United StatesOverview
Nothing in this bundle is numbered or dated: it is six tins of tea for any day of the season. Art of Tea, a Los Angeles blender, gathers six of its dessert-leaning seasonal teas into the Holiday Bundle and sells it as a limited edition at $197, and says you save 10 percent when you bundle.
Pumpkin Spice Chai is the black tea. Aztec Spice and Dark Chocolate Peppermint are both pu-erh, the earthy fermented tea. Butterscotch is a white tea, sweet, creamy and spicy, sold only from October to January. Apple Pie and Pumpkin Pie are rooibos blends and the two caffeine-free cups in the box.
The brand says it sources from the top 2 percent of the world's teas, and it hand-blends to order, so processing takes 3 to 5 business days. Free US shipping starts at $60. No infuser is included.
Taste & variety
The interesting choice is the base. Two of the six are pu-erh, Aztec Spice and Dark Chocolate Peppermint, and fermented, earthy pu-erh is a tea that dessert flavours usually avoid. Putting chocolate and mint on it is either a good idea or a stubborn one, and a cup will settle which.
Butterscotch is a white tea that the shop describes as sweet, creamy and spicy with a buttery warmth, medium in caffeine, and its page flags cashew as a tree-nut allergen, which matters for a gift. Pumpkin Spice Chai is the black tea, an autumn blend with a sweet, creamy finish.
Apple Pie and Pumpkin Pie are the rooibos pair for evenings.
Packaging & gift appeal
Six Artisan Tea Tins, which is the right container for loose leaf: tins keep light and air out and they stay on the counter, not in a cupboard. Art of Tea sells Butterscotch only from October to January, so this is a bundle with a season built into it, and it will look at home beside the baking tins and the advent candles.
The page lists the tins and nothing else, which leaves the wrapping to you. Paper and a ribbon around the stack will do.
What is in the box
Six Artisan Tea Tins of loose leaf tea: Apple Pie (rooibos), Aztec Spice (pu-erh), Butterscotch (white tea), Dark Chocolate Peppermint (pu-erh), Pumpkin Pie (rooibos) and Pumpkin Spice Chai (black tea). No infuser or teapot is included.
Key features
- Six loose leaf teas in six Artisan Tea Tins
- Black chai, white tea, two pu-erhs and two rooibos
- Two of the six are caffeine-free
- Butterscotch and other blends sold only October to January
Our verdict
Six seasonal teas in tins, from a pumpkin spice chai to a chocolate peppermint pu-erh, put together by a house that clearly enjoys dessert. It is a generous present for a loose leaf drinker with a sweet tooth, and an odd one for a purist, which is part of its appeal.
What we like
- Six tins, one for each blend
- Unusual styles for a holiday set, two pu-erhs among them
- Tins that keep their use after the tea
- Two caffeine-free rooibos blends for evenings
A few things to know
- No gift box is listed, so the tins need wrapping
- A limited edition, so stock can run out
- Loose leaf with no infuser in the bundle
