Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Dollar Store Tea: Lindsay Gardens Tea

I like exploring dollar stores, although I often don't buy much in them because I tend to seek out high-quality merchandise and, as I explain below, sometimes buying low-quality "bargain-priced" merchandise can actually increase your costs in the long-run. But sometimes I do discover true bargains and I always enjoy searching for them. I recently discovered a store, Dollar Days, on 48th street in West Philadelphia, which has a fairly large selection of food products, and among them, tea. The following photograph shows the tea for sale in this store:



This tea was all from Lindsay Gardens Tea, a brand which I had never heard of before I saw it in this store and took this photograph. I did not buy this tea and I'm probably unlikely to try it unless someone else has already bought it and offers me a tea bag to try, because I don't like throwing out tea.

I love shopping for bargains, but I think it is important to think about the broader picture when considering price, rather than just buying things because they are cheap. The tea pictured above is a good example. While I can't say much about its quality without actually sampling it (and I have not done so), I'm skeptical about its quality. It's clearly a brand of low-end tea bags, and I tend to avoid these brands regardless of price, because I think that high-quality goods often offer better value. But even if this brand offered high-quality tea, would it really be the best price available?

Cost-per-cup Analysis:

The following analysis will clearly demonstrate the supremacy of loose-leaf tea over tea bags as a bargain buy. First of all, the price above, $1 for 20 tea bags, is exceptional. Except for buying very large packs (100+ teabags) in bulk, it's rare to find prices as low as the one above. But in loose-leaf teas the prices can go much lower.

I recently featured a handful of teas in a post cheap tea: loose-leaf teas offering outstanding value. Among these, the cheapest was Ahmad Tea's Kalami Assam, an unusually good Assam tea. This tea, which I bought one pound of for $6.15, costs between 3-4 cents per cup, assuming about 2.5 grams of tea per cup, a substantially more liberal quantity than most low-end tea bags contain. The Lindsay Gardens tea above, from the dollar store? Assuming one tea bag per cup, 5 cents a cup. The Ahmad tea is actually an example of a relatively high-quality tea. There are other teas that are still quite high-quality that are much cheaper even. As an example, take Turkish tea from Caykur, all of which is grown without pesticides. It tends to be smooth black tea, available at a fraction of the price of the Ahmad tea above.

Even if you are searching solely to minimize your cost-per-cup, you'll nearly always get a better deal buying cheap but good-quality loose-leaf tea than buying the cheapest tea bags on the market.

20 comments:

  1. Even though I wouldn't give a tea like that a second glance at a dollar store, your post made me curious. I wanted to know a little more about who's behind this brand. I found some interesting articles, one of them is here: http://www.nyreport.com/business_profiles/company_next_door/66960/hot_tea
    Apparently this label is owned by Carrington Tea, that is a brand I have heard of.
    Anyway, as to your point that we can buy better loose leaf tea for better value. Yes. I agree. 100%

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  2. I'm with you on this. I compared a box of Lipton's with my usual teas and even for some of my higher priced ones, the loose leaf won. It wins against coffee as well, since a pound of good coffee, prepared well, only yields aout 60 cups. We're so smart!lol

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  3. Haha yes! Good tea is substantially cheaper than good coffee.

    BTW, I also posted a review of another incredibly cheap loose-leaf tea: Ceylon Tea OPA by Ahmad Tea.

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  4. I tried the Lindsay Garden Island Spice Tea, and the flavor was okay, but I wondered - how do they make it taste like coconut? Since it does not say whether it is artificially flavored, and I think it might be, this is the last box I will buy.

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  5. Well, I'm drinking the Island Spice right now, and I like it. And it was a truly the best value of all mentioned because it was free! So :-)~

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  6. The peppermint tea is the bomb. Sometimes you have to step outside the box and try new things. You cannot loose if it is only $1.00 anyway. Try it for yourself.

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    1. I agree I have the peppermint at home and the chmomile in my hand right now I really like them both. I bought this tea because look at the ingredients: All Natural Chamomile. Can't go work on that

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    2. I definitely am drawn to products that have only a single ingredient...whether pure teas, herbs, or food like a shredded wheat cereal that just includes whole wheat and nothing else.

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  7. Its the only tea I buy other then Red Rose, it is absolutely DELICIOUS! It is just like higher-end teas- takes really good :) So worth it

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  8. I have been drinking Lindsay Gardens Teas for over 10 years and like it much better than Liptons. In fact, I don't buy Liptons any more since finding Lindsay Gardens. They have very true taste and their black tea does not have the bitterness of other brands, especially Liptons.

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    1. my last name is Lindsay and I am interested in purchasing

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    2. I think your best bet is to check dollar stores for this product. That's the only place I've ever seen this brand for sale.

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    3. I tried the Lipton Green Tea after trying the Lindsay Gardens and threw away the box of Lipton. Give me Lindsay Gardens any day! I'm moving and I hope I can find it where I'm moving to.

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  9. i buy that the all the time & it is really gooood.

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  10. I bought Lindsay Gardens tea (Chamomile) at the dollar store (for $1.00, 20 tea bags + 10 free). It was pleasant, but I could not get a second cup from the same tea bag., which I usually can from other brands. a closer look explains why. Lindsay Chamomile has only .6 g per serving. The standard (per other brands in my pantry & web search) is 2 g. This explains why it is inexpensive and why a second cup from the tea bag is almost nonexistent.

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  11. Are you kidding? Lindsay Gardens is my favorite tea brand! The first tea I tried from them was the Green Tea with Raspberry, and I fell in love! I've also tried the Peppermint and the plain Green Tea, and again, AMAZING! After I tried Lindsay Gardens Green Tea, all other green teas taste terrible! Bought Carrington (sp?) and could only take a few sips before having to dump it. It was revolting. Lipton is apparently one of the best tea brands out there, but I don't like their green tea. There's very little flavor, but at least I can stomach it. Unfortunately, I live in a small town and can't find Lindsay Gardens tea ANYWHERE. The only place I've found it is one bread store in/around Austin TX. I live more than six hours from Austin, so I can't just drive down there for tea, so I'm having to deal with Lipton. Gonna ask my mother who lives by Austin to get me a lot of boxes of it before she comes to visit for Christmas. Try it! It's actually got FLAVOR!

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  12. I am hooked on the Lindsay Gardens French Vanilla Tea. I limit myself to one cup every night because it is very difficult to find this flavor in the dollar store. Someone generously gave me 5 boxes about 2 months ago, which they were able to find in their dollar store. I love it so much, sometimes I make a second cup out of the same bag, as I am so afraid of running out. I only have 2 boxes left, which means in 40 days I will be going through withdrawals. I recommend it, well that is if you can find it.

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    1. I'm moving soon and afraid I won't be able to find Lindsay Gardens Green Tea where I'm moving (so far I've only found it in 1 store where I live. I've searched the name Lindsay Gardens along with the address on the box and came up with Carrington Tea, same address. www.carringtontea.com I'm going to call them tomorrow and find out if it's the same. They do have your French Vanilla Tea on there too (which I have never seen at any of the stores I've ever gotten the green tea from).
      I'll let you what I find out :)

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    2. I found where you can order it! Lindsay Gardens teas are made by Carrington Teas, you can call the toll free number on their website and they will ship it out to you! I spoke to a very friendly lady there today. You won't find the Lindsay Gardens teas on their websites, but you can order them over the phone.

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  13. I bought the Lindsay Gardens Gourmet French Vanilla tea at Ollies and loved it! Unfortunately, they don't have it anymore. I will be checking online and the dollar stores to find more. I don't like a lot of the flavored teas, but this is very good and mild. Not overpowering.

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