MelissaTea said

How much DID you spend on tea in 2014?

Would anyone like to use this thread to keep a running total of their tea expenditures for the year?
It might be kind of fun or it might be depressing. I think it would be a good place to keep track how much of my money goes toward tea.
If you’re interested, just sign in and then write prediction of how much you think you will spend this year.
When you make a purchase, start a new post and add it to your previous total.

FYI – To make bold type face, do this but don’t leave spaces between the word and the *
BOLD……………………………………………….* BOLD *

440 Replies
MelissaTea said

Prediction – $200

Purchases so far – Mad Tea Party Blend (Disney Wonderland Tea) $11.95
(not counting the trip to Disney to buy the tea)

I like how you left the trip to Disney out of the purchase price :)

I doubt she went there just to buy the tea :P

Login or sign up to post a message.

Sil select said

I’ve budgeted 600$ for tea purchases this year. I expect though that I’ll spend closer to 1000. Which, if i really think about it, seems like a pretty ridiculous amount but it’s 90% of what i drink. I suspect the only way i’d drink less is if i get knocked up grin

January Purchases
Verdant Blends Club – 10.75
Norbu – 36.50
Teavivre – 32.80
River Tea – 24.69
Verdant – 36.75
Adagio – 40.00
Tea G. – 21.00
Target – 5.01
Tea Festival Purchases – 20.00CAD

Running Total 2014 – 174.70 USD 20.00 CAD

TeaLady441 said

And if you do, will you have a massive tea sale? :p

Sil select said

of course lol

TeaLady441 said

And then we’ll all end up here after we clean you out. Haha.

Sil select said

uh and with a crazy last minute trip to chicago, that’s another 65$ for this month…haha

OMGsrsly said

$65 on a trip seems really restrained, actually.

Sil select said

haha it was..but only because we ran out of time. I didn’t get a chance to really spend a lot of time at adagio and i didn’t even hit argo. Tea G was awesome!

Login or sign up to post a message.

SFTGFOP said

I drink around 7 kilos of tea a year, divide by 50 = 140 x average tea purchase price for 50 grams is 5 dollars…
-——————————————————————————
Prediction 700 bucks.

**Sorry I’ve been so bad about updating this! I’m going to go back and try and figure out my totals

(January) Camellia Sinensis -$60 -various teas, can’t find the record
(January) Teavivre $32.50 -Samples
(May) Teasenz $25.53 -Samples
(May) Single Origin Teas -$52.00 -12 oz of tea (Amba, Coonoor, Grapefruit, Ginseng, Pai Mu Tan Malawi, Jun Chiyabari)
(July)Mariage Feres ~ 150$ bucks
(July)Camellia Sinensis ~150$ bucks

Running Total = $470.03

SFTGFOP said

oh dear god. I just spent over 300 bucks on tea. What is wrong with me.

Login or sign up to post a message.

Prediction $600 (higher than normal because of my trip to Paris)

Actual Purchases
(January) Teavana $7.36 – 15oz of tea + tea pitcher
(January) The Tea Merchant $9.77 – 4oz of tea + sample
(January) Blue Chai $2.50 – sample
January Total: $19.63 FINAL

(February) Yunomi.us $9.84 – green tea samples
(February) Shan Valley $6.50 – 4 samples (5oz)
(February) Zen Tea $18.28 (19.63CAD) – 3 samples + 200g EGC
February Total: $34.62 FINAL

(March) Red Leaf Tea $40.96 – 4 Custom MATCHAccino flavors + free sample
(March) TeaVivre Order $0.00 (Reward points -$43.60)
(March) Kusmi Tea $11.73 (almost free tea thanks to my RueLaLa credit!)
March Total: $52.69 FINAL

(April)TeaVivre Order $17.90
April Total: $17.90 FINAL

(May) Zen Tea $18.86
May Total: $18.86 FINAL

(June) Hediard – Paris €24.00 ~32.50
(June) Mariage Frères €35.50 ~$48.07
June Total: $80.57 FINAL

(July) Butiki Teas $50.99
July Total: $50.99 FINAL

(August) TeaVivre Order $0.00 (Reward points + gift card -$9.80)
(August) Mandala Tea (sampler) $5.00
August Total: $5.00 FINAL

