Tea Buying Hiatus Support Group

1303 Replies
graceatblb said

Bought another cake from Mandala…that’s 21 now. I tried to stop myself. I really did. I swear. I am such a weakling. I comfort myself with the fact that this is my first order since early July.

Sil select said

haha oh grace. what do we do with you!

Dexter said

Ugggg – Phatty Cake 2 is out. I hear you Grace, it’s hard not to keep ordering them. I don’t have 21 – I only have 6. I wasn’t worried about storing them, was intending on drinking them in a relatively short period of time, but as my stash of them continues to grow (and my wish list as well), I’m suddenly really concerned about proper storage. Where do you have yours? I’ve read several articles on the subject and I’m more confused now than ever. I’ve done nothing to mine, they are wrapped in the paper wrapping that they came in and I tossed them in a drawer in my china cabinet. Is that ok, should they be in cardboard (?) boxes? Should they be on a shelf in the closet? Should I be concerned about scents in the house? I burn scented candles occasionally, scented air fresheners, stuff like that – will they pick up those scents? These are the things I’m thinking about, I don’t want to go too crazy stock piling if I’m just wrecking them.

graceatblb said

I’m really excited to try the Phatty Cake sequel. I am trying to hold off until I finish the first one.

I don’t really go crazy with storing my cakes. I keep them in cardboard boxes on my bookshelf. The shelf is out of the way of any scents and I keep an opened box of baking soda close. I fantasize about having one of those fancy setups but I’m a bit too lazy for that.

Dexter said

Thanks Grace. I like the baking soda idea. I’m going to move mine into a box (with a box of baking soda) and put them on a shelf in my bedroom. Will be away from most of the day to day scents in the house. I won’t be as worried if a few of them stay there longer than anticipated.

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I need to stop buying tea. I need to drink the tea I have. I say these two things to myself over and over again, but then Verdant has their Laoshan sale and all my good intentions goes out the window. Honestly, I don’t even feel guilty because I’ve been reading about the Laoshan black for years, and now I finally get to try it.

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I recently got new teas from three different companies. Though I did use gift cards, and one I bought was a gift. Does that count?

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SimplyJenW said

Hmmmph. Broken again. Needed lots of Yun Nan Dian Hong Golden Tip from Teavivre and it was 30% off today. I bought so much I got a free gaiwan! It was just too good to pass up.

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Lala said

I can’t believe how much money I have “saved” by being on a hiatus. I say saved sarcastically because I have just spent the money on other things. Ha.

But this hiatus has really helped me to take stock in how much tea I actually have, how much tea that I realistically drink, and how much money (a lot!!!) that I spend on tea. I am not going to stop spending money on tea and tea related things but it is always helpful to actually know how much you are spending.

Now I just need to apply my hiatus to other things in life, like buying sandals and slippers, going to the greenhouses, buying lipgloss and wine, and the list goes on and on.

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Ag select said

Well, that was a short hiatus for me. Ordered from Verdant, Mandala, and TeaVivre (I’m ashamed by how much I spent, it pretty much undid all that I saved during my summer hiatus). D: But I think I can make this hiatus last to the end of the semester now, and hopefully into the next… so long as I’m not tempted by Adagio’s fandom samplers. Thank goodness for their self-ban function!

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Sil select said

Well, we won’t talk about how often i’ve fallen off the bandwagon BUT i figured i’d check in and see how people were doing. I hit 200 tonight, though i fully expect that will be back up to 225+ in no time given the orders, tea box and friend tea on it’s way to me already…and did i mention i’m making a couple swaps? haha On the plus side, once all that is here in my house, i think? i can manage a month without buying things since i’ve managed to:
-reduce the number of 52 teas in my cupboard by a bunch (nothing again frank’s teas, i’m just trying to stop hoarding them for fear of not being able to get them again!)
-get to 200 (a couple times now)
-place a few orders from companies i was really anxious to try..so now i need to get through those teas!
-get through my older teas, so now the oldest tea in my cupboard is less than 9 months old! Now i kind of want to see if i can get it down to the older tea being 6 months old… fun!

I’ve also created a spreadsheet to track quantities and potential re-orders so i’m having fun with that!

Lala said

I have been doing not too bad myself. I managed to reduce my cupboard side greatly through massive sipdowns, and starting a travelling tea box helped. I have been able to hold off on most orders, except for a few, but I kept the amount of tea I ordered to a minimum and only what I needed, not what I wanted. Except for today, when I went into the tea store, and went nuts, I have been doing well. I also organized my tea cupboard and it really helped to see what I have (and how much of it I have).

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I just slipped hardcore upon seeing Lupicia’s spring offerings of single origin greens, and that they finally brought Hatsukoi and Natsukoi to the US. I don’t even care. Went straight to Lupicia SF on my lunch break.

-Hatsukoi
-Natsukoi
-Taiwanese Early Spring Oolong 2013
-Nankishirahama Houjicha 2013
-Shade-grown Uji Gyokuro 2013
-Asamiya Special 2013
-Uji Yabukita 2013
-Nara Tsukigase Kabusecha 2013
-Gokase Kamairicha 2013
-Miyazaki Sakimidori 2013

~$160

Which leaves me with a pretty massive collection of sealed-up 2013 single-origin shincha/sencha and two $35+ gyokuro. My Lupicia pile’s getting out of control, I’ll post a before/after pic set once the half I had to order arrives (half was in stock at the Lupicia store, half wasn’t).

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Ag select said

I am determined to stay on the bandwagon, no matter how bumpy the ride.

(… Yeah, I slipped up a few days ago and ordered from Butiki, Whispering Pines, and Red Leaf Tea…)

Now I’m hoping I can get my cupboard/tea trunk down to a reasonable size before Black Friday. Oh dear.

Perhaps I should pop into a tea swap/tea giveaway thread… I’d have to locate a convenient post office, first. Blasted campus post office doesn’t do sending of packages. >.>

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Kaylee said

I haven’t bought ANY tea since I got back from Taiwan at the end of June (excluding prepared teas bought for immediate consumption). That sounds so strange that I actually went back through my e-mail to confirm. I admit to ordering a sample from Yunomi, but that’s only 5g and it was free!

So here’s my problem right now: I really want the Mango Lassi and Oriental Beauty on sale at Butiki (and the Pistachio Ice Cream, but I should probably finish drinking what I have first!). I’ve been holding out until the end of the month, and I’m trying really hard to at least wait until Stacy posts the new teas on Thursday. But… but… I want my tea now! Wah!

Meanwhile, my tea count is at 139 after giveaways and a few sipdowns and excluding all of the teas I brought back from Taiwan.

Step 1 may be admitting you have a problem, but doesn’t that only apply if you have some intention of pursuing recovery?

Dexter said

Wow – I’m not sure if I’m more impressed that you were in Taiwan or that you haven’t bought tea since June. I’m sure the trip was amazing and I’m pretty sure you would have brought back some excellent teas.
Sorry, I can offer advice – wait until the new teas are posted then you can make an informed decision on what you want to order. Rather than ordering the on sale items today then seeing the new teas on Thursday and placing a second order.
I’m not so sure you should listen to me – Hi my name is Dex it’s been 48 hours since my last online purchase, and I have no idea on how to stop.

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