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Discover Brewing Loose Leaf Tea: How Much Does a Perfect Cup Cost?
Short answer: It's not. A grocery-store tea bag costs $0.05–$0.50 per cup. Loose leaf tea costs $0.20–$2.00+ per serving — but because quality loose leaf can be steeped 3–6 times, the real cost per cup drops to $0.08–$0.50. Once you account for re-steeping, premium loose leaf tea is often cheaper than mid-range tea bags.
Why does it look expensive? Because the price on the package doesn't tell the whole story. Let's break down what you're actually paying per cup — and why the upfront cost is misleading.
The Real Cost Per Cup: A Side-by-Side Comparison
Most tea cost breakdowns ignore the biggest factor: re-steeping. A premium loose leaf tea that looks expensive per serving becomes one of the cheapest options when you factor in multiple infusions.
Here's how the math works:
| What You're Drinking | Real Cost Per Cup | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Budget tea bags | $0.05–$0.10 | ~$5/100 bags, single use |
| Premium sachets / branded tea bags | $0.50 | ~$10/20 bags, single use |
| Everyday loose leaf | $0.10–$0.25 | $5–$15/50g, 2–3 steeps |
| Premium single-origin loose leaf | $0.10–$0.30 | $15–$30/50g, 3–6 steeps |
| Rare / competition-grade loose leaf | $0.25–$0.80 | $50+/50g, 4–8 steeps |
| Coffee shop tea | $4.50–$6.00 | Single use |
The surprise: a high-mountain oolong from Taiwan can cost you less per cup than a premium tea bag — and the flavor isn't even in the same category.
Note: Prices are approximate USD retail. Cups assume ~2g per Western-style serving. A standard 100g bag of loose leaf tea yields roughly 40–50 servings before re-steeping — and 120–300 cups once you factor in multiple infusions.
What This Looks Like Over a Year
The per-cup difference seems small. Zoom out to a year and it stops being small.
If you drink 2 cups per day (730 cups/year):
| Option | Annual Cost |
|---|---|
| Budget tea bags | $36–$73 |
| Mid-range tea bags | $365 |
| Premium loose leaf (re-steeped 4x) | $73–$219 |
| Home-brewed coffee | $219–$548 |
| Coffee shop tea or coffee | $3,285–$4,380 |
Premium loose leaf, re-steeped, costs roughly the same per year as budget tea bags — and less than half the cost of mid-range bags. The price gap that looks significant on the shelf disappears entirely when you account for how many cups each serving actually yields.
Did You Know? Premium loose leaf tea re-steeped 4 times costs less per year than home-brewed coffee — and dramatically less than café drinks.
How Brewing Method Changes Your Cost
How you brew matters as much as what you brew. The same tea can cost $1.00/cup or $0.15/cup depending on your method.
| Brewing Method | Infusions | How It Works |
|---|---|---|
| Western teapot | 1–2 | 2–3g per pot, 3–5 min steep |
| Gongfu style | 4–8 | 5–7g in small vessel, 15–30 sec steeps |
| Grandpa style | 3–6 refills | 2–3g in a tall glass, top off all day |
| Cold brew | 1 (long extraction) | 5–8g in cold water overnight |
Gongfu brewing is where the economics of premium tea really shine. You use more leaf per session, but each session yields 4–8 steeps with evolving flavors — the third steep of a good oolong often tastes completely different from the first. If you're curious about the methods, we wrote a full brewing guide that walks through each approach.
Pro Tip: If you're new to loose leaf, grandpa-style brewing is the easiest way to start. Just put leaves in a tall glass, add hot water, and drink. Top off with more water throughout the day. No equipment needed.
So Why Does Loose Leaf Cost More Upfront?
The price difference between loose leaf and bagged tea comes down to what's actually in the package.
What's in a tea bag
Open a standard tea bag and you'll find what the industry calls "dust and fannings" — the broken fragments and powder left after whole leaves are processed. These small particles brew quickly and produce a strong, one-dimensional cup. That's the product design: fast, consistent, disposable.
CTC (crush-tear-curl) processing is the most common method for tea bag production. The leaves are machine-crushed into small, uniform granules that extract rapidly. It's efficient and affordable, and for milk teas and chai, it works well. But it sacrifices the complexity that comes from intact leaves.
What you get with loose leaf
Whole leaves retain their essential oils — the compounds responsible for aroma, flavor depth, and the ability to re-steep. Once a leaf is crushed, those oils oxidize rapidly and the tea becomes a single-use product.
Beyond the leaf itself, loose leaf tea tends to cost more because of:
Origin and altitude. Tea grown at high elevations — 1,000 meters and above — grows more slowly in cooler temperatures. Slower growth concentrates flavor compounds and produces more complex aromas. This is the concept of terroir, the same principle that drives wine pricing. A high-mountain oolong from Taiwan tastes fundamentally different from a low-elevation commodity tea, because the geography is literally in the leaf.
