Tea disappointment
Sep. 8th, 2011 10:15 pmLabor Day weekend wasn’t too eventful. My family had a barbeque on Sunday, which is rather rare. (Our grill lives in the garage almost all of the time and only gets dragged out about once a year. We finally used the last of the bag of charcoal which was well over 5 years old!) But it was just us so it was quiet.
Monday was a bit of shopping. Hadn’t been to the mall for a couple of months and I was kind of surprised to see a Teavana store had opened there. The only one I’d seen before was the one in the mall at Anime Boston and that mall was quite a bit more upscale. I’d been tempted to get some tea at the con this year based on the samples they had in the store but had resisted since I rarely take the time to brew loose tea. So, I thought this might be a good chance to get some although it’s expensive. My initial excitement didn’t last though.
The tea I was interested in was rather pricey so I only planned to get the smallest amount (2 oz.) but I hadn’t realized it was a blend so I had to buy 2 oz. of each of the teas. The second tea in the blend was only about half the price of the first so that wasn’t too bad. But I basically had a 16 oz. tea canister pushed on me for an extra $7, too. I’d never bought any of their tea leaves before but I had gotten some as a birthday gift from ngmaster a few years ago and it came in little bags and I remembered seeing it measured into bags for other customers at Boston this year. When the salesgirl poured it into the tin, I thought it was just for mixing the two teas before bagging it but nope, they expected me to buy the tin, too. So, I ended up spending over twice as much as I was originally expecting and getting a huge tin (about 4” diameter and 8” tall) that’s only a quarter full and that I don’t have room for in the kitchen so I wasn’t completely pleased when I left the store. -_- They told me I could bring the tin back when I wanted to buy more tea but it’s so big it would be annoying to haul around. I had been thinking about getting 2 oz. of another of the less expensive teas also but after the tin thing, that didn’t happen. (From the comments on a post I found on a tea blog afterwards, it seems the salespeople at the chain have a reputation for being pushy.) Bah. I think if I want to try other Teavana teas, I’m just going to wait until I’m also buying gifts and can put together an order big enough for free shipping through the website. At least, the tea that I got should last quite a while since I doubt I’d brew it more than a couple of times a week.
And NYCC/NYAF is only a bit over a month away but I’m still feeling unmotivated to work on anything cosplay-wise. :-/ It never was one of my favorite cons and I wasn’t a fan of the huge crowds last year. Large costumes just aren’t practical since it’s so crowded and the location isn’t great for photos so there’s nothing I would be super excited to make for it. I also feel rather out of the loop since hardly anyone posts regularly to LJ anymore and that’s not really helping my blah feeling either. Still trying to figure out if there’s anything I want to bother making for the con. Meanwhile, I’m trying to reorganize my beads/jewelry supplies.
Monday was a bit of shopping. Hadn’t been to the mall for a couple of months and I was kind of surprised to see a Teavana store had opened there. The only one I’d seen before was the one in the mall at Anime Boston and that mall was quite a bit more upscale. I’d been tempted to get some tea at the con this year based on the samples they had in the store but had resisted since I rarely take the time to brew loose tea. So, I thought this might be a good chance to get some although it’s expensive. My initial excitement didn’t last though.
The tea I was interested in was rather pricey so I only planned to get the smallest amount (2 oz.) but I hadn’t realized it was a blend so I had to buy 2 oz. of each of the teas. The second tea in the blend was only about half the price of the first so that wasn’t too bad. But I basically had a 16 oz. tea canister pushed on me for an extra $7, too. I’d never bought any of their tea leaves before but I had gotten some as a birthday gift from ngmaster a few years ago and it came in little bags and I remembered seeing it measured into bags for other customers at Boston this year. When the salesgirl poured it into the tin, I thought it was just for mixing the two teas before bagging it but nope, they expected me to buy the tin, too. So, I ended up spending over twice as much as I was originally expecting and getting a huge tin (about 4” diameter and 8” tall) that’s only a quarter full and that I don’t have room for in the kitchen so I wasn’t completely pleased when I left the store. -_- They told me I could bring the tin back when I wanted to buy more tea but it’s so big it would be annoying to haul around. I had been thinking about getting 2 oz. of another of the less expensive teas also but after the tin thing, that didn’t happen. (From the comments on a post I found on a tea blog afterwards, it seems the salespeople at the chain have a reputation for being pushy.) Bah. I think if I want to try other Teavana teas, I’m just going to wait until I’m also buying gifts and can put together an order big enough for free shipping through the website. At least, the tea that I got should last quite a while since I doubt I’d brew it more than a couple of times a week.
And NYCC/NYAF is only a bit over a month away but I’m still feeling unmotivated to work on anything cosplay-wise. :-/ It never was one of my favorite cons and I wasn’t a fan of the huge crowds last year. Large costumes just aren’t practical since it’s so crowded and the location isn’t great for photos so there’s nothing I would be super excited to make for it. I also feel rather out of the loop since hardly anyone posts regularly to LJ anymore and that’s not really helping my blah feeling either. Still trying to figure out if there’s anything I want to bother making for the con. Meanwhile, I’m trying to reorganize my beads/jewelry supplies.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-09 02:42 am (UTC)Not going to NYCC/NYAF this year so won't be seeing you ;3; but yea the crowds...are ridiculous. I mean, ANY kind of cos is in danger in say, the dealer's room, imo. X_x
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Date: 2011-09-11 07:48 pm (UTC)Yeah, it's ridiculously crowded in there and I'm not really looking forward to the con because of it.
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Date: 2011-09-09 04:25 am (UTC)You should get on Facebook if you wanna be in the loop, they allow fake names so you can make a cosplay-only account. :)
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Date: 2011-09-11 08:00 pm (UTC)Ugh, even if I could make a cosplay-only account, I have no interest in having a Facebook at all. My brother finally made one late last year or early this year and seeing the stuff that came up on his page, all the little updates would drive me insane and make me want to throw things at the computer. >_> I am just not a fan of tiny updates like you get on Facebook or Twitter which is why I don't have either of them although a lot of people seem to have moved there.
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Date: 2011-09-09 04:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-11 08:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-09 02:20 pm (UTC)(Reposted as I messed up the tag, lol. ^_~;)
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Date: 2011-09-11 08:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-09 06:34 pm (UTC)I love the tea shop Lupicia, but unfortunately they only have retail locations in Honolulu and California. You can order their stuff online (and if they'll send you a free sample every month if you sign up for their newsletter - after you buy a certain amount of tea from them). I really wish they had a shop in my city, so I could try things out!
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Date: 2011-09-11 08:41 pm (UTC)Thanks for the suggestion! I'll have to take a look around the site.