Author Topic: We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.  (Read 3868 times)

jnw

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We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.
« on: October 09, 2018, 01:09:53 AM »
I was inspired by the other thread where beekeeper gave up coffee:
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/gave-up-coffee/

I realize this isn't for everyone, but for us it was a great idea because we were simply abusing coffee, drinking it all day and not feeling that great from it either -- side effects.

We were spending about $80 per month on coffee, mainly due to the cream & stevia we used.   The two of us each drank about 4 large mugs per day.

Now we switched to PG Tips black tea (imported from England) and well you can get 480 bags of it for $21 off Amazon.com.     We each drink 2 cups per day at 4.3 cents per bag.  It comes to about $5 per month between us.  About $75 per month less than coffee.

https://www.amazon.com/PG-Tips-Black-Pyramid-240-Count/dp/B001EQ5JLE

We feel great too.. we still get that caffeine withdrawel.. but much more subtle now and the tea gives us our fix.

More about PG Tips:  I learned about this from a friend of mine who is a chef in England.  He said it's the favored tea there and I can see why.  I compared the flavor to Twinings and well I like it much better as well.  He also gave me a recipe for making the perfect mug of black tea, which I'd like to share here -- try it sometime, absolutely no bitterness!  :

1) boil enough water to fill your mug twice.
2) fill empty mug with boiling water and let rest 30 seconds or so.
3) empty out that mug into the sink -- the mug is now very hot and won't suck the heat from the new water poured in.
4) put a tea bag into the empty mug.
5) fill with rapidly boiling hot water
6) count to 30 seconds .. dunking bag maybe three times along the way.
7) fish out with spoon or fork and discard
8) let cool to a safe comfortable drinking temperature -- it's very hot be careful!

Regarding the above process, the whole idea of brewing black tea is to do it as fast as possible as hot as possible and this achieves that.   The longer it brews the more bitterness which comes out.  This method makes perfect tea for us every time.. nice and sweet with no bitterness at all.

EDIT: we ran out of PG Tips yesterday and bought some Lipton tea bags as a temporary fix and well I wish we didn't.. it tastes so nasty compared to PG Tips!  Gonna order the 480 bags of PG Tips from Amazon for $21 now.. glad I found it there as affordable solution to, imo, the best tasting tea.

EDIT #2: If one could drink coffee black, it would be much more affordable as most of the expense for us was the cashew milk, heavy cream & liquid stevia drops we used -- it was about $60 per month for those alone, not including the coffee.  Unfortunately, we couldn't drink the coffee black.  However, we prefer our tea plain, so this is the main reason it works out well for us.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2018, 01:27:24 AM by JenniferW »

kei te pai

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Re: We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.
« Reply #1 on: October 09, 2018, 01:43:42 AM »
For us, leaf tea brewed in a tea pot is significantly cheaper and better tasting than teabags.

jnw

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Re: We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.
« Reply #2 on: October 09, 2018, 01:46:54 AM »
For us, leaf tea brewed in a tea pot is significantly cheaper and better tasting than teabags.

Could you give me a source where I could buy and try your tea?

4alpacas

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Re: We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.
« Reply #3 on: October 09, 2018, 09:57:59 AM »
For us, leaf tea brewed in a tea pot is significantly cheaper and better tasting than teabags.
Could you give me a source where I could buy and try your tea?
I'm not the original poster, but I also drink loose leaf tea.  I buy loose leaf tea from ethnic grocery stores.  Right now, I'm drinking a genmai-cha from a Japanese grocery store (200g for ~ $3). 

kei te pai

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Re: We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.
« Reply #4 on: October 12, 2018, 12:34:56 AM »
I am in NZ, and leaf tea is sold in all the supermarkets. The unfancy brands are around NZ$4  for 250 gm. A packet lasts us about 2 -3 weeks, having around 4 cups a day.
Different brands have slightly different strengths and flavour, but all taste much better than teabags to me!

jnw

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Re: We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.
« Reply #5 on: October 12, 2018, 06:30:30 AM »
Yeah I'm definitely going to have to try some loose leaf tea. Thank you.

letsdoit

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Re: We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.
« Reply #6 on: October 12, 2018, 11:14:13 AM »
For us, leaf tea brewed in a tea pot is significantly cheaper and better tasting than teabags.

once you go loose leaf there is no going back.
great for throwing on your plants when you're done, too

Mtngrl

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Re: We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.
« Reply #7 on: October 12, 2018, 05:22:14 PM »
I am tea lover and also recommend loose tea. I use Davidson's English Breakfast, which I order off of Amazon. A bag lasts me several months -- but I only drink one cup in the morning. If I have a second cup, I simply re-use the same tea leaves and let it steep longer.

