Tea Buying Hiatus Support Group

1303 Replies
Dustin said

I too am trying hard to not buy anymore tea for a while. I need to stay off the sales thread. It’s a danger zone for sure! That and not checking out what the new 52teas flavor is helps.

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I’m done buying for at least a month even though I really want to try Butiki’s new Peppermint Patty!

Sil select said

wait for ruby pie! ;)

Good excuse to wait, hehehe

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Lala said

Two things I do to help me sipdown my tea stash is make lots of cold brews and iced teas. I have a 62oz tea maker/pitcher (usually use about 6 tsp or 3-6 teabags per brew). So I usually cold brew a decaf or herbal overnight. Then I drink it over two days, then start over again. On weekends I usually make a large pitcher of iced tea. This makes me feel like I am using up more of my tea.

The more I use up, the more I can buy, right?!?

I’ve never thought of making cold brewed tea. Summer’s a-comin’!

Dexter said

Iced tea is another journey I can’t wait to start exploring once I get moved into my new place. I have lots of different fruit teas just waiting for summer.

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Anyanka said

So I just placed another Upton order because they were running out of my absolute favorite and I couldn’t imagine not having it again soon.

I think I need help. I talked to my SO about the tea problem, and said I needed to cool it, but she declared it inexpensive and harmless. An enabler!

Sil select said

hahaha if your SO has no issues! go for it! :)

Dexter said

I’m just a newbie, but IMHO your SO is probably right. The questions you should ask yourself before buying more tea:
Can I afford it?
Do I have the physical space to store it?
Will I drink it?

If all those answers are “yes” then no problem. :))

Anyanka said

I’m trying to tell myself it’s going to go stale before I can drink it. And not listening.

Sil select said

i’ve been drinking loose leaf for still less than a year now. So i’m not concerning myself with “stale” until i get closer to my anniversary here on steepster. :) and even then, i’m pretty sure i’ve finished all the teas that i initially ordered!

Dinosara said

Meh, I have teas that I’ve had for almost 3 years now and they’re still tasty. As flavorful as when I first bought them? Maybe not, but I still enjoy drinking them and that’s what counts.

Dr Jim said

However, isn’t it better to wait until you really need it so it will stay fresh? I went crazy with sales between Black Friday and the new year and have over a year’s supply of many of my favorite types. I keep telling myself to wait until I NEED the tea.

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I put myself on and off on no buys.

I watched my stash get dangerously close to 200, and when I got an influx of teas, I hit over 200 – which put me into a OH CRAP moment! 200 seemed insane to me. Though, I’m not sure what number of teas would qualify as insane to normal people. I have family members with 12 teas think they have too many! So, if its a number I feel uncomfortable with, it’s not normal! So I’m trying to sip down stuff and weed out stuff I don’t like. Also, gasp, considering tossing some that are too old or gross to want to pawn off to others. Right now, I just have so many tea I haven’t even opened yet – so I need to chug through them all.

I wrote about it a little, http://oolongowl.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/buying-teas-on-a-budget-deals-samples-and-sharing-the-tea-love/ but I found researching whether a certain tea/ tea company is good before buying help me stop with random tea buying. I recently bought some pu’erh cakes – I figure I don’t need to drink them all right away as they get better with age. Or at least I justified it that way. :P

I also had a scary mindset that I needed to be one of the first to try a new tea, which got me to order often, but now I’m a little cautious. I can wait for a sale or until there are other teas to justify an order. However, what gets me is “exclusive or limited edition” teas and missing out – drives me crazy! 52 teas /waves fist!

Lala said

The only problem is, it seems all the sales happen at the same time. I feel like everything I was waiting to try went on sale in March.

Sil select said

agreed!

Anyanka said

Hmm, I’m the opposite, I avoid the limited edition teas because if I really like them, I might never be able to get them again!

TeaLady441 said

I’m worried about being on a tea-buying hiatus and then Frank releases the most AMAZING tea. :O I’m not a big fan of limited edition teas.

