Plum Deluxe Tea Haul

When I got home from work today, there was a big box of happy mail waiting for me on my doorstep. My order from Plum Deluxe had arrived! I was even more excited than usual to get my Plum Deluxe order because I didn’t know most of what I was getting in my order. But we will get to that in a bit, right now we are going to talk about the things I knew I was getting in the box.

The reason I placed an order was to get a supply of Plum Deluxe’s lemonade mixes. Arnold Palmers, 1/2 black tea, 1/2 lemonade, are my very favorite tea related drink. I made at least one every day for most of the summer with Assam tea and Simply Lemonade. Now that it is getting cooler, I probably won’t drink Arnold Palmers as often, so I don’t want a large container of Simply Lemonade going bad in the fridge. So, I was looking for powdered lemonade mix that didn’t leave that horrible metallic after taste in mouth that I get from grocery store powdered lemonades. Plum Deluxe lemonade mixes are all natural and taste wonderful with absolutely no after taste. The lemonade mixes come in 5 flavors, original, rose, lavender, peach, and pomegranate. I have tried the original lemonade mix before so I ordered 6 packets. I also ordered one packet of each of the other flavors to give them a try.

How, when I placed the order, did I not know what was in the box? The first reason is I got a grab bag. For a grab bag, Plum Deluxe picks 3 teas and wraps them up for you. All you know is that you are getting 3 teas and they will be chosen around some kind of theme, like caffeinated, decaffeinated or in this case, put the lime in the coconut. All the teas in the grab bag contained lime.

Occasionally, Plum Deluxe will offer what they call a mystery box. They will guarantee a certain number of teas, in this box 5 full packets teas and a lemonade mix plus enough other tea related merchandise to be worth 89 dollars.

So what did I actually get in my mystery box? First up was not 5 full packets of tea but 6 full packets of tea. Each packet of tea makes 15-20 cups of tea. Because I already have a huge collection of Plum Deluxe tea, all 6 teas were ones I had already tried. I didn’t mind that though because the Dragon Fruit Desire and Strawberry Immunity were on my to buy again list and none of the 6 were currently in my stash. I will try them all hot and cold.

The box contained not one, but two full sized lemonade mixes, 1 rose and 1 lavender. Was I disappointed because I already got lemonade mix in the box? Nope, I will use them all in either my Arnold Palmers’ or when my non tea drinking friends come over this winter.

The tea merchandise portion of the box came in the form of 20 orange blossom honey sticks and a bag of rock sugar. I have never tried either of these things, so I am really excited to experiment with them.

There was also a beautiful tea towel and a Plum Deluxe journal. I keep a copy of the journal in my bag so I can keep notes about any teas I drink during the day that I may want to add to my stash.

Is it worth it? This is the second mystery box I have gotten, and I will continue to get them when they are offered, and finances allow. The box was 49 dollars and just the 6 teas and 1 lemonade mix were enough to cover that price. In both cases, I have gotten way more than what I paid for it. Also, I maybe almost 53 years old but I am like a little kid when it comes to presents. I was so excited to open the box and see what I got and oooh and ahhhh over it. I was like Christmas in September. It was so much fun. If you like surprises and finances allow, grab bags and mystery boxes are a great way to try new teas from Plum Deluxe.

This order was placed by me and paid for by me. I don’t take any form of monetary compensation, free product or free subscriptions from the companies whose products I review. All opinions are my own.

Why I don’t Hate on Teabags

For the last few weeks, I have been having a rather interesting conversation with a person leaving hateful comments on my blog, saying that I am not a real tea drinker if I drink tea from tea bags and don’t condemn the use of tea bags on my blog. I responded to her in an email the reasons why I won’t do that. The hate kept coming until I quit trying to have a conversation with her and blocked her. I am just done. If you don’t like the content on my blog, please keep scrolling there are other tea blogs out there that are more to your taste. I can even recommend several for you.

There are several reasons I will never hate on teabags or those who drink tea from teabags. The first reason is I am not a hypocrite. Although, I do prefer to drink loose leaf tea and do most of the time, I have several different kinds of bagged teas that I love. These teas include several that I buy at my local grocery store and will continue to buy until they discontinue the brand or flavor. Tazo’s Wild Sweet Orange and Passion flavors were teas I used to drink with my friend, Dawn, around the table at her farm. Those teas hold very warm and wonderful memories for me and will always have a special place in my tea stash.

The second reason I will never condemn the use of teabags is because it wasn’t all that long ago the 5-dollar box of Red Rose black tea I bought once a month was a real treat for me. One I saved my change for all month long to be able to afford. I started drinking loose leaf tea at the beginning of the pandemic when I was sent home by my job to work for extra pay because I am an essential worker. The only bills I had were rent, electric and internet. I could afford to try whatever teas I wanted and buy whatever tea gear and gadgets I wanted. Not everyone was or is so lucky. I will never condemn someone because they can’t afford what I can.

These are the reasons you will always hear me say if the tea you are making and how you make it is giving you a cup of tea you enjoy drinking you are doing it the right way. These are the reasons I will always post recipes with tea or tea leaves in them with bagged versions of the tea and loose-leaf versions of the tea, if I possibly can. I want A Cuppa and Conversation to be a safe, inviting and educational place for everyone, no matter where they are in their tea journey.