Tea Buying Hiatus Support Group

I see that some of us just can’t seem to stop buying tea when we know we have too much and need to cease the accumulation. It’s just so tempting! I’ve already broken the hiatus twice, and not even two weeks had passed.

This topic serves as a support group for those who feel the urge to buy more tea. TBH, I partially made this topic to remind myself of my goal. So: Post your troubles/lamentations here, receive encouragement from myself and others!

You can do it!

1303 Replies
Dexter said

I’ve had to stop buying,I don’t have a choice. I’m moving in a couple of weeks and don’t want packages to go to the wrong address. Need to wait until I’m settled into my new place to start placing orders again.
As a relative newbie to both loose leaf tea and steepster, this is incredibly hard. I keep seeing other’s recommendations, sales, free shipping offers, etc – it’s hard being new and wanting to try everything right now. I just want to keep exploring this wonderful new world, but it has to be on hold for now.
I know patience is a virtue…..but I’m not doing so well with that right at the moment.

I’m facing a similar dilemma, being a newbie as well. I want to try unflavored teas, and there are sooooo many.

What I am doing now is thinking about all the teas I have right now, and how much I love drinking them that I have what I need to enjoy myself.

Good luck to you when you move!

Anyanka said

I’m newish too. I currently have six online orders, tea from the international grocery, and tea from my normal market. It’s out of control.

Six?? Oh my. What are you going to do after you receive them?

Dexter said

Thanks Kiwi, I can’t wait to move and to get my new place set up. I’ve been watching the “show us your tea cupboard thread” for ideas on how to set up my stash.

Anyanka said

Oh whoops, six that I’ve already received and no more on the way. I don’t even drink all that much tea.

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Lala said

I am also on a self imposed hiatus. Although prolly will be broken this weekend as I am going out of town, and there is an awesome tea shop where I am going.

I “support” my hiatus by putting all of my teas out onto my counter. This way everytime I need to make a tea, there is just tonnes to choose from. And if makes me feel like I have enough tea already. Also its a pain because anytime I need the counter I have to clean up a bunch of tea, so that makes me want to get rid of enough of it so there is less to move around.

Everyone that comes over just thinks I’m crazy though. But good news, they thought I was crazy before too!

Good idea, that kind of arrangement. I wish I could do that. Because I live in a house with my parents and my sibling, there isn’t much room in the kitchen for me to do that. My stash is here and there, kept in four separate locations around the house.

Crazies unite – fist bump

Dexter said

That’s a great idea!! My current living situation does not allow that kind of thing, but once I get into my new place… I’m also really looking forward to being able to set up a proper tea cupboard. I think my self imposed restrictions will probably be space related. The tea HAS to fit into that space.

I sort of do that. I put all my tea in a bowl, and use it up before getting more.

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My boyfriend has an idea for limiting my tea buying haha he suggested I only buy new tea when I do a sipdown, but 1 sipdown = 1 new tea, not 1 sipdown = 5-10 new teas, which is what I do now. I just have to figure out what to limit my cupboard to, I was thinking maybe 85 (2 orders in transit right now will probably put it over that though) but maybe I’ll aim a bit lower for 75.

Also, when I have to hide my tea stash from his mom when she comes to visit, I know I probably have too much! It’s just so difficult to not buy new tea, there’s so many varieties that I want to try! :(

Sipdowns! That’s what I need to do. It’s great you have someone to support you irl. I only get criticized ._.

I hear you about the varieties.

Yeah it is good to have someone tell me to not buy tea, but then I get mad at him when I want to buy all the teas haha and he doesn’t want me to :( but I bought 2 for him today hehe so he’s not entirely cutting off my habits. Lol, we need TA (Teaholics Anonymous)

So if you sip down 10 teas on Saturday, you get to order 10 more, right? ;)
Oops! We’re suppose to be helping each other to NOT buy more tea…

Haha actually that’s almost how it will work, when orders are not constantly arriving lol. I am also supposed to go the whole summer without buying more tea…that definitely will not happen lol.

And don’t worry, I’m my own worst enemy when it comes to ordering tea haha, even without help :P

This is probably one of the reasons Tony & I still live in separate houses, even though we’ve been together 13 years, LOL. It kind of freaks him out when I show up with bags of samples to sip over the weekend (including a flow of earl greys for him to try out). If we ever actually move it together, he’ll probably faint when he experiences the true awesomeness/craziness of my tea ‘collection’. :D
I’ll probably have to start having all my tea orders delivered to my PO Box, slipping them into a special storage closet that I’ll need in my office (we both work from home).

MissLena12 You made me think of this: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_fdou0Xa3IfY/R6OvnA6Dw8I/AAAAAAAABak/TNssjX8-QDE/s400/angry+lion.jpg

“DON’T TELL ME TO NOT BUY MORE TEA.”

:) Nice!