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tperez said

Hahaha, I love that this thread exists! Only on Steepster :D

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Chizakura said

I’ve told myself I’m not allowed to buy any more tea until at least the start of May. Which sounds easy, but considering how out of control it’s been for the past while, it’s been difficult. Dx; I keep wanting to go online and shop…

I want to get in the habit of ordering once a month. (One large order mind you, or I’d go crazy, but better just one large order a month than like … 10 large orders heh)

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Lol, I googled Tea Addicts to see what came up, and this seems to fit nicely with this topic haha, it’s good for a laugh anyways :) hopefully it hasn’t been posted on here before:

http://www.kidinthefrontrow.com/2009/09/story-about-tea-addiction.html

that was really cute

Yup haha it made me chuckle :)

Cute!

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Lala said

My name is Lala, and I am a teaholic.

So I was out of town today. And I went on a tea bender of epic proportions. I went to only two stores. It wasn’t one of those situations where I would never be back again, I am there on occaision, but I don’t know what happened. I wasn’t even looking at prices. I was just sniffing and putting on the counter. It was euphoric! Now I feel super guilty, I’m sitting here surrounded by my spoils. I have been “sober” now for 6 hours.

What did you buy?! I’m intrigued :)

Lala said

I bought some Sloane Tea Company tea, some Harney and Sons iced tea, a bunch of herbals to cold brew, some flavoured oolongs, stocked up on t sacs, some bottle iced teas.

Nice!! You’re lucky to be able to buy H&S nearby :)

Sil select said

I blame Lala for what is likely to be a purchase tomorrow lol

Lala said

whatshesaid – Chapters stores here sometimes sell some H and S, it is a bit more expensive then when you buy online but I couldn’t resist.

sil – deepest apologies. Stay strong my friend.

Lala, proud of you for the 6 hours you have now! As we say in recovery, all we have is today! One day at a time, one hour at a time, etc.
While we’re in confessing mode, I bought one of those tea storage canisters from the Verdant tea paraphernalia page. I just had to have it, the wuyi mountains one. I also went off the deep end friday & bought 4 oz of Master B’s Jin Guan Yin because I found out that if you buy that amount, you get 100G of it (roughly an oz and a half) in the original hand decorated tin that it came in. I also really enjoyed that tea. It was an obsessive compulsive moment that I’m not proud of, but I just had to have that tin!
So I think I have about 43 hours clean now…since I ordered the wuyi storage tin around midnight friday night.

Sil select said

Terri glad the mountain one went to a good home. I almost bought that one lol. Is the master b the reserve club tea?

There were actually 4 copies of the mountain jar, & I kept closing my computer, then later I opened it & there were 3…right before sleeping I looked on my ipad, LOL, & was like, “what the hell” & bought it.
The Master B was a reserve tea in March, a Wuyi that was pretty amazing, although I probably bought way more of it than I ever will drink in a long time. If you didn’t get to sample it, I’ll save some for our next trade, LOL.

Sil select said

looks like i DO have that one, my last reserve box was march. But since i’m not still getting it, i don’t havee access to purchase anymore :) so i didn’t know about the 100g tin that you get. man that would be awesome heh I’ll have to break open those teas asap…i keep putting them off to get through other teas. SOMEONE sent me 71 to get through after all lol

Since you were a member in March, you should still be able to buy the March teas…if you want to. You still have the secret code, right? ;)

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Janefan said

I am so proud of myself. Today I was in the neighborhood of my favorite tea shop (Angelina’s, which is usually about hour away). A friend I was with even said she was going there after the play we saw. (I think she was fishing for me to come too?) But I stood firm and said I would love to join her, but I’m on a tea-buying hiatus. But, now I feel kind of like a heel. Turns out they were in fact still open (at 4 on Sunday!) and she had a nice time shopping. I could’ve at least gone along and bought some honey, or other non-tea products. But, I know myself and my lack of willpower, so it’s probably for the best. I will console/congratulate myself by drinking more of my previous Angelina’s purchases this week :-)

Sounds like it took a lot of willpower, alright. (high five!)

Thanks for being strong for the rest of us, Janefan :)

Janefan said

Thanks Terri, and thanks KiwiDelight for starting this thread. I’m sure I’ll be confessing to a slip-up before the year is out! (I already buy bottled teas, somehow they don’t “count”)

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