Each year, Davids tea comes out with a 24 days of tea advent calendar, which is just that - an advent calendar with their most coveted teas that are waiting to be unveiled each day. I did some research and found that this is apparently a hot ticket item for the holidays. Since I recently became a fan of Davids, I was intrigued and wanted to know if first off, it was worth it. Although I'm a sucker for pretty packaging and cute boxes (oh hush, you are too), I didn't want to get wrapped up (ha!) in the sole novelty of the product instead of the value of the tea! By the time I calculated the cost of an average bag of tea at that weight compared to the cost of the calendar which is $34.50 for 240g, this was worth it. I wasn't too impressed with the sudden $5 price hike for the exact same weight of tea in the calendar this year versus the usual $29.50 from years gone by, but all in all it was still worth it. Factor in the tiny labelled tins and decorative box they come in as well. There was a lot of questions about when we can order this online and hype building up. At first, we were told this would be available online anywhere between midnight and 9am on November 8, then we're told 9am to avoid any technical difficulties that may arise. In around an hour, they were completely out of stock online! Not so great for those that don't live close to a store, especially since they could not even hold one for you. I'm not sure why this highly anticipated item was sold out so quickly, but I'm sure this supply and demand method created more of a "need" this item now mindset; which I'm willing to bet was the intent to begin with. It's seems as though they are using a scarcity tactic, which creates more desire, which will make the consumer not only fight to get one, but get multiples (just in case). Think about how you feel when the store clerk says "these are selling like hotcakes and there's only a few left" - you feel lucky, excited, accomplished, and feel that you should perhaps buy another for good measure. A popular yoga retailer does the exact same thing, and people go NUTS! Come to think of it, they are a bit similar not only with the scarcity technique, but their clearance sections is almost named the same way "we bought too much" vs "we made too much". Anyway, back to advent.
Includes: Blueberry jam, Buddha's Blend, Main Squeeze, Cinnamon Rooibos Chai, Cream of Earl Grey, Gingerbread, English Breakfast, Silk Dragon Jasmine, Forever Nuts, Glitter & Gold, Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait, Alpine Punch, Chocolate Orange, Genmaicha, Mango Madness, White Chocolate Frost, Read My Lips, Coffee Cake, Santa's Secret, Sleigh Ride, Mother's Little Helper, Stormy Night, Kokomo Green and Vanilla Orchid.
Pretty good choices there, many of which I would have never picked out myself at the store. Each tin will make between 1-3 cups. The back of the box has a list of included teas along with ingredients. A few from their winter collection is also in there as well. This is a really nice gift for those who are new to loose leaf tea as well. If you made it into a store to get one after the failed online attempt, that's awesome because a few employees have said that by the same night of the release, most if not all were sold out in Ontario. I called a few stores as well and all but one in Toronto was sold out! Good thing I got a few....you know, just in case....
