Tea Shop Spotlight: Tea Thoughts

My favorite tea gifts themed shop is Tea Thoughts. Actually it is the only shop I know of that specializes in tea themed products. Tea Thoughts is run by Nazanin Yousefnejad, who is based in Maryland. She is a brilliant and highly talented one woman show, writing the Tea Thoughts blog and fully running the shop. She designs the products, hand creates some of the products, designs and decorates the packaging (making each and every order feel like an extra special treat). The products range from pottery to jewelry to stationary and more.

My favorite products are definitely the tea themed pins. These come in both enamel and wood styles and are so beautifully designed and crafted. The most common style is her gaiwan pins. There is a whole line of different gaiwan pins, some with flowers, some with fruit, one with a phoenix. So far I have two, both of which turned out to be even more beautiful in person than they are online. I plan to keep collecting more as she designs more and I just ordered the blue pomegranate gaiwan and two new yixing pot designs.

Nazanin updates her shop frequently, launching new items based on the season and with these shop updates come chances to get special products and discounts if you order quickly.

Now hands down her greatest creation so far is her curated countdown boxes. These are fantastic seasonal or holiday inspired boxes of tea and treats and what’s inside is a surprise (though she does give some hints). She curates these boxes with her own products and designs as well as teaware, snacks, fun little gifts, and tea from other small businesses. A wonderful thing about these boxes is that buying one not only gets you a fun and unique experience but you also support the Tea Thoughts small business as well as several other small businesses. I have purchased three of these boxes and have been introduced to so many wonderful businesses.

The boxes are themed, and the theme is carried throughout the packaging and decorations. This past Spring box was a sakura blossom theme. They are in a countdown style, being that each of the days is individually wrapped and numbered. You open one a day to count down to events like Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Halloween, and Spring. Most of the boxes are seven days but the Christmas one was twelve (and she hopes to eventually do a twenty-four day countdown). These boxes can help make the build up to the holidays or seasons even more special. You can also choose to open these boxes any way you want, just be careful of releasing spoilers if you post about it. For example, I chose to make the February Valentine’s box a countdown to celebrate my birthday instead of Valentine’s Day.

The boxes are in very limited supply due to the fact that Nazanin is one person organizing and hand wrapping and packing all of them. So if you want one you need to follow her on Instagram and sign up for the shop’s newsletter so you are ready when they release. They usually sell out quick and this past Spring box sold out in one day. They release about a month before the first day to open to allow plenty of time for delivery. So sometimes if you get yours really early you have to hide it from yourself to stave off temptation. She does include an introduction letter and some small unwrapped gifts like stickers to tide you over.

Inside the boxes are a range of things, several types of tea (usually pure unflavored teas), candy (like the best caramel I’ve ever had), cards and stationary products, tea infused lip balm (my new favorite kind), hand-made pottery, ornaments, teaware, jewelry, and more. If you want a closer look, I’ve done videos on YouTube (Tea Fueled Writer) opening the Valentine’s and Spring boxes. Many of my fellow TeaTubers have done videos opening other boxes too like Tea With Jann and Jackie Allen. Watching their videos of past boxes drove me to a need of having to get one for myself and I’ve been hooked ever since.

Nazanin has big plans in store for the rest of the year with some really exciting sounding ideas. Lots of new designs, smaller gift boxes, and teaware are some of the things she has hinted at being in the works. Nazanin is such a special and sweet person and I have come to develop a lovely online friendship with her.

If you would like to check out Tea Thoughts, click here.

Thank you for spending some time with me and letting me share. Hope you have a lovely rest of your day!