.
About
Our
Packaging—
We do our best to be as environmentally friendly as possible. Our outer packaging is part recycled and fully recyclable.
In order to keep tea fresh, it should be stored away from oxygen, moisture and light, because these elements affect the taste - and we can’t have that! To make sure our tea is as fresh and delicious as it can be, we pack it foil-lined paper pouches, which are the best thing to keep it tasting good. You just tear off the top and re-seal it after use.
We are continually striving to improve our packaging and reduce our imprint on the environment. All suggestions on how to improve things are very welcome.
Frequently
Asked
Questions—
I’ve just signed up to the Tea Horse Taster monthly box. When will my first box arrive?
Boxes are posted out on the 26th of every month. There is a cut-off date for orders of 23rd though – so if you placed your order before or on the 23rd, you’ll receive your box a few days after it’s posted on the 26th. If you placed your order after the 23rd, you’ll receive your first box at the end of the following month.
What is the delivery cost?
Delivery is free for all Tea Horse Taster monthly boxes to the UK. If you’re making a purchase from our shop, delivery is based on Royal Mail’s First Class packet rates, charged depending on the size and weight of the package. A full breakdown of costs is here. If you’d like to order from outside the UK, please get in touch before ordering as there’ll be an extra delivery charge.
How are deliveries sent?
All orders within the UK are delivered by First Class post, so should take 2-3 working days to arrive. Orders from the shop will be dispatched within 48 hours and also sent by First Class post.
How much tea will I get?
You will always get four packs, usually of 20g each of tea. That’s enough for up to 30 cups of each tea, if you infuse the leaves three times. You can read more about that here. Sometimes, if the tea leaves are very large, we may send 15g of that tea – but we’ll be sure to tell you, so you know exactly what you’ll receive.
I really like the tea you sent me in my Tea Horse Taster monthly box, how can I get more?
Fantastic! You can buy a larger pack of each month’s teas from our shop.
Why loose leaf tea and not tea bags?
Although tea bags may be more convenient (that’s why we’ve chosen to provide you with tea filters each month, to avoid that issue), the quality of the tea that is used in tea bags is not as good as loose leaf tea. Also the choice is much more limited - and if you only drank tea bags, you wouldn’t ever be able to try the interesting, exotic teas we are offering you through Tea Horse.
How do you pick the tea each month?
Our team of tea lovers, with some help from a very experienced master tea taster, decide on the monthly themes – based on what we think is interesting to learn about and what will make a tasty, balanced selection of teas. We then work hard to find the best possible examples of tea that work within the theme. For example, the first theme was ‘Tea Types’. So we set about tasting in order to find teas that best showed off the qualities of the four main types – black, green, oolong and white.
What happens if I don’t like it?
If you don’t like your tea, we’ll be very sad. Seriously though, please do tell us – via feedback on our website, rating the teas or getting in touch with us directly. If there’s a problem with your box, we’ll do all we can to replace it or to make sure you’re happy. If there’s a problem with your order, please let us know and return it to us within 30 days and we’ll either replace it or refund you. The satisfaction of our customers is very important to us and all feedback is welcome, so we can work on giving you the best products and service we possibly can.
How long will the teas last?
Much like many food or drink items, tea is best consumed when it’s as fresh as possible. Having said that, stored correctly, tea will very happily keep well for around three years. We’ll always include a best before date though, in case you’re worried.
How should I store my tea?
Tea is very susceptible to light, oxygen, heat and moisture, so it’s best to store it away from direct sunlight, in an airtight container. Our tea pouches are foil-lined and resealable, specially designed to keep the pesky elements out and your tea tasting fresh and lovely.
How do I brew loose leaf tea?
If you’re a subscriber to our monthly Taster boxes, you’ll receive 40 tea filters in your box every month. Just pop a teaspoon (or the recommended amount) of the loose leaf tea into the open filter, put it in a cup and pour over hot water (you may have to hang on to it a little to stop it falling in the cup!). When the tea is brewed, just remove the tea filter and throw it away. They’re unbleached and biodegradable, so good for the environment as well as super convenient. If you’re not a subscriber, you’ll need a teapot with an infuser or strainer (like a mini sieve), a mug infuser or just a cafetiere (but wash the coffee out first!). Or to buy some tea filters – which we hope to stock in our shop very soon. Or to subscribe to Taster boxes! Read more about how to brew the perfect cup of tea.
I’ve got more questions!
Great - get in touch with us via the website contact page, Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr and we’ll do our best to answer them. We love a good question.