January Shop Update Info

It’s 2023 ! I’m excited to start this year off with a shop update that will be super fun! For this month’s shop update I have 2 things to share!

Camellia Sinensis Tea Cups
For a long time I’ve been trying to find a way to get one of my designs on teaware. I love creating the gaiwan enamel pins but what if I could actually get one of those designs or a similar version printed on a gaiwan?! Well, so far I haven’t been able to find a way that was feasible for the size of my shop currently but I did come across a ceramics supplier who could do cups! I’m really excited to be releasing 50ml porcelain tea cups with my camellia sinensis design on them! These cups have a decal of my design high temperature fired on them. I hope you’ll enjoy using them!

Galentine’s Swap
I’ve mentioned a Galentine’s day swap earlier this fall and I’m doing a test run this year to see if it’s something I want to continue doing. In the past I’ve done Galentine’s day swaps and there was always the issue of someone not following through with sending something to their partner. After one year of way too many of non follow throughs I gave up doing the swap. Since then I’ve thought about it more and participated in a few others with other brands and I’m ready to try again!

Galentine’s day was a concept I first learned about from Parks and Rec where Leslie Knope deemed February 13th Galentine’s day, a day to celebrate the women in your life that you love like your girlfriends!

For this swap, you will be signing up to send a small package to a partner and also purchasing a gift box for yourself from my shop. The point of the gift box is to have something for yourself in the chance that your partner doesn’t follow through for some reason.

I have a limited about of spaces for the swap since I am testing it out. There will be 20 slots and you will get the box at a discount. The last 10 boxes will be available for purchase without participating in the swap but won’t have the discount.

If you sign up for the swap, you need to use your full name, correct address and email so that I can contact you and so can your partner. After you sign up, I will send out a short survey that you must complete. This will help your partner decide what to get you! Once I have all the surveys I will put people together in pairs and send you the information of your partner.

For the swap, try to really understand your partner based on their survey and get them something or a few smaller items that you think they’ll love. Don’t go overboard on spending but it would probably be good to spend between $10 and $20. It doesn’t have to be complicated, think of it as sending a fun package to a new friend! Package their gift in a fun way and write a card! You want this to be a fun surprise to open :)

If you’ve never shipped a package before, the easiest way is to pack it up, put the recipient name and address on the box by writing it or printing it on paper and taping it to the box and also your return address then take it to your local post office where they can help you ship it.

Remember that the heavier your package is, the more expensive it will be to ship!

The goal is to ship the package to your partner so that it will reach them in time before 2/13 or 2/14 !

The gift boxes I’ve created do have 2 teas in them but the other items are not necessarily related to tea. I tried to take some of the suggestions that people gave in a survey I sent out. There will also be 2 edible items but they are vegan, gluten free and use transparent and ethical trade.

Ya Shi Xiang Cakes - Now releasing in February!
Something fun that I’ve been working on with Rainy of Serene Tea is designing a cake wrapper! If you’re a fan of Duck Shit, I will have 200g Cakes of Duck Shit in my shop wrapped in a wrapper that I created! I will have 30 total. The first 10 will be available at a discounted price and then the other 20 will be available without the discount. I wanted to create something that had a duck as the main feature of the design but also some background landscape.

These are being postponed and releasing in the shop in February alongside Rainy from Serene Tea who has a few of my cakes and also more of the same tea cake with a different wrapper design that she created. Stay tuned!

February Catch up

It’s already February ! I actually feel like January is a bit longer which is fine with me because It’s my birthday month. I wanted to recap a few things about the shop, teas I’ve been enjoying and what’s coming to the shop in February!

January was officially month two for full time Tea Thoughts and it was nice but also difficult. January is often the slowest month of the year for many shops due to holiday fatigue, it makes perfect sense! As someone who just started full time, it’s a little scary though and allows doubt to creep. But instead of talking about what was lacking, I want to focus on what I accomplished, and it’s a lot !

In last month’s recap, I talked a little bit about my schedule that I try to keep so that I stay on track. I was pretty good about this schedule in January too except for a few days. Something I’ve learned the past couple years is to not wait to plan ahead for the holidays and even later in the year. Things happen and you don’t want to be stuck with nothing to share. In January I finalized several designs that I will be using later in the year and have already started to plan a few special holiday products that I will be trying this year!

I also placed several orders for products that I will be releasing in March April and May depending on how I structure it. With all this done, I want to try to focus back on working with my hands. I have some clay left over and while it’s a little too chilly to sit on my balcony and throw I may try to hand build some items or maybe do another tea pet series! I also recently finished an important step for tax season and that is a huge load off my mind.

Teas

I received many teas for both Christmas and my birthday and I have been slowly sipping them down as well as sharing them! Two of my favorite have been moon bear oolong and red buffalo oolong from Hatvala Tea.

I also decided to keep one of the fish gaiwans that had some glaze issues for myself. Even though I’m at home, I find it relaxing to be able have a tea session while at the computer if I’m busy. This set has been great because I can fill up two cups and the vessel is in “easy” mode because it has a spout, handles and a built in strainer. Effortless Tea!

If you’re interested in grabbing one of these sets, I have a few left in the shop.

February Shop Update

Near the end of the month I will be having a shop update! I may break the update into two sections as Cat teaware will arrive today! Remember those cat tea cups I had in December? Well I will be restocking those + matching gaiwans and pitchers and have around 20 of each depending on if any broke during shipping.

I also will be releasing TWO boxes this month. I know there has been some disappointment in the past about the countdown boxes selling out. It is truly a struggle because I want to offer more and I have been gradually increasing the amount I offer but I guess it’s time to up the boxes again! I will be offering more countdown boxes this time. Since I am the only person working on these from curation to wrapping and shipping I will need to start simplifying the process.