Yankuba

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Re: We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.
« Reply #8 on: October 12, 2018, 06:06:03 PM »
Instant coffee is only 6 cents a cup if you get it on sale. I love my Nescafe. I drink it black

BikeFanatic

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Re: We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.
« Reply #9 on: October 13, 2018, 08:43:01 AM »
I spend alot of money on coffee as well and I am considering giving it up , mostly to decrease my caffiene intake and save some money . I can drink 4 cups or more myself a day. I have been weaning down and  had only one cup of tea yesterday. I think I may try the origon posters recipe the bitterness of tea turns me off, and I was told by an English woman that a propper cup of Tea is quick brewed. Thanks.

Serendip

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Re: We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.
« Reply #10 on: October 18, 2018, 01:00:48 PM »
I was inspired by this and made a cup of tea instead of coffee this morning.

(used the heat-up-the-mug method, thanks for reminding me of it!)

I have heaps of teabags/loose-leaf that would be great to use before buying more coffee beans..or at least drinking tea 3-4 times/week and coffee once or twice.
New personal micro-challenge

jnw

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Re: We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.
« Reply #11 on: October 18, 2018, 01:26:24 PM »
Instant coffee is only 6 cents a cup if you get it on sale. I love my Nescafe. I drink it black

If I could drink it black, it would be totally affordable.  Problem is we always like cream (or cashew milk) in it along with stevia.  Big bottle of stevia drops is like $20 and lasts a month.   The cashew milk.. we were going through three of those per week at $3.00 per half gallon.  Now we just drink water and tea, nothing else really.

HAPPYINAZ

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Re: We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.
« Reply #12 on: October 18, 2018, 01:36:44 PM »
Tea is really good for you too!   

Have you tried green tea?  I use matcha green tea (which is a powdered green tea) and you get added nutrition because you are drinking the whole thing (i.e., not throwing the leafs away like regular tea).

fyi, you can make a cup of tea easily in the microwave too.  Then you won't have to be using so much energy to boil water and dumping half of it like you are talking about with your method.  Your mug will warm up along with the water.  In my microwave water will boil in 1-2 minutes depending on size of the mug.  You can add the tea bag before or after microwaving, I do it before so that it's steeping while warming up.  I do this with matcha tea too. 

Rosy

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Re: We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.
« Reply #13 on: October 18, 2018, 01:40:01 PM »
We spend sixteen dollars a month on coffee beans, cream and sugar in the raw (cane sugar) - or ice cream (chocolate or vanilla or coconut or espresso or caramel ice cream) - instead of cream and sugar.
Total about $20 - I drink half a carafe in the morning and we drink a full carafe on the weekends.

Just saw a post on here about roasting your own green coffee beans in an air popcorn maker. Brilliant, I bet that would decrease the cost and increase the flavor.
(We buy the beans when it is BOGO and use $2-$3.00 off coupons).
Trying to wean myself from all the extras in the coffee, but I still need a half a teaspoon of sugar and a little milk or way too much ice cream:)

I like tea just as much, but prefer coffee in the morning. I like all sorts of teas - black, jasmine, dragon, British, Chinese teas and I make my own herbal teas.

Slee_stack

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Re: We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.
« Reply #14 on: October 18, 2018, 01:40:06 PM »
Instant coffee is only 6 cents a cup if you get it on sale. I love my Nescafe. I drink it black

If I could drink it black, it would be totally affordable.  Problem is we always like cream (or cashew milk) in it along with stevia.  Big bottle of stevia drops is like $20 and lasts a month.   The cashew milk.. we were going through three of those per week at $3.00 per half gallon.  Now we just drink water and tea, nothing else really.
You could also try butter or coconut oil in your coffee.  Not sure if that would be cost savings or not  anyway.  Plus you still prefer sweet...so the stevia cost remains.

I've converted to (2) cups of decafe a day...both provided gratis from my employer.

Caffeine never affected me one way or another...it was always about taste for me.

Granted I think decafe doesn't taste as good...but it still tastes good enough.

I also like the flavor of tea, but not nearly as much as coffee.  In the end I'm OK with paying more for something I enjoy more.

If tea is equal to coffee to someone...makes sense to save the cash and go with it.

merula

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Re: We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.
« Reply #15 on: October 18, 2018, 01:47:21 PM »
I buy loose leaf tea at the local Halal market. It's about $4 for 500g of the good stuff. I will use that to mix up tea blends; for example I really like Twinning's Lady Grey but couldn't stomach the cost per bag (or the packaging, frankly), so I figured out that it's essentially a blend of plain black tea, Earl Grey, dried lavender flowers and dried orange peel, and experimented until I liked it.

DreamFIRE

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Re: We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.
« Reply #16 on: October 18, 2018, 04:13:56 PM »

I take my own coffee to use in my personal coffee maker at work, but I use the free cream and sweetener from work, so it's pretty low cost overall.

flipboard

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Re: We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.
« Reply #17 on: October 19, 2018, 11:16:15 PM »
I consider my coffee habit to be an investment towards being able to run a coffee shop in future (my post-FIRE plan) - the more practice the better. Thus I don't feel too bad about spending $60 ish equivalent across two people per month. That's for _really_ high quality coffee (which I only drink one of per day), with roasters sourcing directly from the farm etc.

