The Tea Garden subscription service sends tea to your door in Canberra

A new Canberra-based subscription tea service aims to keep you well stocked for that 3pm cuppa.

The Tea Garden is a new small business that sends out monthly or quarterly boxes filled with a variety of blended teas put together by founder Mikhaila Pennell.

"It came about initially because I worked for a different tea company and I found that customers were often looking for something we couldn't offer. I wanted people who really liked tea to be able to create their own blend," she says.

Pennell chooses all the ingredients and loose leaf teas, blending them by hand before packaging them and sending them off to subscribers.

Her interest in tea began as a teenager when her mum brought her a little gift from a trip to Melbourne – a box of mixed teas. The young Mikhaila, who'd previously been an English breakfast with milk and two sugars girl, was fascinated by the variety.

"I just didn't realise how much there was to learn about tea. In our Western culture in Australia and Western Europe it's more coffee, coffee, coffee, but when you go to look into it tea is actually huge," she says.

The first Tea Garden box went out to subscribers in late March, with three blends. "There's a premium English breakfast tea, it's got wattle seed, Brazilian coffee and caramel," Pennell says. "We also did a green tea with jasmine blossoms and a tiny hint of French vanilla for sweetness. And we did an African rooibos flavoured with apple and raspberry."

She wants to eventually offer a personalised tea service, so that people can explore different teas that fit their preferred flavour profiles.

If you're into lapsang souchong you might get more smoky gunpowder teas, or if you love a floral blend you might get teas filled with fruit and flowers.

"As time goes on and we start to build our inventory more, we really want to be able to offer our subscription customers the chance to fill out a quiz to tell us more about their flavour profile," Pennell says.

"That's the very exciting part, when you can tell a company what you like and they can give you things to explore."

So what's her preferred cup of tea?

"I really, really love single origin Taiwanese oolong," she says. "But my all time favourite tea has to be hojicha bancha, a Japanese tea that's really earthy but fresh and simple."

Pennell blends the teas and handles the creative side of the Tea Garden while business partner Lauren Heys looks after marketing.

Pennell has always been creative and entrepreneurial. Her first business, which she ran on the side as a uni student, was the Canberra Candy Company, where she laid on candy buffets for businesses and catering events.

"I just like the idea of being creative. And the thought of being able to do that for a job is the most exciting thing I can think of," she says.

The Tea Garden's subscriptions cost $32.95 for a monthly tea box and $37.95 for a quarterly box. There's a 20 per cent discount for the first month if you use the code "friendsinteaplaces".

See teagarden.co