Liquid Proust Teas 2016 Master Thread
As I road with my family to go celebrate my great grandmother’s 94th birthday, I had time to sit down and run numbers. As I will be moving in with a friend from college in the next few months, my hobby being Liquid Proust Teas will face new challenges.
I’m curious if anyone has any advice to the data I just computed over a few hour:
Within eight months I end up selling over 90% of my inventory. This doesn’t lead to profit due to two reasons; equipment cost figured at 5 year pay off and putting prices at a low % above actual cost. I would like those two things to stay constant, but I’m faced with not having the amount available that I once did so I was curious if a 5% raise on prices would be damaging if I went the route of doing business loan with a 6 month payoff. All of this is said while keeping in mind that this is a hobby and will stay that way, however I believe it is becoming more of a part time job.
While this is all my personal complications and puzzles to solve, LPT does exist because of this community and as many have pointed out before; the success and visibility of LPT is majorly in debt to Steepster.
I would really like advice on a few things:
1. Would a 5% price increase lose business? (it’s rather hypothetical I know)
2. If I go the part time job route, which three tea festivals should I look at going to due to PTO allowance?
3. Every business ask for this advice: Is there anything in particular you/people are looking for LPT to provide?
4. This is the big one: Group Buys… now that I won’t have the same flow of cash, would paying for these upfront by whole two months drive people away from participating? Consider that if #1 leads to 6 month business loans, this wouldn’t be an issue. Also, I have made connections with many vendors that they allow me to pay when I have collected all the money… but that isn’t the case with newer vendors in say Africa or India.
I’ve put a lot of time into and the only reason I post this here is because LPT really was born from a mixture of the Steepster community, Butiki, M&Ks Tea, and wanting to be as active as I can in the tea community in my own funky way.
Thanks for any remarks you may have and for just reading it,
Andrew / Liquid Proust
I am super behind on blogging… haven’t even done a write up on the 2016 Midwest Tea Fest :(
Lots happening which is awesome. Planning out the third group buy of the year. Lots of great connections with people in China for the 2017 Sheng Olympics. Starting up a monthly tea drinking at my place. Sent out about 40 educational tea packages this year (well, this isn’t through LPT but it’s part of what I do). Hoping to get my Rummy Pu in some shop somewhere; it’s not easy to do.
I’ll leave this here until I finally write up about my new projects:
https://liquidproust.wordpress.com/2016/05/29/roasted-jin-xuan-and-brazilian-coffee/
Huge thank you to the people who have been sending me messages. I am currently working on evaluating the business aspect of Liquid Proust Teas as it isn’t going to be possible to run my Etsy page as an artistic outlet and hope for sales as the same time. I’ll be looking into to running group buys four times a year and seeing how blending will work from there as community is my favorite part which group buys will reach most; this also allows for a lot of interaction between vendors and tea drinkers at the same time while trying to expand Steepster.
Everyone has been really honest and provided great insight from differet perspectives which has been very helpful. I’m grateful for where I am at roughly only one year. Honestly, 90% of what I do and who I am is because of people on here. I plan to figure it all out as soon as possible and keep you all updated as I have found more people read this than I though…. which is sweet :)
Update
1 https://liquidproust.wordpress.com/2016/06/10/bringing-oolong-back-to-life/
2 Yunnan Sourcing has black balls so French Toast Dianhong was going to come back even cheaper… but vanilla is over $100 a pound for the quality I use, but the price of the blend will not go up; yes, that means I’m working on more
3 Nostalgia is coming back 5x better than before as I’m using stuff that fits what the blend is meant to be from those I trust
4 Sheng Olympics 2017 is going to be so damn awesome… I’m so excited
5 I really enjoy what I do
6 I’m going to make an oriental beauty blend; just wanted to post that
^ I wanted to keep it hush, but oh well: I’m going to create an Oolong Beer mixture. Not sure if Oolong Beer or Hop’d Up Oolong is more suited, but yeah :)
I am both intrigued and horrified by a beer oolong. I kinda hate beer, but I like things cooked with beer so who knows?
I don’t like beer either… but don’t think of it as beer, it’s Oolong Beer… it’ll be different. Think of a wheaty, malty, barley’ish, hoppy, oaklike, and maybe some mild cherry underneath, all without the carbonation or sour notes. Maybe I’ll come up with a different name for it then.
