Tea Prices this year...
Just curious if anyone has noticed a significant increase in prices from their tea companies this year over others. I haven’t done much reading in to the harvests for 2015 and if something happened that resulted in a smaller yield or something, but I’ve seen a few companies now, whose prices have jumped a considerable amount.
Is that Canadian companies? I bought some 2015 teas off Yunnan Sourcing (which hasn’t come yet) but it seems to me their prices were about the same as last year.
Excellent question Sil!
I purchased 1 lb. of a popular Chinese black tea from a US supplier in July, 2013 for $74.25 (shipping included). This was during a 25%-off sale.
Their 2015 spring harvest of this same tea currently sells for $140/LB.! Nearly double in just two years! Our income hasn’t doubled during this same time period. I’ll only purchase more if they have a very significant sale. Thus, I’m now looking at other more cost-effective black and pu’erh teas with a similar flavor profile.
I have noticed a very slight increase in price for Chinese teas this year, which may be due to the harvests being wetter than usual and needing more thorough processing to eliminate excess moisture. Here’s some more info on that: http://steepster.com/discuss/11166-heads-up-on-spring-2015-teas-they-need-time
I’ve noticed with the few companies that I shop at regularly that prices have risen every year about 5-10% (which is a lot for my tea budget). I haven’t stocked up yet this year, but looking at a few teas that I have been buying for ~5 years, the prices seem to have risen about the normal rate.
Whoa, except Laoshan Black which is ~$3 more per ounce than in the fall. Perhaps it’s a better harvest?
maybe i just found the few outliers then heh. I’m used to a slight increase but a few i was looking at recently were like LB.
LooseTman, here are the prices I am sure of:
I ordered Zhu Rong Yunnan Black in November 2014 at $5.25 USD per ounce – the autumn harvest, presumably. I can’t find it on the site at present, but if it does come back you can reference that price.
Also, Laoshan Black was $5.95 an ounce, and Laoshan Black Chocolate Genmaicha was $5.50 an ounce. I didn’t order the Yu Lu Yan Cha but I think it was around $7 an ounce.
Does anyone know what Zhu Rong Yunnan Black sold for earlier this Spring when it was in stock?
Does anyone remember what Yu Lu Yan Cha Black sold for in 2014 or 2013? Currently, it sells for $6.75/oz.
Verdant is offering free ship. that means that price per once should be increased. cost of shipping is spreading over the tea cost.
if ebay or Ali offer free ship the cost of ship included in price
I noticed that is different…I am uncomfortable when companies offer constant free shipping to US customers. I get that I can’t change their minds and that US customers must be the bulk of their customer base (and I appreciate the flat rate Verdant has instituted to Canada since many places don’t do that in tandem) but I would much rather see the price of the tea as is and pay separately for shipping. When you increase the tea cost for everyone to pay for the free shipping to America, it really bugs me. It also means that my usual tactic (order larger quantities at once OR reach free shipping threshold) ends up being much more expensive since the price per ounce is already increased by a couple dollars. I think for the foreseeable future at least, I will keep an eye and decide if it’s worth making another order. Given the changes to pricing and the Canadian dollar, it definitely isn’t right now.
It really depends where the tea comes from. I buy everything from Japan and prices as a wholesale customer have stayed pretty much the same. I am in the (very long) process of importing some loose teas from China and have heard that harvests this year are taking longer than usual because of the climate.
The FF Darjeelings from Mariage Freres has increased significantly for 2015. I inquired about this and they replied they had not raised their prices for a long time and felt it was necessary to do so in 2015. They also stated the Euro has lost its value compared to currencies like the USD and in turn, the prices for their teas needed to be increased.
The tea prices from Mariage Freres was always steep before the increases and even more so now. Teas like Ambootia increased a whopping 15 euros from 33 to 48. Yet to be fair, the taste changes every year, but there are always several gems like 2014 FF Arya and 2014 Puttabong which for body, flavor, and taste, is worth every penny and far exceed what can be obtained from other retailers. Often times, it can be the same year, the same flush, the same estate, the same grade, the same tea and the taste will differ considerably depending on the retailer.
Here’s another example:
I purchased 500g (17.5oz) of a fairly popular Chinese black tea on sale from a Chinese supplier:
- August, 2013 for $37.80
- August, 2014 for $48.90
A 29% increase in just one year!
The current non-sale price is $69.90
(Edit: The 2015 sale price has not yet been announced.)
LooseTman I get your point about rising prices but comparing sale prices to other sale prices or the current price is hardly a fair comparison. There are many reasons why a seller might or might not hold a sale and steep discounts can reflect anything from an attempt to gain new clients, an attempt to get through overstock, to a reward for current customers. A seller not offering as steep a discounted price may only reflect a more established business rather than anything else. I do know that some of the price increases on teas I bought from China last year were the result of drought in the regions I bought from resulting in lower yields and in some cases the loss of a commercially viable harvest in the early spring.
Agreed, climatic factors do affect yield and thus justifiably prices. And yes, more established business may be less motivated to offer significant sale prices compared with newer suppliers.
In the above example, the 29% increase represents the same tea during the same annual sale. An apples-to-apples comparison.
i was thinking when some seller offers tea for very cheap it is too good to be true. most likely its a cheap tea not a great quality.
To YYZ’s point, there are clearly factors like harvest yields or excelsior’s comment on the dollar. May very well be that this is the first year i’m really paying attention (since i have less disposable income to spend) and hadn’t noticed it before. heh Mostly just curious as to whether folks have heard things about this years harvest and pricing since i had noticed a few companies having pretty significant increases.
Login or sign up to leave a comment.