Saving Money on Tea

Three simple, money-saving tips for selling tea

From time to time, every business needs to look for ways to cut costs--and for coffee houses, tea rooms, restaurants or anyone in the business of tea selling, there are a number of ways to save. There are the obvious steps to take--avoid buying retail, always buy wholesale tea, and buy products in bulk. There are additional, less obvious ways to save while producing better products for your customers.

Before you think about switching your tea distributor or reducing the quality of your tea to cut costs, get creative. Are there new ways you can produce quality tea for your customers? Will other methods increase profits while still satisfying your customers? Here are some steps to start saving:

1. Use loose leaf tea from tea distributors.
2. Purchase tea products wholesale--including money-saving tea pots.
3. Get creative with leftover tea.

 

Explore various types of loose leaf tea

The easiest way to save money on tea purchases is to buy bulk loose leaf tea. Tea bags, strings and sealed, individual envelopes cost money. A decent quality tea bag runs about 25 to 75 cents per cup, while the loose tea required for a cup costs around 5 cents. Loose leaf tea is of higher quality than anything in a tea bag, so you'll produce a finer-tasting cup of tea while saving.
Try: "The Advantages of Loose Leaf Tea Over Tea Bags" from Gomestic details the cost, taste and health benefits of using loose tea. The Maya Tea Company examines the economics of tea bag versus loose leaf tea.

Find a Japanese tea manufacturer or other distributor offering tea pots

When you or your customers use a tea bag or loose leaves to brew a single cup of tea, you're under-utilizing the tea's capabilities. If you brew tea in a pot then pour it into individual cups, you'll save money by using less tea (a single pot makes six to eight servings). Make sure to use a good tea pot, because a poor quality tea pot produces poor-quality tea.
Try: "How to Save Money on Tea" at eHow offers a number of useful tips, including suggestions for how to use tea pots. Mauna Kea Tea offers suggestions for purchasing the best tea pot.

Get creative with leftover traditional and speciality teas

Leftover tea should always be reused. Place it in the refrigerator right away, and use it as iced tea. Or use tea in recipes, for example, add it to stock, pastry recipes, smoothies and virtually any dish requiring liguids.
Try: Home-herb-garden.com offers some good basic guidelines for using tea in cooking. The Stash Tea Company and Tetley, black and herbal tea companies, both offer tea recipes for main dishes, drinks, appetizers and desserts.

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