I’ve heard it said that loose tea is cheaper per cup of tea than teabag tea. I thought I’d calculate my own per cup tea expenditures to see if that is true for me.

My favorite teabag black tea (the only one I ever drink, and that only occassionally) is Stash double chai spice — the spice overwhelms the nasty dust flavor, and it smells very good. When I last purchased this tea, I paid $4.85 for 48 teabags. At one teabag per 6 ounces of water, that works out to 10.1 cents per cup. If made the way most Americans would probably make it (1 teabag per 12 ounces of water), it would be 5 cents per cup.

My everday standard loose black tea is the Tippy Orthodox GFOP Assam from Upton, at $5.80 for 125 grams (about 1/4 pound). This is about 2-1/2 cups of dry leaves, which is about 120 teaspoons. At one teaspoon of tea per 6 ounces of water, that works out to 4.8 cents per cup.

So for me, the loose tea is about half the cost of the teabag tea. For most people, they would probably be comperably priced. The taste, of course, is incomparable — the Assam is that much better.

Some of the teas I buy are more expensive than the above referenced Assam. The most I’m personally willing to spend on tea is about $15 for 125 grams — or three times the cost of the Assam. I’ll buy sample amounts of more expensive teas, so that I can test out both them and my palate, but for everyday drinking $15/125g is my limit. Consequently, about half of the cups I drink a day cost as much as 15 cents a cup, which is obviously more expensive than the teabag tea, no matter how it is made. I think that’s a pretty good exchange!

Notes: I usually buy my tea from mail order sources, so I have to pay shipping. I’ve left shipping costs out of my calculations, so I’m probably under-estimating the cost of the loose tea. Also, I sometimes see Stash tea on sale, so it can probably be had for less than $4.85 per box.

UPDATE: The cost difference is even greater for the herbals I drink. Republic of Tea’s Orange Ginger Mint teabags work out to 25 cents per 6 ounce cup. Upton’s Chamillo Blend is only 7.3 cents. Wow!