I think it is the hops I am not a fan of, since I have had hops in blends and noped out, and some shengs I find taste like hops and I am not a huge fan…but the other notes sound delicious so I will probably want to try. I like to try new things and your blends are always so unique
Still learning how to do it all :)
Recently infused a 2013 Dong Ding with cypress wood: https://www.etsy.com/listing/399796429/cypress-dong-ding-a-rested-and-infused
This autumn or winter I’ll play with smoking tea.
Clay barrel CTC alcohol experiment is underway.
Possibly stuffing dried out plums with tianjian or liubao to age.
& French Toast Dianhong is currently is the works again, but I’m working on getting some more cream in there.
The cypress oolong sounds awesome. I grew up near a swamp and the bald cypresses and black waters were a favorite of mine, so this is straight out of nostalgia. What kind of cypress did you use, out of curiosity?
It’s from Ireland… shoot, I can see if it’s possible to find out. Made a contact there and through conversation I acquired dried cypress wood from there; it was too awesome to pass up and not establish a fun overseas business connection.
That is so cool!! Now I am really curious to see how the aroma is different from the cypress I grew up with, since they are probably very different species.
https://liquidproust.wordpress.com/2016/06/16/unusual-approaches/
Thinking about giving this away as a bonus to purchases if it comes out well.
Sounds interesting. Have you figured a way to infuse the tea with the liquor without soaking the tea first?
I never soak the leaf… that would utterly ruin it. You’ve had Rummy Pu, the barrel was empty when I placed the leaf in it just as this one is with the ctc in it.
My apologies on that rant earlier. I tend to let my emotions filter my words and that wasn’t a good idea this time. Just really frustrated with how people treat tea
There are many who feel the same, but… Reddit is more of a public park and Steepster is a disc gold course; we all are here for similar reasons while those at the park have different agendas.
I have been currently working on the last group buy for this year, which happens to be the first year of ‘regions’. As each group buy has a theme, this one is about tea from specific areas. With the World Tea Expo just happening, many of us were a bit blue because we wanted to be there; while I’m not trying to provide that experience, this will help alleviate some of those blues!
Since I am in the process of moving in July, it’s been interesting figure it all out but I plan to put up an official announcement sometime… planning for this to happen around August-September.
I can say the following area are in this: Nepal, Columbia, Kenya, and Hawaii
Next year I’ll be looking at: Canada, South Korea, Russia, and another place in the US
YES! HAWAII! Plus I’ve found that I really like the Kenyan teas from What-Cha. Always corny sweet.
I need some help: Does anyone think a $27 buy in would be too high? These teas seem to have a higher cost than I was intially thinking and I want to keep them because it’s an awesome opportunity but I cannot afford to have 10+ slots un accounted for
I will do a slot but I have a person in mind to donate it to. I may take a slot myself as well. Keep me updated.
The reason the price won’t be around the $20 range like I wanted it to is because https://maunakeatea.com/ ’s teas cost A LOT, but I want to include them because many of us own at least one premium tea that we drink for special occasions.
I’ll continue on my path. I’ve thought it over a but for the last few days and reminded myself that this is the last group buy of the year for me and that this will include tea to drink for at least a month. As a consumer myself, at say $30 for a selection of teas that are considered to be rare among the rest of the teas out there, this will be a solid deal; as I believe all my group buys are.
I’ll drop an official post when the time is right. Thanks for responding everyone, I’ve learned that every response speaks for roughly 5 people each.
You might also look into Big Island Tea, also from Hawaii. They were at the coffee and tea festival NYC this past year and I bought a sample. They were selling samples at a convention discount, 18g for $20. Their prices are quite high but the tea was phenomenal. I only tried their black tea as they were sold out of green by the time I got to their table.
If anyone has a minute:
http://www.liquidproustteas.com/
Few questions:
1, are the pictures looking better than before?
2, is it simple enough and yet attractive?
3, how do you feel about the pull out cart on the right?
4, do coupons still work? If someone can try entering ‘reviews’, I’m curious if they carry over.
5, I can’t do checkout of my own product… can someone verify if an Etsy account is needed or not to process an order?
This is a work in progress, any help would be appreciated :)
1.They do look better. A part of me always wondered if some loose leaf was placed next to a brewed cup would help visually sell it better. The sunlight with the leaves though makes me smile. :)
Some Salesmanship in the description could also help which I know you’re trying to figure out without over-describing it, and will probably use reviews for.
2. The organization of the website is nice and simple. I really like how the prices appear with the names right when you click on the pictures.
