8 Tea Subscription Boxes Worth Your Tea Time

Tea is more than a beverage—it’s a peaceful moment in your day that can help you relax or give you a gentle boost. With these tea subscription boxes, you can experiment and enjoy new flavors every month.

The best tea subscription boxes let you choose from a wide selection of teas, rather than simply shipping you whatever they have on hand. Typically, these companies have black, green, white, and caffeine-free herbal teas for you to choose from, but a few go the extra mile by also offering flavored blends, rooibos, and even lesser-known options, like pu-erh tea. The majority of these subscriptions offer four different teas per month, but the details vary by vendor from there regarding bagged or loose-leaf tea, specific flavor options, and extras like filter bags.

A Great Place to Start: Tea Sparrow

If you’re new to drinking tea or looking to expand your tastes, Tea Sparrow ($20/month) is a terrific subscription box to start off with. In each box, you’ll receive four all-natural teas, with no added flavors or ingredients. You can choose from the Original Box (one black, one green, one rooibos, and one herbal tea), the Tea Bag Box (18 tea bags of mixed caffeinated and herbal teas), the Herbal Tea Box (varied caffeine-free teas and blends), or the Caffeinated Tea Box (mixed single estate and blended green, black, white, and oolong teas). The high-quality teas, low price, and varied options make it a good low-commitment choice. Plus, all of Tea Sparrow’s packaging is compostable, recyclable, or biodegradable.

Tea Plus a Magazine: Global Tea Hut

If tea is your whole life, which is understandable, Global Tea Hut (starts at $15/month) might be your tea soulmate. In addition to sending you one or more delicious teas each month, like the Aged Sheng Pu-erh Tea Bulang (May’s flavor), Global Tea Hut also sends you a copy of its lovely Tea & Tao Magazine about all things tea. The magazine is a must for tea enthusiasts and is a great place to learn about fancy international tea kettles, tea farms, experimental tea blends, tea ceremonies, and other fascinating topics and bits of tea wisdom. There’s also a Global Tea Hut app for iOS and Android devices where you can chat with fellow community members.

For Personalized Curation: Sips By

Sips By ($15/month) is an excellent tea subscription service thanks to its premium teas and highly personalized and curated tea selection process. You’ll fill out your tea flavor profile, along with a tea preference quiz, then the Sips By algorithm ships you four premium teas that best match your profile, sourced from over 150 global tea brands. Sips By is great for trying new single-origin tea flavors over proprietary blends. You can also request not to get certain flavors, and all loose-leaf teas come with tea filter bags.

Comes Bearing Free Gifts: The Republic of Tea

Whether you’re a casual enjoyer of tea or a veteran tea connoisseur, The Republic of Tea (starts at $99/six months) is a service all tea drinkers can enjoy. Each month, you’ll be sent 50 bags of a new flavor of tea, which you can view ahead of time on The Republic’s website, and with flavors like Blackberry Sage Black Tea, Get Some Zzz’s herbal tea, or Organic Turmeric Ginger Green Tea, your kettle will be working overtime.

Although you’re sent a new flavor each month, you can still choose the general category of tea you want to receive, from options like black, green, wellness, caffeine-free, or Citizens’ Favorites tea, which is a combination of the others. Plus, your first box comes with free gifts: a Daily Green Dancing Leaves 10-ounce mug with a lid, and a stainless steel infuser.

For Japanese Tea Lovers: Tomotcha

Japan is known for many things, including its love of tea. With Tomotcha ($20/month), you can enjoy tea harvested across Japan and shipped directly from there as well. Each month, you’ll be shipped 40-60 grams of fine Japanese tea leaves, which is enough for roughly 35 cups of tea. Most of the teas you’ll get through Tomotcha are loose-leaf green, but sometimes you’ll get a roasted variety or a fun surprise variation. You’ll receive steeping instructions for each tea as well, as each is meant to be steeped at a different temperature or duration. Previous teas from Tomotcha include Zaracha from Shimane, Yabakeicha from Oita, and Tea of Fire from Western Japan.

Try Something New: Tea Runners

With Tea Runners ($30/box), you’ll be able to try a huge variety of tea flavors, which is great if you’re unsure of what’s out there or your local store doesn’t have a big tea variety. Four loose-leaf teas are included in the box each month, and you can choose from the All Black Tea Box (black teas, blended and flavored), the Pure Tea Box (black, green, white, oolong, and pu-erh teas with no blends, flavored, or herbal teas), the Herbal Tea Box (caffeine-free herbals, including rooibos, peppermint, chamomile, honeybush, and others), and the Original Box (variety, including pure, herbal, blended and flavored teas). Each box ships with tasting notes for each tea along with steeping notes, so you can properly prepare and enjoy them. The company is co-founded by actress Jewel Staite, of Firefly and Stargate Atlantis fame.

Artisan Loose Leaf Tea Shop: Simple Loose Leaf

With over 200 teas in-store, Simple Loose Leaf ($10 + shipping/month) makes it easy to try all kinds of tea from around the world. You’ll get four curated teas in each box, and you can choose what types of tea you want to enjoy, from herbal, green, and black teas, to the Sampler Tea Box with one of each plus something new or seasonal, along with reusable linen tea filters and tasting notes. Simple Loose Leaf gets its tea from artisan sellers around the globe, and is a great way to try single-origin teas and blended or flavored teas. Once you select the type of tea you want, you’ll then say just choose how often you want to receive your tea, with monthly, bi-monthly, and quarterly options to choose from.

Expertise and Variety: The Whistling Kettle

If you want your tea hand-selected by experts with over a decade of experience, The Whistling Kettle (starts at $11/month) has your back. This service offers you four to five curated quality loose-leaf tea choices per month and several subscription box options to choose from. There are Tea of the Month Adventure, Tea of the Month Health and Wellness, and Tea of the Month Connoisseur options. Each of those is available as a Basic or Plus plan (the Plus plan gets you more tea). The Whistling Kettle has a great variety of interesting tea, from Gyokuro and Mokalbari East Assam to Peach Rooibos and Aztec Spice Pu-erh, so there’s plenty for everyone.