Sil select said

Misslena – yeaaah… but if i tried that i’d actually be increasing my cupboard since i have swap sipdowns ;)

bwahahahaha
I can for sure say that sometimes i have a work from home day so that i can spend some time near my tea and get to have a whole day of lots of teas instead of the 2-4 i can squueze in while at work.

@ Terri – Awe I’m sure he would grow used to it, my boyfriend is ok as long as it doesn’t encroach on his counter space and as long as there’s some Verdant white tea for him in there as well :P

@KiwiDelight – lol that definitely is me when I’m in a tea buying mode, usually when I’m stressed out I like to buy tea because then I get pleased about having it show up :)

@Sil – oops I am accidently being an enabler hehe, I love those days where I can just sipdown and drink 10 teas, that should happen more often now that I’m done school, I’ll take a ton to work and weekends and evenings will be very tea oriented!

Lena, don’t get me wrong, Tony is the most wonderful man in the world! BUT he’s a person who can be happy with the same thing forever, & I thrive for variety/improvisation/novelty. :D

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Sil select said

All i can say is sample sizes and swaps :) I hope someday to be sitting at maybe 125 or so teas but so far that’s kinda far away…

Samples are still out of the question. I have a small mountain of them… I’m going to try my first sipdown this Saturday.

Swapping is indeed excellent. But I don’t want to swap too many times in a given amount of time; the money adds up.

Dinosara said

I have to second swapping here. When I think back on it, when I was a tea newbie I did the most “exploration” and got exposed to the greatest variety of teas in swaps. If you crave a variety of small samples its so nice to have someone send you some of their favorite teas that you never would have ordered for yourself!

Dexter said

As a newbie, I think I shouldn’t sipdown too much of my stuff if I want to get into swapping. I’ve never swapped and feel it would be easier to get started if I had a variety of teas from a variety of suppliers.
I totally agree with Dinosara about swapping being a great way to explore a variety of stuff. I’ve peeked in several peoples cupboards on here and would LOVE to have the opportunity to get my hands on some samples. I feel I need to expand my cupboard to have something to offer in return. Maybe I’m wrong but it seems like a bit of a double edged sword….

Lala said

Dexter3657 I wouldn’t worry about not having enough in your cupboard to swap. It really depends on who you are swapping with and what they want. Just throw it on a swap list and you will be surprised at who replies.
I checked your cupboard and would be interested in swapping with you. Check my cupboard if you are interested.

Dexter said

I would love to set up a swap with you Lala. As stated above I’m moving shortly, and don’t want to loose any packages that are sent to the old address (or any getting to the new place before me). I’m following you, and if you are still interested, will send you a message in a week or so to see if we can work something out. I have some of the Butiki teas on your shopping list, or anything else I have that might interested you.

I’m a big fan of sample sizes!

Dustin said

Dexter, you have plenty of choices in your cupboard for swapping! Good luck with your move!

Dexter said

Thanks Dustin, can’t wait for the new place. I have lots of stuff in my cupboard, and I also have lots of styles that I haven’t explored yet. LOL Soon, I’m working on it.

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Lala said

I also find that I go in phases. I will buy lots of tea then feel guilty and stop buying and drink down what I have. Then I will buy lots of tea again. I have also learned to buy in small amounts, and not buy 100g of everything.

I truely believe that moderation is the key. Don’t deny yourself buying tea, but purchase a little bit at a time. I do this for potatoe chips as well :P

Keeping a budget sometimes helps.

I know which teas that I like. So I don’t feel like I have to try a lot of different teas so see what I like. But in saying that, I still buy every Earl Grey and blood orange blend I find. Need to work on that.

Uniquity said

+1. I initially bought everything in 100 gram increments as I didn’t realize I could buy less. Needless to say, I still have 75% of that tea two years later. Then I go through phases of interest – unflavoured black teas, then rasty oolongs, then maybe some flavoured stuff and back to unflavoured blacks. I actually find samples a little dangerous as I ended up with WAY TOO MANY and stored them badly and they basically all got ruined by smell contamination. I learned to just buy the best and drink it in a reasonable amount of time. Also swapping is a bit pricey for me in terms of postage so I give away to friends (luckily tea is becoming popular at my work) or throw out the really bad stuff.

TeaLady441 said

That sounds like me. I’ll buy buy buy, and then feel guilty and stop for a few weeks.

I don’t want to be over 100 teas (small samples included), so I want a ban to go on effect when I hit 100.

Maybe I’ll lower that number in the future.

Sil select said

@ Cavo…that was my first goal….then it was no going over 200…then i hit 300 and now i’m trying to get back to 200 lol. My goal for this year was to try and get my cupboard down to 150 before black friday sales. I’m thinking i need to change that to 100 so that i can buy a bunch of things and still be under 200 :)

Uniquity said

I was very close to 200 and have been working for a year to reduce that. My Steepster cupboard is near 120 but I think I probably have about 30 extra unlogged samples on that. Most of them are tasteless though as they were in my pile of bad storage, so I am working my way through them, drinking the good and tossing the bad.

