Weekend TeaDays 10/16-17/10 TEA versus TEAWARE?

[Chip]

Welcome to a weekend edition of TeaDay. Please do drop in and share what is in your cup throughout the days.

Friday we discussed our TeaPurchasing success rate. You can still vote and discuss Friday's topic.

This weekend's TeaPoll and discussion topic. Have you increased your TEAS or your TeaWares more over the last year? Please share ...
I am as always looking forward to sharing this weekend's TeaDays with everyone, bottoms up.

[olivierco]

I have bought as many teas this year as last year, so no tea increasing.
I have bought less teawares this year (the year isn't over yet though!) but as I kept all the previously acquired teawares, my collection increased.

No tea so far today. Koicha in a few hours.

[Seeker]

More tea this year with the shinchas, otherwise mostly similar, tho definite decrease in tea ware.
However, as olivier says, the year is not over yet.
Just finished a chamomile citrus blend.

[Trey Winston]

Still resisting the teaware bug, so teas it is.

Having some Silver Needle for the first time in a couple of weeks. It's grand. I intend to consider this an appropriate way to celebrate that The Hobbit has finally been greenlit, with Peter Jackson directing. Yay! Now it's just several more years to wait before it reaches theatres...

[Victoria]

I definitely bought more tea than teaware this past year.
And next year it will be even less.

[IPT]

Mine is pretty much a tie. I don't know what I love more, the tea, or the tea ware. I'm addicted to both.

[brandon]

Slight favor to teas.

[artmom]

A tie! I bought more Tea and more TeaWare this year than last year; by a large margin.

Golden Lion assam this morning.

[JRS22]

I certainly spend more on tea than teaware. I make tea goblets in pottery class, and I'm planning to make a fair pitcher and some very small teacups.

If I count the cost of pottery class as a teaware expense I probably spend more on teaware than tea. Since I count it as education/entertainment I spend more on tea. I made a "policy" decision earlier this year to limit my teaware spending so I would feel free to buy more expensive tea. So my only teaware purchases were a small gyokko kyusu from Artistic Nippon and a small gaiwan from the Tea Gallery. Uh - and 4 tasting sets from Adagio. Tea still beats out teaware $wise. This gaiwan is for puerh, so I'm thinking about a larger gaiwan for green tea.

In my cup this morning, some delicious Seven Cups silver needles, and some disappointing (to me) jasmine from the Tea Gallery.

[Leo_Blue]

I feel it's pretty close to a tie... though I might have bought more teaware, as my tea habit just started this year and I had to start from nothing. With the new electric kettle I just bought I definitely spent more money on teaware than tea.
No tea yet... think I'll have some Dong Ding oolong gongfu style after posting this. Or maybe Bai Hao Yin Zhen. I'll decide when I finish my morning check of TC.

[LauraW]

Definitely tea. Bought some very awesome teaware this year thanks to Bill Perrine, but that's been it. Would rather buy a piece periodically that I absolutely have to have and spend the rest on tea.

No tea yet, got up a little late. Upcoming: OTTI #6, v.4. Gotta have something good to get me through all the packing that needs to get done today. Probably going to pack up most of the teaware among other things.

[JeiKun4114]

I wanna say its a tie for me, im on a 3 month vacation in Japan, so you better believe im taking advantage of both tea and teaware.

[debunix]

Hard to say teaware vs tea this past year. I bought a few more expensive pieces of teaware--a Chao Zhou teapot, some tea cups from TC teaware artisans, and my nice pino kettles--but also ordered some teas from far flung places with high shipping costs and some more expensive teas from favorite suppliers.

I do not expect future years to be quite as expensive, unless I suddenly find myself with a serious Hagi or yixing habit.....

[Chip]

Still resisting the teaware bug, so teas it is.

Having some Silver Needle for the first time in a couple of weeks. It's grand. I intend to consider this an appropriate way to celebrate that The Hobbit has finally been greenlit, with Peter Jackson directing. Yay! Now it's just several more years to wait before it reaches theatres...

Excellent!

Yes, the saga of sealing the deal has been longer than most hobbit adventures, much longer, "there and back again!" ... now where is my longbottom leaf ...

Check this out! http://www.hobbittea.com/

[Leo_Blue]

Check this out! http://www.hobbittea.com/

That is awesome! I am finding more and more that nearly everything can be related back to tea. It actually kind of drives my wife crazy as I make everything relate to tea and tea culture.