(September) NOTHING!
September Total: $0.00 FINAL

(October) Arbor Teas $1.50
October Total: $1.50 FINAL

(November) Adagio $0.00 (rewards points)
(November) Yogic Chai $11.56
(November) TeaVivre $0.00 (rewards points)
(November) TeaBox $37.28
(November) Herbal Infusions $56.00CAD ~$50USD
(November) Della Terra ~$24
November Total: $122.84 FINAL

(December) Art of Tea $16.87
(December) Harney & Sons $7.50
December Total: $24.37 FINAL

RUNNING TOTAL $440.53 FINAL

It will be interesting to see how much I really spend on tea and teaware in a year, I’ve been meaning to start keeping track. I’ve decided to only track my out of pocket expenditures, my totals for Adagio, TeaVivre and Verdant are normally a lot higher, but I use rewards points on those orders to keep the cost down.

MelissaTea said

A trip to Paris sounds awesome!

SFTGFOP said

What tea did you buy at Teavana? 15oz for 7.36…and a tea pitcher…sounds like you hit the jackpot!

I did hit the jackpot, the teas I ordered were 75% off, but I had a gift card that I used for part of the order. Technically it didn’t come out of my pocket, so I’m not counting it in my totals.

Blue Infusion Tea Pitcher Large
Strawberry Rose Champagne Oolong Tea
Almond Plum Perfection Herbal Tea
Jade Dragon Mao Feng Green Tea
Strawberry Cream White Tea
Berry Mint Cassis Rooibos Tea
Fig Rose Herbal Tea
Dragonfruit Devotion Herbal Tea
Maharaja/Samurai Chai w/Sugar Sample

Subtotal: $30.38
Discount: -$10.00
Gift Card: -$18.43
Tax: $0.46
Shipping: $4.95
Total: $7.36

SFTGFOP said

;) sneaky.

when are you going to be in paris/ where are you going? I’d love to talk to you about this, i’ll be there for four days in April and want a full day of just tea.

As far as I know I’ll be there the first two weeks in June, but other than that we don’t have anything planned out yet.

One of my Black Friday orders never came in and the company isn’t responding to emails. I’ll be contacting my credit card company on Monday when I get back in town for a refund of the $50 I spent with Herbal Infusions. This also means I’ll have spent $210 less than I expected to this year.

My budget for 2015 is $400, so it’s time to start tracking all over again.

Login or sign up to post a message.

Yvonne said

So far I’ve spent personally…maybe $100. All I have. :( The rest, my mom and grandmother have kindly purchased for me, but they’re struggling with money right now as well. I miss being employed, but I’m not physically able to at the moment due to illness. Sucks.

Hopefully later this year I’ll be employed, though. Then the spending will start and I can start doing swaps and sending things out. If I find employment I’ll probably spend about $400 – $500 on tea this year. All depends on recovery.

I’m in the same boat as you, being somewhat broke at the moment! I hope you get well soon :)

Login or sign up to post a message.

Nerys said

Do you post only the cost of tea or do you post also the shipping cost to get the tea as that is sometimes quite a cost also?

Most of my orders are large enough for free shipping, but when they aren’t I’ve been including shipping costs so I can get an accurate total of what I’m spending. The only thing I’m not counting are gift cards/rewards points since what I want is my total out of pocket for the year.

Sil select said

I consider shipping as well, though my estimate doesn’t include money spent on swaps heh

It’s your record so it’s up to you. I’ve been recording everything tea related: shipping, sweeteners, teaware, etc.

Login or sign up to post a message.

I spent around $50 at A&D this month. Given my lockdown, I anticipate spending no more than that unless another limited edition comes out this year or I make significantly more progress in my sipdown efforts than currently seems humanly possible…

I spent another $50 on A&D to get the Red-Tailed Hawk and the Caravan Resurrected before they go bye bye. I have a lot of shopping carts with stuff in them but I won’t let myself push the button, at least not yet.

Another $31 on A&D today. Neigh! Grumble grumble. At least I haven’t allowed myself to buy anything else.

Amazingly, as of mid-February, I have not spent any more than the above. My lockdown is working. I may buy a yixing pot, but that doesn’t really count against the lockdown because it isn’t tea, and I don’t have one.

Nothing on tea for the remainder of February, only on tea ware. (I should probably be counting tea ware but I’m not because… no lock down on tea ware. I suspect I will have to implement one in March, though.)