Hand processing. Many premium teas are still handpicked during narrow harvest windows and processed using traditional techniques. Taiwanese oolongs, for instance, are hand-rolled into tight balls that unfurl slowly during brewing, releasing layers of flavor across multiple steeps. That labor is skilled and seasonal, which adds cost — but it's also what makes re-steeping possible.
Small-batch scale. Family farms producing single-origin tea don't have the economies of scale that industrial tea operations do. You're paying for a specific place, a specific farmer, a specific harvest — not a commodity blend optimized for volume.
The Health Factor Worth Knowing
Beyond flavor and economics, there's a practical reason to consider loose leaf: some commercial tea bags are made with plastic-based materials (nylon, PET, or polypropylene mesh). If you want to minimize exposure to these materials, loose leaf is the simplest option — you're steeping leaves in water with nothing in between.
Note: If you prefer the convenience of tea bags, look for brands using unbleached, plastic-free materials.
The Bottom Line
| If you want... | Best option | Typical real cost/cup |
|---|---|---|
| Absolute cheapest cup | Budget tea bags | $0.05–$0.10 |
| Best value for quality | Premium loose leaf, re-steeped 3–5x | $0.10–$0.30 |
| Maximum flavor complexity | Single-origin loose leaf, gongfu brewed | $0.15–$0.40 |
| Convenience at any price | Coffee shop | $4.50–$6.00 |
Loose leaf tea isn't expensive. It just looks expensive when you compare package prices instead of cost per cup. Once you factor in re-steeping — which is how loose leaf is designed to be used — premium tea becomes one of the best value-to-experience ratios in any food or beverage category.
Where to Start
If you've never tried premium loose leaf, the best way to understand the difference is to taste it. A few good entry points:
- A mountain green tea — clean, smooth, forgiving to brew, and easy to re-steep 3–4 times. Good bridge from tea bags. (Our Himalayan Green is $15 for 50g.)
- A high-mountain oolong — floral, layered, and built for 4–6 steeps. This is where re-steeping economics really click. (Alishan Oolong starts at $5 for a sample.)
- A roasted oolong — toasty, warm, and approachable if you're coming from coffee. (Roasted Alishan also starts at $5.)
The sample sizes especially are low-risk: a few dollars for enough tea to steep multiple sessions and see if the per-cup math holds up for you.
Loose Leaf Tea Cost FAQ
How much does a cup of tea cost?
Tea bags cost about $0.05–$0.50 per cup depending on brand. Premium loose leaf costs $0.60–$2.00+ for the first steep, but re-steeping 3–6 times brings the real cost to $0.10–$0.50 per cup.
Is loose leaf tea cheaper than tea bags?
Per first cup, no. But when you re-steep — which premium loose leaf is designed for — the cost per cup often drops below mid-range tea bags.
Why is loose leaf tea so expensive?
You're paying for whole leaves (not dust), hand processing, high-altitude growing conditions, and small-batch farming. These factors also make the tea re-steepable, which lowers the effective cost.
How many cups can you brew from loose leaf tea?
Most loose leaf teas yield 2–4 infusions. High-quality oolongs can go 4–8 steeps, with the flavor evolving each time. That's 4–8 cups from a single 2–3g serving.
Does brewing style affect tea cost?
Significantly. Gongfu brewing maximizes infusions (4–8 per session), making it the most cost-efficient method for premium teas. Grandpa-style — where you leave the leaves in the cup and add water throughout the day — is also very efficient. See our brewing guide for details on each method.
What's the cheapest way to drink good tea?
Buy premium loose leaf in larger quantities (50g+), brew gongfu style for maximum steeps, and store properly in an airtight container away from light. Your effective cost will be $0.10–$0.20 per cup for excellent tea.
Is loose leaf tea better than tea bags?
In most cases, yes. Loose leaf tea uses whole or large leaves that retain more essential oils — the compounds responsible for aroma, flavor complexity, and health benefits. Tea bags typically contain broken leaf fragments (dust and fannings) that brew a one-dimensional cup and can't be re-steeped. Loose leaf also avoids the microplastic concerns associated with many commercial tea bag materials. The tradeoff is convenience: tea bags are faster, but a simple infuser makes loose leaf almost as easy.
How much tea does 100g of loose leaf make?
About 40–50 servings at ~2g per cup (Western-style brewing). With re-steeping, 100g of quality loose leaf can yield 120–300 cups depending on the tea type and brewing method. Oolongs and pu-erhs stretch the furthest at 4–8 steeps per serving.
Is tea cheaper than coffee?
Per cup, brewed tea is significantly cheaper. Home-brewed tea ranges from $0.05–$0.50 per cup, while home-brewed coffee typically costs $0.30–$0.75 per cup. Over a year at 2 cups per day, premium re-steeped loose leaf ($73–$219/year) costs less than home-brewed coffee ($219–$548/year) — and dramatically less than café drinks.
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