2019: How much will you spend on tea this year?

Hmmm, I should’ve kept track of spending last year. I’d guess I spent around $1500 USD for tea and teaware. I plan on drinking down what I have and sharing the love through trades for most of this year. Of course I’ll be purchasing some fresh green teas this spring and for the assload of puerh samples I bought last year, I’m allowing myself to buy cakes of my favorites this year. I’m not placing any limits on my tea expenditures, instead choosing to spend wisely.

January $212 USD
$110 @ White2Tea - puerh
$42 @ Old Ways Tea - variety, includes gift for housemate
$66 @ What-Cha — oolong

February $408
$55 @ Crimson Lotus — puerh
$344 @ Yunnan Sourcing — heicha and puerh
$9 @ The Teabook — teabags

March $2008
$51 @ Whispering Pines Tea Company — variety
$131 @ Yunnan Craft - heicha, puerh and puerh wrappers
$107 @ Bitterleaf Teas - puerh and teapet
$79 @ Chawangshop — puerh
$51 @ Farmerleaf — puerh
$342 @ The Essence of Tea - puerh
$361 @ Tea Urchin - puerh
$279 @ Tea Encounter — puerh
$55 @ Healthy Leaf — teapot
$51 @ Old Ways Tea — variety, includes gift for housemate
$272 @ Taiwan Tea Crafts — teapots, cups and variety
$229 @ King Tea Mall — teapot and puerh

April $0

May $0

June $27 and running
$27 @ August Uncommon Tea — flavored/blended teas

YTD $2655
Plus a stoneware crock, terra cotta platter, hygrometer-thermometer and a few ceramic canisters for storage, as well as some random teabag purchases.

Looking at that total, goddamn, derk, wtf. It’s been a tough year with too much loss for me to handle healthily. Despite my world crumbling, really getting into tea kept me from going crazy. I’ve never been one to spend much money, and maybe I was doing so as a coping mechanism, but it’s a shock to see that number. I am working within my constraints of choosing to “spend wisely”, sipping down, and sharing the love. I stockpiled puerh while I was able to and have kept my buying of other teas at a lower amount than the past few years. And now I’m in a new home, out of the city, surrounded by postitivity, love, kitties and tea.

OH NOES!

I just did some calculating and found I am almost up to $200 for tea this month alone. What the bleep happened? I join this site and suddenly I’m hemorrhaging funds and drowning in yummy tea. This is very much not good. ACK!

I definitely want to keep track this year so I can manage my tea spending better:
Jan so far
Lupicia $50.00
Winterwoods Tea Company (kickstarter) $57.00

Jan- $24 (mostly tea samples)
Feb- $6 (so far)

Urrrrgh
Jan. $190
Feb. $115 (so far)

This is probably my most expensive hobby yet. And I still haven’t bought a decent in mug strainer yet. That’s going to be another 20 dollars right there. Ugly crying into empty wallet

I’m adding my vote for the Finum infusers. I have two of them and they’re great!

I’m (unfortunately) up to about $300 so far, and despite my prior claims about restraint, I foresee a steady incline. Why, oh why did I have to discover Bitterleaf teaware?

Edit: up to $550 now (no thanks to White2Tea and Bitterleaf ;) )

Seriously? I don’t know… Each time that I want to buy a tea, my boyfriend said that I have a lot of tea to drink. And I reply: I have a blog to maintain. So, I just hope to discover new teas and companies. Maybe in March, I will place an order at some merchants.

My Gosh! I Thought I was spending a lot! But You guys Rock!

Well, I’m out of money for the month.
Final total for Feb.

$177.17

Better than last month, but still far too much. However, that figure included several key teaware purchases such as those Finum Brew Baskets (I got a two pack), a gaiwan, and a tea scale. I won’t need to purchase those again for awhile. However, I am in the market for a new mug. My good Dollar Tree mug (yes I realize that’s an oxymoron, let it go) broke on me. I need to find a good durable tea mug of at least 12 oz for my western brews, and also some good smaller cups to go with my gaiwan. So that will be after the 1st. In the meantime, I’m done for this month.