What you pay and what we cover
Our samples are free. The tea leaves themselves, the kraft pouches, the printed brew card, the farmer attribution sheet — none of that appears on your invoice. What you pay at checkout is the postage cost, calculated from your shipping zone and the weight of the box you selected (most quarterly sample boxes weigh between 40g and 90g once packed). We charge postage at cost. We do not mark it up, and we do not bundle handling fees into the line item. If a carrier raises rates mid-quarter, we absorb the difference until the next box cycle starts. Packaging is 100% recyclable kraft and unbleached paper tape — no foam, no plastic windows, no foil liners except where a tea specifically needs light-proofing (some greens and whites). On those, we use a compostable inner pouch and label it as such. You will see your final postage figure before you confirm the order. There are no surprise charges added after checkout. If your country imposes import duties or VAT on small parcels, that cost is separate and falls to you as the recipient — see the customs section below for details. Sample boxes are limited to one per household per quarter, which keeps the funnel honest and lets us ship widely instead of concentrating on bulk buyers. For larger orders, our flagship channels are shop.thetea.app and shop.puerh.app, where standard commercial shipping rates apply.
Domestic zones and carriers
Within Russia, we ship via Russian Post (Почта России) for standard parcels and EMS Russian Post for tracked express. Standard parcels reach Saint Petersburg and Moscow in 2–4 business days, regional cities in 4–8 days, and far-east destinations such as Vladivostok or Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in 8–14 days. EMS shortens those windows by roughly half and includes door-to-door tracking. Within the United States, we use USPS Ground Advantage for sample boxes under 100g — typical transit is 3–5 business days coast to coast, with tracking included by default. Within the European Union, we hand off to Deutsche Post for German addresses and DHL Paket for the rest of the bloc, with transit between 2–6 business days depending on the destination country. Within China, we route through China Post for standard delivery (2–5 days inside mainland China) and SF Express where partner farms request expedited handling for charity drops. Every domestic shipment, regardless of carrier, ships with a tracking number. You will receive it by email within 24 hours of fulfilment, along with a direct link to the carrier’s tracking page. If the tracking number has not updated after 72 hours, that is the moment to write to us — sometimes the parcel has moved but the scan was missed, and sometimes it genuinely has not left the depot. We would rather investigate early than wait.
International zones and transit windows
Cross-border shipping is where things get more interesting and less predictable. We ship internationally via DHL Express for tracked priority and EMS for the standard tracked option. China Post Registered Air Mail handles outbound charity drops from partner farms in Yunnan, Fujian, and Guangdong, since those parcels originate at the source rather than from our European desks. Indicative transit windows, measured from the day we hand the parcel to the carrier: North America, 7–14 business days by EMS, 3–6 by DHL Express. Western Europe from our Berlin desk, 3–7 business days. United Kingdom post-Brexit, add 2–4 days for customs queue. Australia and New Zealand, 10–18 business days by EMS, 5–8 by DHL. Southeast Asia, 8–14 by EMS. Japan and South Korea, 6–10 by EMS, 3–5 by DHL. South America and most of Africa, 14–28 business days — we are honest that these corridors are slow, and we will recommend declining the order if the timeline does not work for you. Tracking is provided on every international shipment. DHL parcels update in near real time. EMS parcels update at each customs handoff, which can leave gaps of 2–5 days where the parcel appears stationary even though it is moving. That silence is normal. We only treat a parcel as concerning after 21 days of no movement on the international leg.
Customs, duties, and declarations
We declare every international parcel honestly. The customs form lists the contents as “tea samples, gift, no commercial value” with the actual weight in grams and a declared value matching the postage you paid (since the tea itself is free). We do not mark parcels as higher-value to discourage inspection, and we do not under-declare. Most destinations clear small parcels under 50g or under a low de minimis threshold without applying duties or VAT. However, some countries apply VAT or GST on any imported good regardless of value — the United Kingdom, Australia, Norway, and Switzerland are common examples. If a duty is assessed, the carrier will contact you directly to collect it before final delivery. That payment goes to the carrier and the tax authority, not to us, and we have no way to prepay it on your behalf for sample-tier shipments. Agricultural inspection is a separate matter. Loose-leaf tea is permitted entry into most countries, but a small number — notably Australia, New Zealand, and parts of the United States — may hold parcels for inspection if the customs officer wants to verify the contents. Inspections add 3–10 business days to transit and very occasionally result in confiscation. We have not had a confiscation in over two years, but the risk is non-zero and we want you to know. If your country prohibits loose tea imports outright (rare, but real for a handful of jurisdictions), we will refuse the order at checkout rather than send a parcel that cannot legally arrive.