Changes:

• This time I will be using kraft boxes with a nice design but writing name directly on the box. That last part of wrapping the box in kraft paper takes a lot of time and was meant to protect the white box. I’m giving in and doing kraft boxes with one color print to save time!

• I will likely be making the envelopes and paper shred inside more uniform like kraft color so that I can save and use them with more than one box instead of having leftover items that I have to find a place for.

• I finally bought a wax seal gun which will make sealing the envelopes way easier!

• I’m contemplating creating a QR code that you can scan for the box info instead of including so much paper in the box. Do you like having the fortune tellers/cootie catchers? Let me know your thoughts!

Nowruz Box

I will also be offering one other box so that there are options and more opportunities for fun tea experiences. I have in the past done a small Nowruz box or shared about Nowruz but I plan on providing more information about the traditions around Nowruz and some fun items to help you celebrate that are also items that are nice to have. While I don’t want to give away everything in the box I will share some hints:

• Explanations of traditions around Nowruz and what they represent

• 2 Small Books

• 1 Oz of a Persian Tea Blend

• Nowruz themed goods designed by me

• 1-2 other items that relate to Nowruz that will help you celebrate

• Dependent on shipping: A glass tea cup- one that is similar to glass tea cups I used growing up

There are a few other items in transit that I may include in the shop this month but it’s a little too early to make a decision on those!

Countdown Box & Gift Box Previews for 2022

Another year is wrapping up nd I’m so grateful to have been able to put out more countdown boxes! This year was so incredible and I’m very happy with how each box turned out. As many of you are opening the last day of your advent/countdown to winter boxes and smaller countdowns, I wanted to share my thoughts for how next year will go!

In previous years I have done a valentine’s day countdown, spring, summer, fall, Halloween and the advent/winter countdown. While I LOVE doing the valentine’s day countdown I have decided to do something different for 2022.

The timing for these boxes is a little complicated especially since I love to be able to provide them to my tea friends in Canada! My ship out day needs to be 2 weeks or more before the first day of the countdown, and with Valentine’s day being somewhat at the start of the month, this timeline has been really stressful the last couple of times. Instead, I am going to do a box for valentine’s day but I will be more like a gift box!

2022 Schedule of Giftboxes

Valentine’s Day - Date Night Box for yourself or for you and a date! I haven’t decided if the box contents will be a surprise or not but it will include tea and teaware to be able to have a Valentine’s day session! The reasoning behind the valentine’s day box has always been my love of the holiday. If I’m being honest with myself, I don’t love the holiday because I’ve had romantic, sweep you off your feet moments throughout the years. It’s because I like the spirit of the holiday, showing people you love them. I often like to make cards and give them to my family and friends who are local and mail them out to those far away. I think love is worth celebrating in al it’s forms - love for family and friends, love for a romantic partner and love for yourself!

Release Date: A couple of weeks, in early to mid January! These will ship end of January to hopefully make it on time to father away places !

Norouz Box- Spring is an important time for me and Persians around the world as we celebrate New Year. I don’t always share about Norouz because I’m never sure how interested people will be but I will be attempting a small gift box for Norouz that will include tea, something to drink the tea in and probably a Norouz themed gift! This will release either at the same time as the spring box or a little later.

2022 Schedule of Countdowns

Countdown To Spring- Another reason I’m not doing a valentine’s day countdown is that it cuts it too close to the spring countdown which has never actually counted down to the first day of spring, except for this year! While you can open countdown boxes however you’d like the guidance will be to countdown to the first day of spring! This box is almost set and I’m excited to have a piece of teaware, yummy teas and hopefully a handmade item! Spring holds a special place in my heart because it’s New Year so I am excited for us to actually count down with a box! Spring is also a time for renewal so I hope to…RENEW… your love of tea with some interesting teas !

The Advent sold out so quickly so I will be adding a few more boxes to this batch :) I haven’t decided on a theme for the box decoration but will share previews as always when I have it down to one design.

Release Date: This box will hit the shop in Mid February and be shipped out in late February

Countdown to Summer: I will be doing another Countdown to Summer box and soon will start planning these teas. I think Summer is a great time for tea - hot or cold and I have some ideas on what to bring you in the box!

Release Date: The box will hit the shop in Mid May and ship out at the end of May

Countdown to Fall: Another Countdown to fall! In 2021, the Fall box replaced the Countdown to Halloween. While that box was SUPER fun to curate it was similar to the Valentine’s day box where it cut very close to the advent it it was stressful to get everything on time and done. I also want there to be enough of a break between boxes! Fall is such a wonderful time of year so I think this box will be another fun one!

Release Date: The box will hit the shop in Mid August and ship out the end of August!

Countdown to Winter/advent: In 2022, this advent will be my 4th Annual! I get so excited about this, planning started in Spring. I wan to do things a little different this year. While I’ve always wanted to do a larger countdown, I struggle with trying to keep it somewhat affordable so that it can be accessible to most! The boxes are extremely labor intensive from curation to packing to shipping, I don’t really factor in my labor when I should so I’m afraid a larger countdown for the advent would be too expensive. I may however try to add a day or two if I can to make it a little more magical!

Your Feedback:

I can’t guarantee that I will be able to deliver on everything you suggest because not every suggestion works for me but I am always listening and want to hear what you think! There are a few topics that I am especially interested in hearing your opinions on! Check them out below and feel free to leave a comment or email me - hello@teathoughts.com . Please note that the valentines, spring and norouz box are pretty much set.

In 2021, I started putting pieces of teaware in the box, do you want that to continue?

What kinds of non tea items would like you to see more of?

Would you like to see the advent box have more days in it?

What is your favorite aspect of the countdown boxes?