Frugali-tea

So I must admit, I drink a lot of tea, especially on days the husband is away. It s nothing for me to go through 5-10 tea bags (at approx 2 cups each) in a day. I know, it's a lot of tea. I need to cut back. But I have been keeping the house at 15-16 degrees celsius, and even with my warm merino wool sweater (Garret calls it wearing my sheep) I get a little chilly, and a pot of hot water on the stove and a cup of tea at my side means I am ok.

So here is my simple little lesson on tea bags. We buy Twinings earl grey, both in loose leaf and bags. (we also have English breakfast both ways, and loose leaf oolong.....I am insisting we drink all of that before buying more) Tea bags are not as satisfying (or as tasty) as loose leaf, but they are convenient. British Twinings bags last for more cups than the American version, I am not sure why. So usually I can get 2 cups of tea out of one bag. But my recent discovery has me using less tea bags, so I thought I would share.

I leave my last teabag sitting on the tea bag holder when I put a new one in. After 2 cups with the new one, I take the 2 bags and use them together. This gets another cup of tea out of the bags and means I use less tea bags in a day. I know, I know....it's something small. But the little things do add up, I swear. When Garret is home he drinks almost as much tea as I do, and it can add up quickly. If we make a pot of tea, we can usually get quite a few cups out of 3 bags simply by adding more water before the old water runs out. Same works for coffee in our French press....if you add water a little at a time, yes you end up with slightly weaker coffee in the end, but you get more cups out of it.

Does anyone have any "little but it adds up" secrets of their own? Do share please!