Tracking and delivery confirmation
Every parcel ships with a tracking number tied to your order. You will receive two automated emails: one when your order is confirmed and queued for fulfilment, and one when the carrier scans the parcel into their network. The second email contains the tracking number and a direct link to the relevant carrier portal — USPS, DHL, EMS, Russian Post, or China Post depending on the route. You can also view tracking inside your account on tea.gratis. For domestic shipments, expect tracking to update within 24 hours of dispatch and at least once per business day until delivery. For international shipments by DHL Express, expect updates every few hours during business days. For EMS or China Post international, expect updates at major handoff points only — origin export, destination import, customs clearance, last-mile carrier handoff, out for delivery, delivered. Gaps of 3–5 days between scans are normal during the international leg and do not indicate a problem. Delivery confirmation is provided in the form of a final scan from the last-mile carrier. In countries where door-drop without signature is standard (the US, Germany, the UK in most cases), the scan is the confirmation. In countries requiring signature on delivery (Russia for EMS, China for SF Express), the carrier will attempt delivery up to three times before holding the parcel at a local depot for collection. If you miss all three attempts and do not collect within the carrier’s hold window, the parcel returns to us — see the next section.
Lost, delayed, and returned parcels
A parcel is officially “lost” when tracking shows no movement for 21 business days on an international shipment, or 10 business days on a domestic shipment, and the carrier’s own investigation has not produced a location. At that point, write to hello@tea.gratis with your order number and the tracking reference. We will open a formal trace with the carrier — USPS, DHL, EMS, Russian Post, or China Post — which typically takes 7–14 days to resolve. If the trace confirms the parcel is lost, we will reship the same sample box at no additional postage cost to you. We do not issue cash refunds for sample boxes, since the postage was at-cost and the tea was free, but we do honour a one-time reship per lost shipment. For parcels marked “delivered” on tracking that you did not receive, the first step is to check with neighbours, building reception, and the local post depot. Carriers occasionally mis-scan or leave parcels at adjacent addresses. If the parcel is genuinely missing after 5 business days from the delivery scan, write to us and we will open a delivery dispute with the carrier. Returned-to-sender parcels (failed collection, refused customs payment, incorrect address) come back to our desks. We will email you once they arrive. You can choose a reship at the actual postage cost, or decline and we will retire the order — the original postage you paid is not refunded in that case, since the carrier already performed the work. Address accuracy at checkout is the single most effective thing you can do to prevent this — please double-check apartment numbers, postcodes, and recipient names before confirming.
Sustainable packaging and carbon notes
Every sample box ships in unbleached kraft cardboard with paper-tape sealing and a single inner pouch per tea — compostable if the tea requires light-proofing, otherwise plain food-grade kraft. The brew card and farmer attribution sheet are printed on recycled paper with vegetable-based inks. There is no plastic film, no foam peanuts, no bubble wrap, and no glossy marketing inserts. The whole parcel, including the outer box, can go into a household paper-recycling stream once you have brewed your way through it. We do not offset shipping carbon individually per parcel — the math on small-parcel offsetting is fragile and often greenwashed. Instead, we contribute annually to a reforestation programme on Wuyi tea-mountain terraces in Fujian, coordinated through partner farms we work with on puerh.app and tea.travel. The contribution figure and the partner organisation are published in our annual transparency note. If you would like to read more about how we think about the supply chain from origin to doorstep, the farmer-attribution context lives on tea.travel under the route notes, and the broader sustainability stance is part of the parent-company disclosures at teamotea.com. Air freight is unavoidable for international sample boxes — surface shipping would push transit times past two months — and we are honest that this is the largest carbon cost in the chain. We have chosen to be transparent about it rather than greenwash it.