The 6 Best Tea Subscription Boxes of 2023

Best Overall: Arbor Teas

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Arbor Teas is a family-owned tea company from Ann Arbor, MI, founded by Aubrey and Jeremy Lopatin in 2004. They have grown from a tiny website — funded by painting their web designer’s kitchen — to a full-service tea delivery system with a comprehensive knowledge of the history and makings of tea and the organic process. Their website is a masterclass in tea and sustainability. They genuinely love both tea and the environment. And they care about getting the best to your doorstep.

Arbor Teas earns the Best Overall distinction for best tea delivery because they excel in every category we can imagine for an online tea experience, including selection, information, and price. They feature seemingly endless options within 10 types of tea. Tea from over 10 countries is also available with Fair Trade options in every category. They’re USDA certified organic and fair trade certified, with backyard compostable packaging, and they offset carbon emissions with a carbon fund. Whatever tea you love: Black, Green, Pu-Erh, Rooibos, Oolong, White, Herbal, Decaf, and Iced; from whichever country or the region you prefer: Africa, India, China, Korea, Japan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, South America, USA, Vietnam, you’ll find what you’re looking for delivered to your house.

Head to arborteas.com and steep right into their website. With their Tea of the Month Club (six months for about $96 or 1 year for roughly $186), you’ll receive one package of their featured tea at the beginning of every month, and it’s free shipping. Spend some more time on their website; they offer a full range of tea products and history lessons. Come for the tea, stay for the education.

Best Japanese Tea: Tea Crane

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Have you ever wanted a personal tea sommelier? Certified tea-master Tyas Sōsen of The Tea Crane is your guy. Originally a martial arts enthusiast, he relocated to Japan and fell in love with the Japanese rite-of-tea and dedicated his life to it. His particular ethos eschews larger industrial conglomerates for small organic local farmers, each featured with blurbs on his website. The Tea Crane is as close to farm-to-table tea as it gets, and he seeks to bridge the gap between global consumers and local makers.  

Sōsen curates a collection of naturally-grown, traditional teas made by artisans throughout Japan. His details on what he selects, and why, is unparalleled.

Through his Tea Crane Tea Club, he sends at least one package of an otherwise unobtainable, authentic, naturally produced tea, a detailed letter on the experience of the tea, and exclusive online access to info about the farmer and the region. At $25 a month, this is truly a deep dive into the tea experience, with access to a travelogue clearly written from Japan. There are also individual teas available for as low as $14 for 40 grams. That’s a fair amount of tea, for a specific and magical experience, as the aromas drift you away to the farmlands of Japan.

Best Green Tea Latte: Clevr

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Clevr knows functional lattes so well — they call them SuperLattes. They started in a van traveling California and spreading the adaptogenic latte and mushroom coffee gospel. Then they turned around and asked themselves how they could make their products available in people’s homes. And that’s when their SuperLatte blend was born.

Their Matcha SuperLatte is chock full of adaptogens like reishi, ashwagandha, and lion’s mane. It’s entirely plant-based, getting that creamy latte feel from their combination of oat milk mixed with coconut cream, and sweetened with monk fruit. Their zippy Matcha is sourced from Japan and is sure to give you that calming sense of energy with long-lasting focus. They only source Organic or Non-GMO ingredients and prioritize working with smaller ingredient suppliers. Their shipping materials are also 100% post-consumer recycled and recyclable. For about $24 at 14 servings per container, if you subscribe, you’re looking at less than $2 per flavor/health-packed cup. That’s barista-level quality in 10 seconds flat — plus they also have Chai SuperLatte and Golden SuperLatte.

Head to clevrblends.com and get SuperSipping.

Best Curation: Sips By

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Sips by are in a unique position — they spend time searching for tea from different companies and make it all available on one website. They begin the process with a tea quiz, which is quite fun, and a tea expert matches your taste to the brands they offer. Do you like smoky tea? They’ve got a blend and the best brand for that. Do you like your tea sweet? They’re on the case. An expert sends you four types from more than 100 global brands, according to your tastes. Every month four different offerings are delivered to your door. No other company provides cross-brand choosing. 

Many of the brands$anies that grow, blend, and package their tea— there's no better way to ensure laborers are treated fairly and paid well. Each package is from about $9 to $20 a month, delivered straight to your doorstep. Plus, they support women-owned and Black-owned companies, so you can be sure your tea comes from a diverse group of makers. Head to Sips by and start the quiz.

Best Tea-Based Drink: Sparkling Botanicals

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We all love bubbles, and now we have tea plus bubbles with Sparkling Botanicals tea-based beverage. They partner with Rishi, a tea company whose commitment to sustainable tea could be a selection on its own on this list with over two decades of providing fantastic online tea direct from farmers. Together, they have created a new and amazing crossover product. Sparkling Botanicals is tea for people on the go who don’t necessarily have time to brew.

They grow organic teas and herbs, without the use of agrochemicals like pesticides and fertilizers. They are also a direct trade importer of organic teas and botanicals based on long-standing, personal relationships with growers of sustainable gardens in remote locations around the world. This combination of tea and vision creates an incredible product for $40 a 12-pack. Certainly pricey, but indeed good. And flavors like Dandelion Ginger, Grapefruit Quince, Patagonia Maqui, and Schisandra Berry (also known as the Sandra Bullock) are combinations not to be found elsewhere or pronounced correctly.