Summer 2025 Decaf and Herbal Traveling Tea Box!
Thanks for the information Arby and TeaEarleGreyHot! I will keep it in mind for future TTB’s!
I’m a botanist and I’ve dealt with improperly frozen specimens at the herbarium before. I’m always cautious about transporting things (especially because I live in an area with invasive potato nematodes).
Ha! And I am grateful to folks working in herbaria who facilitated some of my research, where I successfully subtyped fungal spores using DNA from herbarium specimens over 110yr old collected around the world!
We’ve got lots of specimens from 1900-1910 which is very neat. Your research sounds fascinating!
With the site going down, I decided to go ahead and create a discord server for herbal and decaf tea as a fallback option. Here is the link: https://discord.gg/nna5Nr7F You might also all want to go ahead and share your address with the person before you who will be sending you the box.
The box is here :)
Hopefully Steepster will work during the trying all teas!
Cameron B. of course that’s very possible that I will do the same; but it is not like a posting a note to the other tea enthusiasts. But it seems that posting notes already works, just dashboard seems still stuck.
rosebudmelissa: Exactly! However, due to my meds I need to double check the ingredients.
I wrote to Kaylee a message with a request for address and I will send the box late next week (probably Thursday).
And for my part, I have sent Kaylee my address info in advance, as a precaution against a Steepster operational catastrophe. Both Martin Bednář and ashmanra also have my info., should a problem develop.
Everyone, please make sure you are following the person before and after you on the list in order to have the option of sending private messages with your address information.
If you’d like you can also join my herbal and decaf discord server as a backup method of communication.
Martin posted on the discord that the changes effecting international shipping right now may make it difficult for the tea box to get back to the US right now. He works in shipping and has hope that things will settle down in a few weeks so he is currently planning to hold onto the box a while longer.
My understanding is that although the de minimus exemption has been eliminated, if the item is labeled as having value under US$100 and is marked as a gift and is sent personally (not via a commercial service) there won’t be a tariff. But I guess we’ll just have to see!
You’re right, but:
…is the fact that at the moment the goods enter the USA, these goods must already be cleared through customs and the assessed amount must be paid.
That’s the major trouble, especially for people who aren’t really into customs and shipping stuff as I do. Most of the people don’t know how to fill customs declaration correctly and I would be surprised if USPS is ready for that. And even the tariff fee and/or any others are zero, it has to be cleared before it lands on the grounds of US.
Below a whole message from Czech post (machine translated):
“According to the new executive order of the US President, the “de minimis” duty-free regime for all postal items with a value of zero to 800 USD imported into the US will be abolished with effect from August 29, 2025.
Fundamental issues and procedures, in particular in the area of customs duty collection, specification of data collected and method of cooperation with US customs authorities, have not yet been clearly defined by the relevant US authorities. Partial technical details were published only on August 15, leaving an extremely limited time frame both for preparing the technical transfer of data to the US side and for setting up the customs duty collection, which must now be paid before the item enters the US. For this reason, it is not possible to ensure compliance with the requirements of the executive order at this time.:
For Czech Post customers, this means that from August 22, 2025 until further notice, the reception of items containing goods to the US will be suspended, regardless of their value. It will still be possible to send parcels to the USA containing only written communications or documents, and between individuals, parcels containing gifts up to a maximum value of 100 USD. However, these parcels will also require proper completion of the postal customs declaration with an emphasis on a correct and complete description of the contents and the actual value in the currency of the destination country, i.e. in USD. Even if the customs declaration is correctly and completely completed, customs procedures at entry into the USA may be extended, which means longer delivery times.
The reason why the restriction on the receipt of parcels is taking place a week before the executive order takes effect is the fact that at the moment the goods enter the USA, these goods must already be cleared through customs and the assessed amount must be paid. Czech Post cannot guarantee delivery of the parcel to the USA if it is submitted to Czech Post after August 22. Czech Post has no influence on the transport time of the parcel after its dispatch from the Czech Republic."
So, that’s why I suggest waiting a little while until postal services are a bit more ready.
Thank you for providing that peek into the minutiae, Martin! That level of detail is rarely reported by US news media. They are too interested in “reporters” having high-pitched giggles and the vocabulary of 8 year-olds. Because that’s all most ’Mericans can understand.
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