Tea on a College Budget

If you like Teavana, you may want to check out this thread:
http://steepster.com/discuss/784-teavana-is-specialteas

I too am I college student and I personally always look for ways to get free tea: for example I got free samples for reviewing thepuriTea website and I am on an Art of Tea judging panel which sends out free tea. Cofftea mentioned in another thread that it is a great idea to follow tea companies on twitter and I agree as they always mention ways to save on tea.

This may be just perfect for you. The Tea Spot offers what they call their “Student Starter Pack.” They have quality teas and their tins are extra large so they last a long time.

http://theteaspot.com/student-starter-pack-tea-gift.html?catid=252

Pu Erh can be expensive, but I strongly suggest you try it. I prefer sheng (raw) Pu Erh cuz it tastes like a white, green, or green oolong (but don’t fear, they are not grassy) in a lot of ways, but if you like black teas, you may like shu (cooked) Pu Erhs as well). I suggest Bana Tea Co. (from other people’s experiences). They have a Beginners Gift Pack for $35 (third from the bottom here: http://www.banateacompany.com/pages/accessories.html) that even comes w/ a Pu Erh knife, which you’ll need.

They also have a 7 Pu Erh sampler for $12 (darn, it used to be 10) here (top one):
http://www.banateacompany.com/pages/puerh_teas.html
Due to the high concentration (1g/1oz of water) and the fact that you can get 12 infusions from Pu Erh, you could, theoretically, get 672oz or 5.25 GALLONS of tea from this sampler.

Adagio also has 3 Shu (cooked) Pu Erhs. 2 can (unfortunately) be found in their black cateorgy for $3 and $4 respectively, and a $9 sample can be found here.
http://www.adagio.com/masters/yunnan_golden_pu_erh.html?SID=9537a070b8082ec2c82577a2cff8d4e4 It’s a lighter Shu w/ a peppery note. Even though I don’t care for Shu, I think it’s pretty good. All of Adagio’s Pu Erh samples are ~30g.

One warning: if you are not familiar w/ Pu Erh, do a quick search for Pu Erh in the discussion threads before you get started- or just send me a PM and I can give you a quick run down. :)