This is the second one of the Herbal Infusions Twelve Days of Christmas kit that I’ve tried.
By chance, I came across the collection online on Black Friday, the only day that it is listed for sale.
I liked the sound of the teas, and I liked the idea of supporting a tea company in my own city.
So I made the purchase, and suddenly, I am made aware that I am being charged in American dollars. Yeah, really.
I am being charged in US funds AND I am being charged rather high shipping fees, considering that the tea is being mailed within the same city and comparing shipping charges of other tea companies in my city. Ok then.
Furthermore, nowhere on the site before checkout confirmation did it mention that the cost of tea is in American currency. Nowhere on the site am I seeing shipping rates listed.
Not a good first impression.
All this to me seems a colossal failure of communication. And more than a bit of an ethics issue.
I did contact the company about my concerns. No change.
A couple of days after ordering the collection of teas, I returned to the site to review the teas I would be receiving. Gone. No trace of the Christmas teas listed. The collection is only sold on BF, and only listed then apparently. Yeah, whatever. I am not a big fan of gimmicks, but perhaps working on creating a buzz works for some people.
When I did receive the teas a week or two later, there were no ingredients cited on the packages or on a separate itemized list in the box. Fortunately, I do not have any allergies or firm dislikes. Not a huge issue for me. However, still.
Anyway, on to the tea. The first tea that I tried out of the box was just fab. I will write about it later.
I had to look up a Pavlova recipe because though the dessert was vaguely familiar, I had to refresh my memory of the flavours involved: meringue, fruit—mainly berries, and cream.
Promising, promising.
And of course, there are no ingredients listed on the packet. Nor any steeping parameters.
The scent of the rooibos was raspberry cream. There were a couple of cream-coloured chips, which I assume are meringue bits.
I steeped with water resting a few minutes past boiling.
The flavour is raspberry and a bit of cream. The smell is a bit of cough syrup. Occasionally, the cough syrup taste creeps into the tail end of the sip as well.
The second steep was more of the same. I poured it out.
Maybe more meringue and more cream? Maybe some raspberry bits?
Raspberry vanilla seems like a nice change from other rooibos flavours. The idea has potential. The execution could use some work.
Flavors: Cream, Raspberry
Preparation
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Sigh, oh boy. Not at all surprised by any of this. There have been a ton of problems with this company, especially over the past year. I’m so sorry you got dragged into it. I’m actually surprised they even sent you your order.
Thank you. Actually, to be fair, my order shipped 17 days after I made the online order. Which is fine. All items shipped together. I have no issues with that part of it. It’s all the other stuff.
After I made the order, I was made aware of the many many previous customer service issues that Steepsterites have had with this company. So unnecessary. Really, so unnecessary.
I do look forward to trying the rest of the teas though. The quality of the first one was very good. And I have heard good things about their teas. So, let’s see.
That said, something truly exceptional on the planet would have to happen for me to order from them again.
haaaate haate haaate…. i wish something in this universe would happen to make Dan realise that shitty customer service needs to go. Stop effing around with 100 projects and focus on one or two and do them really really well. the man is all over the map.
:( :(
I’m wondering if they only bother trying to send newcomers their orders to reel them in, and then don’t bother if you’re a repeated customer, or maybe that’s just a coincidence. Who knows. I’m glad you at least like the tea itself thus far. It’s just astonishing that he is even still in business.
There are a couple of teas on their site that I’d like to try. However, unless they open a physical store that I can walk into and shop in, in Canadian dollars, I won’t be making further purchases. Apparently, sometimes they show up at markets that I frequent, so that is another possibility.
I can totally understand pop-up stores and such. Even then, I expect some form of reliability and trust established with the public.
Oh wait, I just remembered that I’ve tried another one from the series as well and really enjoyed it. So that’s two out of three which have been winners so far. I will review them at some point, hopefully soon.
they had a physical store…and then it randomly closed after never being open during their stated open hours… which also pissed me off.
Yes, iIrc, it was on Adelaide in the business section. I was unaware of it at the time it was open, so I missed it. But I see a pattern. There’s a lot of randomness associated with this particular business.
Sigh, oh boy. Not at all surprised by any of this. There have been a ton of problems with this company, especially over the past year. I’m so sorry you got dragged into it. I’m actually surprised they even sent you your order.
Thank you. Actually, to be fair, my order shipped 17 days after I made the online order. Which is fine. All items shipped together. I have no issues with that part of it. It’s all the other stuff.
After I made the order, I was made aware of the many many previous customer service issues that Steepsterites have had with this company. So unnecessary. Really, so unnecessary.
I do look forward to trying the rest of the teas though. The quality of the first one was very good. And I have heard good things about their teas. So, let’s see.
That said, something truly exceptional on the planet would have to happen for me to order from them again.
haaaate haate haaate…. i wish something in this universe would happen to make Dan realise that shitty customer service needs to go. Stop effing around with 100 projects and focus on one or two and do them really really well. the man is all over the map.
:( :(
I’m wondering if they only bother trying to send newcomers their orders to reel them in, and then don’t bother if you’re a repeated customer, or maybe that’s just a coincidence. Who knows. I’m glad you at least like the tea itself thus far. It’s just astonishing that he is even still in business.
There are a couple of teas on their site that I’d like to try. However, unless they open a physical store that I can walk into and shop in, in Canadian dollars, I won’t be making further purchases. Apparently, sometimes they show up at markets that I frequent, so that is another possibility.
I can totally understand pop-up stores and such. Even then, I expect some form of reliability and trust established with the public.
Oh wait, I just remembered that I’ve tried another one from the series as well and really enjoyed it. So that’s two out of three which have been winners so far. I will review them at some point, hopefully soon.
they had a physical store…and then it randomly closed after never being open during their stated open hours… which also pissed me off.
Yes, iIrc, it was on Adelaide in the business section. I was unaware of it at the time it was open, so I missed it. But I see a pattern. There’s a lot of randomness associated with this particular business.