TeaLady441 said

Sil – that’s totally reasonable! You gotta leave room for Black Friday!

Dinosara said

Right now I’m on an absolutely-not-over-200 rule (sitting at 180 now) and attempting to drop. So I don’t buy anything unless there is a really good deal or limited edition I need, and if there is one of those than I can’t end up with more than 20 new teas. I’m trying to lower it and drink through all my samples, though I know I will reach a point (probably before I get to 100) where I am left with large amounts and sipdowns will come much more slowly.

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Dinosara said

Also you can check out this old thread for reading about how you are not alone, and also for ideas about how to curb the buying compulsion:
http://steepster.com/discuss/2261-how-do-you-stop-the-compulsion-to-buy-buy-buy-more-tea?page=1

Thanks for the link, Dinosara!

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I plan to go the month of May with no tea purchases. I bought a lot this month. And last month. And I need to purge my stash because I know I don’t love everything so I’m going to post in the swap thread once I figure out what I can get rid of. I cant handle my husband every time a new tea order/swap comes in the mail, a monthlong break will be nice!!

Sil select said

yeaaaaah…may is likely going to be “anyone wanna trade month” there are a bunch i have to share with the world heh

TeaLady441 said

That’s a pretty admirable goal. I’m tempted to do the same. Just to prove that I can. It seems like I can’t even go a week without buying new tea…

Yeah same here. Since I’m all “go big or go home” all my ‘fun money’ has been spent on tea for like two months :/

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I belong on this thread!
I have an obsessive compulsive relationship with tea, & like the addict that I am, I justify my ridiculous purchasing habits by reminding myself that I don’t drink, smoke, or eat sweets, so I should get to buy anything I want.
Tea trades are especially helpful because they allow me to try teas & feed my need for novelty, but if I find something I really love, this switch flips in my head, telling me I must have MOAR!
Also, I can go weeks without placing an order, & as soon as I give myself permission to place an order, I’ll go off on a binge & place several…sometimes to the same company within a few weeks. As we say in the 12 step fellowships, “1 is too many, 1000 is never enough”.

With my two orders that broke my hiatus I justified myself that:

1) It’s a shincha! On sale! And I can use it for my brand new kyusu!
2) Verdant’s having a $5 sampler for five of their teas?? Now’s the time to try Laoshan Black!

See, great minds think alike!

Dustin said

Verdant got me with their offer too. :/ Such a sucker.

I just did the Verdant thing because you posted it and I read it. Haha. There’s my reasoning. Also it’s still April :)

Fiddling said

I almost caved for Verdant’s sale, but there was an error at checkout and my purchase didn’t go through. I took it as a sign that I don’t need more tea, even if it is the famed Laoshan Black!

TeaRunner said

whatshesaid – Like.
Fiddling – Like.
:)

Fiddling: You just know it when the Universe is speaking to you ;)

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I need to be here for sure. I can’t stop buying tea – even when I have so many I lose track!
@Terri HarpLady – I too “binge!”

I haven’t bought anything in a couple weeks and I’m itching to buy more… especially with David’s Tea discontinuing some of my faves. STOP! DON’T BUY!

I need help! LOL

That’s what this thread’s for! Welcome :3 Never had the experience of feeling the need to buy a certain tea because it’ll be discontinued. Good luck with your decision. I’d probably finish off the not-so-favorites all at once and then buy the actual favorites.

How many are in your stash altogether? Maybe if you try to feel overwhelmed…

I almost placed an order but refrained. Let’s see how long it lasts!

Let’s see, I have at least 300 – total. About 50 or so at work and the rest at home. About a third – 100 or so – are samples and the rest are bags and tins. I try to share with my sis-in-law and mom, but even they are getting a bit cheeky – more tea? Really? ;)

Lala said

Stay strong KeenTeaThyme

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Della Terra keeps coming out with those coupons, and teas I want to try.

I have 12 of their teas, which is more than enough dessert teas for me.

Della Terra is definitely one of the ones I have the hardest time saying no to – the prices are great and the tea is awesome! Plus, extra coupons and new flavors. And the shipping is fast. And I like supporting smaller tea shops versus Adagio or David’s Tea.

Only 12?! My last order from them had about 12 in there… ;) Well, only 8, plus samples. I think.

Courtney said

I’ve got a bunch of Della Terra’s I’m looking to swap out Lariel if you’re interested :)

KeenTeaThyme Half of them are 2oz packets. Altogether, 85 teas are in my stash – way fewer than you and a lot of other members have. But it’s already so overwhelming, the amount I possess :(

I mostly have the sample packs of their teas.

TeaLady441 said

The nice thing about Della Terra is that they always have deals. So you can miss a few and not feel bad. That $5 Verdant offer was so rare I had to do that – special circumstances…

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