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Is that a wholesale price for tea? As someone trying to drink more tea I find the retail price for Lipton loose tea is about $21 USD per kilogram and other bra

Is that a wholesale price for tea? As someone trying to drink more tea I find the retail price for Lipton loose tea is about $21 USD per kilogram and other brands are considerably more expensive.

peterwwillis 8y ago
It's the world bank commodities trading price. It gets a healthy markup by the time it reaches consumers.
- emodendroket 8y ago
  It is a rather drastically simplified picture to talk about "tea" as one big undifferentiated product rather than an entire class of goods with wildly varying qualities and prices (then again I suppose that's also true of coffee to some extent, but I know less about it).
emodendroket 8y ago
If you're trying to drink more tea, I might recommend at least getting Twinings or something. Lipton tea is one of those things I wouldn't really ever choose for myself.
- blanderman 8y ago
  I enjoy finding something fair trade from a local shop. It's generally better quality also, if slightly more expensive per month.
  - emodendroket 8y ago
    Sure, that's true. Twinings isn't bad and you can get it in your local grocery store, though.
csomar 8y ago
Welcome. There are transport/shipping costs, customs fees, taxes, storage fees, workers fees, retailer commission, packaging fees, advertising fees, banking fees, interest, VAT, etc... That's why 3rd world prices are cheaper. They don't have most of that since they usually get the product directly from the producer.
romwell 8y ago
>As someone trying to drink more tea I find the retail price for Lipton loose tea is about $21 USD per kilogram and other brands are considerably more expensive. I advice against Lipton: it's overpriced because it's a familiar brand even to people who aren't tea enthusiasts. I'd recommend going to tea stores where loose leaf tea is sold by the pound. For packaged black tea, I can highly recommend the following two: at about $9/pound, they are an excellent bang for the buck for high quality loose leaf OPA (many grades[3] above Lipton teabags): -Ahmad OPA [1] -Zarrin OPA [2] As a note, $21/kilo really not that much once you convert it to cups of tea. With green teas especially, since one can brew them several times. So the Lipton you're talking about isn't expensive per se, just for the grade you get (dust in teabags, FBOP loose). [1] https://www.amazon.com/Ahmad-Ceylon-OPA-Tea-Carton/dp/B0011010XY https://www.amazon.com/Ahmad-Ceylon-OPA-Tea-Carton/dp/B00110... [2] https://persianbasket.com/zarrin-pure-ceylon-special-opa https://persianbasket.com/zarrin-pure-ceylon-special-opa [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_leaf_grading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_leaf_grading
- emmanuel_1234 8y ago
  Any advice on how to chose loose leaves tea, especially green tea? I'm scared to be taken advantage of going to one of those fancy tea shop; they seem tailored for people who prefer pretty over quality, when I just want basic green tea, not laced with cadmium, and not 20% twigs and dust. Brands maybe irrelevant, as I'm not in North America.
  - jpatokal 8y ago
    Well, there is no "basic green tea", there are many different variants which are all quite different. Start by comparing a solid Chinese tea (eg. longjing) with a Japanese one (eg. sencha), brew them exactly as instructed (Japanese tea in particular turns bitter and soupy if you let it steep too long), see which one you like more and go from there. And instead of fancy tea stores, go to an Asian grocery and pick up any random mid-priced package. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_tea#Green_tea_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_tea#Green_tea_by_country
  - peterwwillis 8y ago
josephjrobison 8y ago
I’ve found a great secret - go to a distributor that also sells retail. Cafe Moto in San Diego sells pretty good tea in bags by the pound for about $13-20 for most of them, with some premium stuff much higher. It’s actually comical/criminal how expensive tea by the teabag is vs loose leaf. There’s also some tea by the pound on Amazon, although not as great quality IMHO.

Is that a wholesale price for tea? As someone trying to drink more tea I find the retail price for Lipton loose tea is about $21 USD per kilogram and other brands are considerably more expensive.

peterwwillis 8y ago

It's the world bank commodities trading price. It gets a healthy markup by the time it reaches consumers.

emodendroket 8y ago
It is a rather drastically simplified picture to talk about "tea" as one big undifferentiated product rather than an entire class of goods with wildly varying qualities and prices (then again I suppose that's also true of coffee to some extent, but I know less about it).

emodendroket 8y ago

If you're trying to drink more tea, I might recommend at least getting Twinings or something. Lipton tea is one of those things I wouldn't really ever choose for myself.

blanderman 8y ago
I enjoy finding something fair trade from a local shop. It's generally better quality also, if slightly more expensive per month.
- emodendroket 8y ago
  Sure, that's true. Twinings isn't bad and you can get it in your local grocery store, though.

csomar 8y ago

Welcome. There are transport/shipping costs, customs fees, taxes, storage fees, workers fees, retailer commission, packaging fees, advertising fees, banking fees, interest, VAT, etc... That's why 3rd world prices are cheaper. They don't have most of that since they usually get the product directly from the producer.

romwell 8y ago

>As someone trying to drink more tea I find the retail price for Lipton loose tea is about $21 USD per kilogram and other brands are considerably more expensive. I advice against Lipton: it's overpriced because it's a familiar brand even to people who aren't tea enthusiasts. I'd recommend going to tea stores where loose leaf tea is sold by the pound. For packaged black tea, I can highly recommend the following two: at about $9/pound, they are an excellent bang for the buck for high quality loose leaf OPA (many grades[3] above Lipton teabags): -Ahmad OPA [1] -Zarrin OPA [2] As a note, $21/kilo really not that much once you convert it to cups of tea. With green teas especially, since one can brew them several times. So the Lipton you're talking about isn't expensive per se, just for the grade you get (dust in teabags, FBOP loose). [1] https://www.amazon.com/Ahmad-Ceylon-OPA-Tea-Carton/dp/B0011010XY https://www.amazon.com/Ahmad-Ceylon-OPA-Tea-Carton/dp/B00110... [2] https://persianbasket.com/zarrin-pure-ceylon-special-opa https://persianbasket.com/zarrin-pure-ceylon-special-opa [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_leaf_grading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_leaf_grading

emmanuel_1234 8y ago
Any advice on how to chose loose leaves tea, especially green tea? I'm scared to be taken advantage of going to one of those fancy tea shop; they seem tailored for people who prefer pretty over quality, when I just want basic green tea, not laced with cadmium, and not 20% twigs and dust. Brands maybe irrelevant, as I'm not in North America.
- jpatokal 8y ago
  Well, there is no "basic green tea", there are many different variants which are all quite different. Start by comparing a solid Chinese tea (eg. longjing) with a Japanese one (eg. sencha), brew them exactly as instructed (Japanese tea in particular turns bitter and soupy if you let it steep too long), see which one you like more and go from there. And instead of fancy tea stores, go to an Asian grocery and pick up any random mid-priced package. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_tea#Green_tea_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_tea#Green_tea_by_country
- peterwwillis 8y ago

josephjrobison 8y ago

I’ve found a great secret - go to a distributor that also sells retail. Cafe Moto in San Diego sells pretty good tea in bags by the pound for about $13-20 for most of them, with some premium stuff much higher. It’s actually comical/criminal how expensive tea by the teabag is vs loose leaf. There’s also some tea by the pound on Amazon, although not as great quality IMHO.