Friday TeaDay 1/16/09 Tea is candy, 2009 budget?

[Chip]

Hello and welcome everyone to TeaDay. Please share what is in your cup today.

Yesterday, voting was pretty mixed regarding tea obsession/compulsion. You can still vote and discuss yesterday's topic.

Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic ...

TeaCups may be trendy
TeaPots are quite dandy
And TeaAccessories are handy
But let's face it, TEA is our candy!

How much have you budgeted for TEA, or how much do you think you will spend on TEA (no teaware, etc) in 2009? Do the math and share if you care to.

I am looking forward to sharing TeaDay with everyone, bottoms up.

[Salsero]

I'm not sure if mine is an estimate or a serious level of denial. Time will tell.

[TaiPing Hou Kui]

I dont want to think about my tea budget....there would be a lot of other things that would be sacrificed before a dent in the tea budget.....it might make my head spin a little to look at in in terms of yearly.....I think we need a "choose not to respond" option
*On a side note, I am ordering a new Hagi Yaki Yuzamashi to replace my old one that suffered a terrible demise in a freak falling book accident

-I like todays picture Sal--I tried to do something similar with the green and reddish/pink colors yesterday



Once again, looking through my bamboo forest, you can see the Hagi ware hiding away....behind them is a Pumello sliced in half and karigane in the little dish at the front.

-Nick

[brlarson]

I agree, I don't want to think about it either. My budget is high right now because I'm doing tea explorations, especially Chinese oolongs, and good yan cha and dancong are pricey. Maybe I'll eventually discover that I really love honeybush and save a bundle!

Final teas of the day were An Ji Bai from Jing and `old bush' phoenix from Imperial.

[Geekgirl]

I put "less than $200" because I am in denial.

[Salsero]

we need a "choose not to respond" option

As a Denialist, I like that option. Very cool photo, Nick. Somehow, it seems true to at least one of the facets of Japanese tea character.

I put "less than $200" because I am in denial.

That is way passed denial. Even for just your matcha budget.

[Vulture]

I chose below 500. Oolong isn't cheap and I am starting to get more into it. Not to mention who knows how much I will end up spending next weekend on the LA trip.

Not drinking anything yet but feel like having a flavored tea.

[omegapd]

My consumption has slacked off again, but my wife's has risen tenfold. Looks like I won't be saving any money this year at least.

EW

[Geekgirl]

I put "less than $200" because I am in denial.

That is way passed denial. Even for just your matcha budget.

lalalalalalalalalala *covers eyes* lalalalalala cantseeyourpost lalalallalalala

[Rakuras]

I chose below 500. Oolong isn't cheap and I am starting to get more into it. Not to mention who knows how much I will end up spending next weekend on the LA trip.

Not drinking anything yet but feel like having a flavored tea.

Huh, I oddly forgot about that and still need to request the day off- which I'll get as I work until 2pm if normally scheduled. Though I bet I'll need to dip into the books early this year as well. Either way, I spent about $300 on teaware and tea during the last quarter of 2008 and most of the was sampling and experimentation with new teaware. This year I expect far less to be purchased as I found my expanded pallet thanks to Adagio and I'll slowly add or sample like brews until I find what fits best. I doubt I'll hit my $500 estimate but it's a very rough guess atop of my impulsive nature. I might suddenly develop an interest in Pu-Erh.

In my cup: some berry mixture dubbed Berry Blast. "Texture" of Blood Orange with a blue/black berry taste and sweet rather than the rather undesired flavors of the Blood Orange. Resampling in progress.

[Trey Winston]

I hope I'll get below $500. I have expensive taste to start with, and then there is postage and customs tariffs and I don't know what else. I'm not going to calculate the expenditure for last year, that's for sure.

Starting with sencha today, then some White Symphony. Possibly.

[olivierco]

About 100€ per month (125 to 150US$)

Keemun this morning.

[Pentox]

Hm, it's hard to judge. I base my budgeting on teaware+tea. The mix varies during the year so it's a hard number to guess.

[Drax]

Now that I've established a good base of teapots, I'm hoping I can avoid temptation (and cost) of those this year. oh, I'm in trouble.

I have restricted myself to something similar as olivierco. We'll see how that plays out this year as I use up all the tea that I've bought, but keep trying to stock up on pu-erh...

I'm trying some of the Dragon Tea House's Bai Hao Yin Zhen (white tip silver needle). I know it's supposed to be pretty delicate, but I think I didn't use enough leaf. It's good, but I think I'll double up next time.

[brandon]

Good thing you removed teaware from the equation. I only had to vote for "Or more..."

At least I'm honest.



One cup of baozhong was hurt in the filming of this production. Oops.