In a world filled with soft drinks and other sugar laden beverage choices, tea stands out as a healthy alternative and with so many flavors and varieties to choose from, you'll never get bored even if you drink tea exclusively. From a health standpoint if you drink ice tea on a daily basis, you'll experience the benefits of the catechins found in tea which are thought to play a role in cancer and heart disease prevention. Plus, you'll be able to enjoy all the great taste tea has to offer. Unfortunately, ice tea can get expensive if you drink enough of it on a daily basis, particularly if you choose the more expensive green and white teas. Is there a way to drink ice tea and save money at the same time? Here are some ways to save money on your tea purchases:
Skip the tea bags and go with loose leaf tea
You can save significantly on tea if you brew your own using loose leaf tea as opposed to tea bags. Some people feel intimidated by this process of brewing loose leaf tea but with all the teapots and gadgets available these days, doing it yourself is a breeze.
Probably the easiest way to brew larger quantities of loose leaf tea quickly is to buy an Assam teapot. To brew tea in an Assam teapot, you would simply fill the basket with loose leaf tea and add hot water to the teapot. After the allotted time, you simply press down on a plunger to stop the brewing process. Clean up is quick and easy and you get a delicious cup of tea every time. For iced tea, allow it to cool in the refrigerator and then add ice to avoid diluting it.
There are also a variety of handy devices designed to quickly brew a single cup of tea. If you don't mind a little more clean up, you can always add loose leaf tea to a glass bowl and then pour hot water over the leaves. After allowing them to steep, strain the tea using a metal strainer.
Stop drinking bottled tea
It's tempting to pick up a single serving size bottle of black or green tea at the convenience store to drink with your lunch or as a mid afternoon pick-me-up. But, prepackaged bottles of tea can cost up to $2.00 for a serving or two. This can add up pretty quickly if you do it on a consistent basis. Save those glass bottles and brew your own loose leaf tea at home. After brewing, fill the bottles with your own tea and take them with you to work to drink with lunch. When you fill glass bottles with your own tea, it costs anywhere from $0.10 to $0.30 depending on the type of tea you use. Think of the savings.
Buy bulk tea leaves
Instead of buying packages of loose leaf tea leaves to brew at home, visit your local natural food market and buy tea in bulk from the bins. Most natural food markets such as Whole Foods have bins of various kinds containing black, green, and white teas you can purchase by the pound. In many cases, you can find even better deals on loose leaf tea by purchasing online. Do a Google search for “loose leaf tea”.
Grow your own herbal teas
If you enjoy herbal tea, it's not difficult to grow your own herbs in your kitchen windowsill. Once they sprout, simply pick the herbs and dry them to make tea.
Use tea leaves more than once
Most decent quality teas can be steeped at least two times without degrading test and some can be used three times. Steep your loose leaf tea leaves several times and store it in a large jug in the refrigerator to drink throughout the day.
Ice tea is one of the least expensive beverages you can drink with the exception of water. Combine that with the health benefits and you have one of the best drinks around in terms of cost to value ratio. Why not add a little more tea to your day and save money at the same time?
