Fashion
Indian online tea retailer Teabox the global eCommerce tea company, has launched the world’s first ‘Personalized Tea Subscription Service’.
The program is powered by Teabox’s patent-pending ‘machine-learning technology’ that it says personalises and matches every individual’s tastes to a selection of teas.
The Teabox subscription program allows tea drinkers to choose the kinds of tea they would enjoy by breaking down their ‘perfect cup’ into 75 different attributes, such as aroma, astringency,
strength and body, into objective components which are matched to user preferences, habits and taste characteristics.
When consumers sign up to the plan, Teabox has them take a quick five-question quiz online, the results of which are analysed by Teabox’s ‘prediction engine’ software.
“Each user is assigned a ‘signature’ tea based on their responses. The machine learning algorithms look for patterns to identify a selection of teas best suited to go with this signature profile,” the company says.
“And as the users repeat and share their experiences with our prediction engine, it improves its discerning capabilities thereby improving its understanding of a user’s choices and matches our teas to them better. This feedback loop enables a reinforced learning behavior of the system allowing it to fine tune itself to specific taste profiles as we go further,” said Teabox founder and CEO, Kaushal Dugar.
“When it comes to taste preferences, there are no universals. One’s taste preferences are unique and theirs alone,” he said. “But the descriptions of teas, like wines, can be subjective. We understand this, and that’s why our prediction engine has been developed to break down subjective words like “floral,” “sweet” and “astringent” into over 75 quantifiable attributes.
“This, coupled with the habits and preferences of our customers enables us to pick out teas perfectly suited to their palate – making our subscription program the most personalised tea experience out there.”
Teabox ships a package of tea based on the user’s habits and preferences each month. The teas come from the company’s broad selection of tea gardens and suppliers and the company promises fresh teas.
Teas are delivered within five days of ordering and subscription packages are priced from US$9.99 to $39.99 a month.
Founded in 2012, Teabox sources fresh teas from 200 growers in Darjeeling, Assam and Nilgiri to the entire world. In two years, Teabox has delivered over 30 million cups’ worth of tea to customers in 80 countries.
The company is backed by Jafco Asia, Accel Partners, Keystone Group and Dragonee Investment Group.