3. Adding to the cart was straightforward.
4. The coupon works.
5. It needs an Etsy Account to process the order.
Hope this helps. :)
Lookin’ good! I only skimmed it on mobile, but the pics and layout are super clean and nice looking, :).
Thanks, I went ahead and added tasting notes on the blends… I’ve been against this so if you ever see one that looks wrong please let me know. I’ll try to cross reference with what I see the reviews coming in as while using my best judgment.
The photos seem to be a bit over exposed, especially the berry genmaicha and the coffee jin xuan. Theres some good free software out there that can fix that easily (look at Picasa).
Organization is nice :D
I like the cart functionality!
I couldn’t find where to put the coupon code?
Etsy account is required.
—
A few suggestions – Images of dry leaf and an infusion
- Under steeping advice you have how much dry leaf to use but not what size vessel.
- Any way to add a place for reviews?
Good job!
@t-ching
I’ll have to set aside a day to do a brew to leaf compassion since others said that will help. As for the others: The whole vessel thing is hard… most people do use a gaiwan or small pot with my creations but that is unique for blends. I’m providing instructions for a normal pot; personally I don’t read how to do anything if I’m using a small device, I tweek as I go.
Reviews: Since it is connected to Etsy, I don’t believe there is a way to create a review section.
I know a separate website would be best for those functions, but then I lose all the inventory numbers and the ease of editing everything from one location. I’m still in the hybrid mode of trying to keep this a business that’s focused on passion more so than numbers; unfortunately marketing can be misleading which is why it’s taking me awhile to find my safe and happy place.
The coupon goes in at checkout, someone already did it so I know it works which is cool.
1, yes, but quite a few have a yellowish tint to them like they are under intense sunlight (swan’s way, dark kitchen sink). may want to tweak the white balance on your camera
2, i really like the clean layout. it’s simple and easy to navigate. that said, a few splashes of color could jazz it up. maybe a banner on the home page like verdant or whispering pines. and the LP logo at the top.
3, great feature
4, couldn’t find where to enter the coupon code
5, yep, seems like an etsy account is required.
The new website is live, spread the word!
20% off until July 15th with coupon ‘reviews’ and a free gift of powdered tieguanyin with ground dehydrated blueberries with all orders :)
http://www.liquidproustteas.com/
oh man just placed an order and you already shipped it out to me!! oh well.. can hardly wait to try the teas!!! Nice website!!
Yeah, I tend to ship out really quick. Drop me a line if you ever place another order and I’ll hook you up.
Liquid Proust Teas has moved from my parents’ house to my new apartment, so here’s to some interesting changes that’ll occur : )
The Olympics law intern lady contacted me and I had to change name for next year’s event. I will now host ‘The Sheng Olympiad of 2017’ instead. For those who haven’t seen: There are Tuhao as F**K balls from W2T and Midas Touch balls from CLT exclusively made for this event. Super super super excited.
French Toast Dianhong & Nostalgia (coming back in a new way) will be out August 9th.
The first regional group buy will occur sometime in August as well. It’ll include tea from: Hawaii, Columbia, Nepal, and Kenya.
Liquid Proust Teas is more passion than business so to follow up with that: Supporting companies is becoming a little harder when most of my tea budget goes towards LPT so I would like to offer the highest discount I can for those who are helping out so I can possibly provide some tea to enjoy while things change for others.
30% off for anyone who directly messages me with proof that they contributed any of the following: $20+ to the Whispering Pines flood relief fund, $18+ Woree Tea sourcing trip to South Korea via Kickstarter, $25+ to anyone who is in need of supplies to go into the tea business world via Kiva, $20+ to the Kumamoto earthquake tea recovery fund via Yunomi, or $25+ to the Nepali tea restoration fund vi Nepali Tea Traders.
…the olympics seriously contacted you over the sheng group buy? Shouldn’t they be spending that effort on like trying not to implode or something?
Oh well Olympiad sounds more awesome anyway.
I contacted them for usage and they required proof of all the wrappers CLT had be destroyed. Then told me that the word ‘olympic’ and ‘olympics’ is illegal for me to use. So I’ll play by the rules. Better to know now than months down the road, but it did cost a little. Since this event is a business one this year I have to be more careful.
Oh no I didn’t even think about CLT’s awesome stamp. It’s good to know you took the initiative on this though. I would hate to think they were trolling the Internet looking for improper usage.
There were incorrectly spelled words in this at one point… oh, typing on a phone…
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