The cost of learning

As a consumer I have been pretty lucky. I don’t expect to like every tea I purchase but so far I have only bought one that I could not stand to drink another cup of. That was from Ebay.

Bahaha, my cost of learning about teas is that now that I am beginning to understand different teas and refine my tastebuds, a) I want to try ALL THE TEAS (wallet says ouch) and am not content with just those easily accessed and b) I’m becoming interested in more expensive teas (wallet dies in corner).

I haven’t (yet, fingers crossed) made too many poor decisions in regards to tea purchases, but I’m also proceeding with caution and mostly going with what I can get in sample sizes, so it’s easier to get rid of it I don’t like it. Hopefully by the time I run out of companies offering small sample sizes, I’ll be done as a student and have the money to support riskier purchases!

@Krystaleyn and Azzrian – thanks for the answers. Seems like you both have been lucky! It depends on your perspective though in some ways. Personally, the bad teas only prepare me for the good ones, to appreciate them.

When I got into tea (about 16 months ago), I jumped in with both feet. I started out with a lot of bagged tea and some flavored loose teas. With all my purchases and swaps I quickly had well over 100 teas. Then my tastes became more refined. I don’t drink bagged tea at all and prefer unflavored, better quality loose teas. But I never finished drinking my old teas. So now I’m stuck with a huge cupboard of teas that I don’t really like. I wish I could just start over with teas that I really enjoy, but feel guilty getting rid of the old stuff that I spent lots of money purchasing. That has been my cost of learning.

I got into tea two years ago and it has made a sizeable dent in my wallet. That being said though, every tea I’ve bought I’ve either loved, or managed to pilfer off somehow without losing my money. See, if I don’t like a tea…I will take it to work to “share with co-workers” or serve it constantly when guests come over. Remember, just because your taste buds disagree with a flavour, doesn’t mean everyone’s will.

Overall I’d say that I got lucky – but I also found types that I liked and sticked with those as fail-safes.

I began to appreciate tea when I was 16 or 17. My biggest “cost of learning” since then has been time. You can come to enjoy a specific tea very quickly, but to develop an understanding of tea, the different types, the various steeping processes, the cultivation, that all take a lot more than knowing how to brew a good cup. Yes, there is a monetary cost associated with this learning process too, but I have found that dedicating time has attributed the most to learning about tea.

I once got a shoe-paste teapot :-p
http://gingkobay.blogspot.com/2010/02/tuition-shoe-paste-yixing.html
The cost is big because the teapot has no use other than decoration :-( But the lesson of it helps me avoid future pitfalls :-)

I’ve had more or less the same experience as those mentioned above…
but then I also purchased an online tea deal here(see link), about 8 months ago, and have yet to see anything from them even after repeated phonecalls and emails: http://www.swarmjam.com/waf.srv/sj/sj/cn/auction_ActionProdDet?ONSUCCESS=swarmofferdet.jsp&PARENTCOLL=29081320&PRODID=10515407&DESTID=1&SWCATID=10150492&TRK=001

I started reading the top tea ratings. Then who was reviewing them and picked good writers to follow.. especially those who’s cupboards were full of loose tea and variety. I wanted to learn from experienced people then purchase enough good tea to educate myself without spending unwisely. I’m still in this process and it seems to be working well.
Oh another tip for myself…I go to local teashops and try tea’s that I’ve never had and if I like them enough I look the best ones up on Steepster, read reviews and add the best to my list to buy in the future. This way I’m not buying something I’ll hate. Of course this is with REAL tea not flavored. I can get samples of some flavored tea at my local Housewares Cupboard (Harneys and some other brands in single samples for $.40)

My experience has led me to go for small quantities when I feel the urge to commit to a purchase. Our tastes are constantly changing and developing – this way I don’t get left with a huge quantity of something I am potentially going to ignore in a couple of months. I have extreme moods for particular teas every day – having a wide range of lots of little bits worth enables me to satisfy the moods without their being any wastage costs. Being on a strict budget and living very simply have necessitated that I do it this way.

Also, working in a tea shop and being able to drink whatever I want at work 5 days a week is a pretty sweet situation as well.