United KingdomOverview
This caddy has no doors to open and no days to count, which is worth settling before it goes under a tree expecting to be a calendar. JING started in London in 2004 under Ed Eisler, buys single origin and single garden teas direct from growers in Asia, and names the gardens on its website. The Remarkable Discovery Caddy is pitched at the curious drinker who has already tried a lot.
Inside are twenty whole-leaf tea bags, four each of Assam Breakfast, Earl Grey, Jade Sword, Jasmine Silver Needle and Peppermint, packed with JING's signature glass sand timer, which runs for three minutes. The caddy is illustrated in the Explorer design and is reusable. Black, green, white and herbal are all represented, and Peppermint from Bavaria is the single cup without caffeine.
Jasmine Silver Needle in tea bag form is listed among JING's award-winning teas. The caddy costs £35 at jingtea.com.
Taste & variety
Five teas, picked to show range in a short space. Assam Breakfast is the malty one, with raisin in the notes, from the lowlands of north-east India. The Earl Grey is built on Assam too and takes its bergamot from Calabria, which is the right order: tea first, citrus second.
Jade Sword is a Jingshan green, grassy, with an edamame note JING is happy to print. Jasmine Silver Needle is a white tea rested five nights beside jasmine that blooms only after dark, and its tea bags are among JING's award-winning teas.
Bavarian Peppermint closes the set as the only cup without caffeine. Four bags apiece is enough to find a favourite and not enough to keep it.
Packaging & gift appeal
The caddy does the talking. It is illustrated in JING's Explorer design and made to be reused, so the teas finish and the tin stays on the counter, which in a household that buys a new calendar every year is a small mercy.
The glass sand timer is the better idea. It runs three minutes, the time JING gives for whole leaves to open, and it turns a December afternoon cup into something with a beginning and an end.
Gadgets in gift sets usually end up in a drawer. A timer next to the kettle has a fair chance of being used, and a better one of being noticed.
What is in the box
Twenty whole-leaf tea bags, four each of Assam Breakfast, Earl Grey, Jade Sword, Jasmine Silver Needle and Peppermint, plus a three-minute glass sand timer, in a reusable illustrated Explorer caddy.
Key features
- Five teas, four whole-leaf bags of each
- Black, green, white and herbal in one caddy
- A three-minute glass sand timer for brewing
- Illustrated Explorer caddy that is kept afterwards
Our verdict
Five teas with a clear sense of purpose, a sand timer that earns its place and a caddy worth keeping. JING sells character over quantity, and that suits a recipient who has outgrown supermarket tea and would like to be told why.
What we like
- Whole-leaf bags from a house that names its gardens
- A sand timer that makes brewing a small ritual
- Black, green, white and herbal in one gift
- A caddy handsome enough to stay on the counter
A few things to know
- Only five teas, four bags of each
- Only one caffeine-free tea
- International delivery takes 5 to 15 days and varies by country
