GlobeIn Fair Trade Artisan Subscription Box - The Cozy Box Review
The October theme for the GlobeIn box, a fair trade subscription box, was Cozy, an appropriate theme for the fall if you ask me. After seeing the previews, I had high hopes for the box which would contain, among other things, a latte mug and a scarf. After recieving the box, I'll admit one of the products disappointed me, but overall I was still reasonably satisfied. Read on to find out what the problem was.
Handwoven Basket from Mexico
As usual, a handwoven basket from Mexico was included i the box. The baskets are handwoven by Mexican artisans from the Mixteca region and come in a range of colors and patterns. When I first unpacked it, I thought it was the same color as the first one I recieved, but when I compared the two I realized that wasn't the case. Both lovely colors! And great quality, too.
Divine Chocolate Cocoa Powder
I was very happy to see this in the box. I've never tried the product before, but I've tried several of the Divine chocolate bars. Divine chocolates are made with cocoa from Ghana, and they're always top quality! I haven't tried baking with this cocoa powder yet, but I did make hot cocoa with milk and a little sugar, and it was great! I'm always happy to see more food products that are fair trade. And what's more cozy than some hot cocoa?
Le Souk Latte Mug from Tunisia
This mug was the product that I looked most forward to in this box, and sadly it was also the most disappointing one. Although the mug itself seems to be great quality, and has a great, large size (which I love), the decor painting on it didn't live up to my expectations. Now, I get that hand painted products can't have the same kind of precision as factory painted items, but it was just a little too imprecise for my tastes. A shame, because it's otherwise such a great cup!
Marquet Scarf from Thailand
This beautiful scarf is created by an artisan group in rural Thailand, on a traditional hand-built room from locally grown cotton. They came in a range of colors, and I got a nice, pleasant beige in my box. The scarf had a lovely quality and feeling, soft to the touch and nice and big so that it could be worn around the neck or over the shoulders as you see fit. Now, beige isn't really my color, but this scarf ended up being a very appreciated Christmas present from a dear friend.
Overall Impression
Overall I was happy with the contents of this box, but I was quite disappointed with the mug. However, since I was still happy with the rest of the content, and since I knew (from a GlobeIn newsletter) there had been some production issues around the cup and I suspected this was tied to the quality issues, I decided that I would give them a pass this time and continue my subscription anyway. Spoiler alert: two boxes later, I have not regretted that decision. I consider it a temporary lapse in quality. In terms of theme, I think they put together a very fitting box.