Even without that, I don't know if I'd switch. I drink this coffee for its taste - somewhat like people would eat chocolate or drink wine. Not as a companion drink to the day.

expatartist

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Re: We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.
« Reply #18 on: October 20, 2018, 12:20:06 AM »
I buy loose leaf tea at the local Halal market. It's about $4 for 500g of the good stuff. I will use that to mix up tea blends; for example I really like Twinning's Lady Grey but couldn't stomach the cost per bag (or the packaging, frankly), so I figured out that it's essentially a blend of plain black tea, Earl Grey, dried lavender flowers and dried orange peel, and experimented until I liked it.

Great idea, Merula! Starting with a base leaf you can make so many combinations, will try that soon. I tend to drink tea mainly in the winter.

My coffee's drunk black and unsweetened - though often accompanied with a sweet or dried fruit. 1-2 cups/day. Where I live, good coffee's expensive so I'll buy high quality beans as travel souvenirs and supplement with ground Lavazza for lazy espressos at work or French press at home.

CodingHare

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Re: We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.
« Reply #19 on: October 25, 2018, 10:31:56 AM »
I'm also making the switch over to tea from coffee.  *begins rambling*

My workplace had a hand grinder and an aeropress, so a group of us pooled together for a coffee club.  We'd take turns bringing in specialty dark beans.  It wasn't too bad of a deal--Got to try a ton of cool blends and origins, and it cost $15 to $20 every two to three months when I brought in a bag.  I also drink my coffee black at work, so no related expenses for creamer or the like.

I liked the work setup so much I bought my own aeropress and hand grinder for home.  And my boyfriend bought me a Chemex for my birthday.  And my parents gave me their old french press.  So I now have 3 coffee makers.  (The Chemex is my favorite--easiest to clean, makes the best cup.)

Then I found out that unlike work, a $15 to $20 bag of coffee is a horrible buy at home for me.  I'm the only coffee drinker in the house, so I'm the only one using the beans.  I don't want coffee when I get home from work, so I only drink on the weekends.  I drink less coffee at home because I'm actually doing fun things instead of fighting to stay awake.  I realized that I was drinking coffee to alleviate boredom instead of for it's own sake.

Anyway, I changed work groups, so no more fancy coffee.  I can't stand the coffee they keep in carafes--makes my stomach feel like it's full of acid.  So I switched to loose leaf tea at work and home--so much cheaper! I don't waste any because I can't finish before it goes bad.  There's a variety of flavors-black, green, white, oolong, flowers, earl greys--something for every mood.  I feel more alert, too.

Now I still buy whole fancy beans--but only when I'm going to be home on a vacation or the holidays.  Best of all worlds.




smalllife

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Re: We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.
« Reply #20 on: October 31, 2018, 10:34:34 AM »
Congrats!

We are a mixed household - DH does coffee and I usually do tea (I have to be careful about consuming caffeine due to side effects).

It's lumped in with alcohol in the budget, but under  $20 a month.

The coffee is locally roasted ... you have bins of loose coffee beans for smelling then they weigh and sell as needed. The place smells awesome.

The tea is mixed locally, all organic and fair trade sourced. The ladies in charge know their stuff - like librarians with recommendations. We pay a premium for supporting an ethical local economy, but quality and taste are better than the big stores from what I've tasted. Plus, I swear some of their blends are magic with certain ailments .....

BECABECA

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Re: We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.
« Reply #21 on: November 15, 2018, 02:37:28 PM »
I used to take tons of cream and sugar in my coffee, but was able to drink it just black when we switched to cold brewing the coffee. The cold brew process results in a much smoother, less harsh tasting coffee, so you don’t need cream and sugar to cut the bitterness. And cold brewing usually makes a concentrated coffee that you can have on hand in the fridge for a week and add as much water to as you like. So later in the day, I have more water to coffee mix so I’m not getting too much caffeine. Just something to try for those who want to give up the cream and sugar but don’t like tea.

Threshkin

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Re: We switched from Coffee to Tea -- saving about $75 per month.
« Reply #22 on: November 19, 2018, 02:42:58 PM »
There are many different ways of brewing tea.  A Turkish friend of mine would boil black tea and water on the stove for 15 minutes or more.  An Indian friend did the same thing but used milk instead of water.  But in both cases the tea was steeped (boiled) for a long period.

I make my daily tea in a large, insulated mug and leave the tea in the entire time.  The result is tea just the way I like it, dark and strong.  My favorite variety is Lapsang Souchong.

I also make a Chai concentrate using Cardamon, Allspice, Cloves, Black Pepper, Cinnamon, Ginger and Black Tea.  The first six ingredients cook in the crock pot overnight and the tea goes in for the last hour or so.  I mix this elixir roughly 50/50 with milk.  It is good hot or cold but prefer it hot.

 

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