Tea total for the year so far (January and February).

About $131.

Does that make me a teetotaler?

Login or sign up to post a message.

While I think I will spend some $500 this year, I won’t really try to keep track of it or anything. The amount I will spend depends on too many factors, and everything always changes a lot. Especially if one works in retail :P You work one day, you might not the next, or you might have a whole bunch of hours, or scarcerly any at all.

I have about 8 places I really want to order from this year – so I roughly calculate that I would spend ~$50 at each and that equals $400, plus $100 to spend for some sales, favorite online stores (re-stocks on favorites) and new places not included in my initial 8.

I hope that by the end of 2014 I will have found my favorite teas and online companies and then will try to stick to those (and re-stocks) for the most part.

Sil select said

i hoped i’d have figured that out as well in the year i was drinking…no such luck beyond narrowing down some of the things i like/dislike haha

That is what I needed to hear ;P

Login or sign up to post a message.

moraiwe said

Prediction
I’ll probably budget for $1200 for the year for the household. There are two (sometimes three) tea drinkers here, so that has a lot to do with it. If I end up spending less than last years $1700, I’ll be happy though.

Purchases
(January) Adagio $23.7016oz Citrus Mate + 3 samples for Fiance
(January) 52 Teas $14.97Hot Buttered Banana Bread + 2 SBTs
(January) 52 Teas $5.81Cantaloupe Watermelon + 4 SBTs
(January) TJ Maxx $12.99Le Palais des Thes 100g tin (The des Sables)
(January) BlueChai $2.50Sample
(January) Adagio $51.30Fandom Blends and Misc
(January) Teavivre $49.60Gongfu Teapot, Peach Jasmine Pearls, Mao Feng
(January) Fava Tea Co. $10.803oz Various Teas
(January) Amoda $12.00Monthly box
January Total
$183.71

(February) Tea Setter $10.00Sampler
(February) Shan Valley Tea $7.35Samples
(February) Amoda Box $10.50Monthly Box
(February) Adagio $17.153 teas + infuser
(February) 52Teas $35.96Restocking SBTS + tea
(February) Adagio $8.752 Fandom Blends
February Total
$89.71

(March) Shang Tea $50.404 teas
(March) Red Leaf Tea $2.33Cheesecake Matcha Sample
March Total
$52.73

Running Total
$326.15

Login or sign up to post a message.

AnnaEA select said

Hum. I project I will spend about $2400 on tea and immediate tea expenses this year. I will count tea purchases, tea ware purchases, and tea event costs. I’ll include shipping, but exclude travel expenses.

January
Golden Dragon Yellow from Teavana , 2oz $30
The Tea Companion by Jane Pettigrew, $20
A yixing set spotted at the asian market $40
A decorative yixing teapot on EBay $11.99
A gaiwan on Ebay $6.98
Verdant Tea – Master Han’s Wild Picked Yunnan Black, 1 oz. $15.75
Verdant Tea – Reserve Sample Pack, 2oz total, $35
Verdant Tea – shipping for above, $8
Adagio Teas – Yunnan Gold 1.5oz + shipping, $15.15
Chinese Tea Ceremony class – $50 (for two people).
Sharing expense – $5.80
Sharing expense – $22.50
Adagio Teas – Dancong Aria sample – .5oz Pu-Erh Poe sample – 1oz Earl Grey Moonlight sample – 1oz. 75 cents.
Teavana – 2oz Golden Dragon Yellow, new chawan – $60.00 approx.
Steepster Select – $14.95
Ebay – $2.99 – tuocha sampler from random Chinese company
Sharing expense – $5.85
Upton Tea – $ 18.18 – 125g Scottish Breakfast Blend,
160g Turkish blend, plus shipping.
Teavana – $7.42

January Total – $371.03 January Notes – Went to a tea class this month, and spent heavily on wares. Three cheers for the Xmas bonus!

Running Total
$371.03

Slot machine tea?? I’m so intrigued. Where did you find that?

AnnaEA select said

Oh.. that’s my personal joke about buying a tea from a Chinese importer with no coherent description of the tea in english. It’s like playing a slot machine – I throw a few bucks in, and hope I get a jackpot.

AnnaEA select said

Travel note for January – This month I went to one tea class, in my home town, and to two club meetings. Tea miles for Jan – 931.

Login or sign up to post a message.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.