Campbellsville, Kentucky

My Darling Husband’s British heritage means that at 4 o’clock, he likes to sit down with a cuppa. That’s tea for thee and me. As we have become more conscious of what we eat, (perhaps because we note that as we age that what we eat does have a direct effect on our well-being), his cuppa has gone from containing generic black pekoe tea, sugar (I weaned him off saccharin tablets early in the relationship) and a generous dollop of milk to something without caffeine, hopefully naturally sweet, and a cloud of almond or homemade soy milk.

A few months back, Trader Joe’s had a couple of Stash teas, Crème Caramel and Vanilla Nut Creme, both decaf, both delicious. I thought they might satisfy his inborn craving for creamy and sweet, and I was right. But when it came time to replace them, Trader Joe’s had only empty shelf. I tried the co-op with the same result. I was discouraged: it seems like every time we find something we really like, it disappears from the shelf, discontinued by the maker (Bear Naked’s Triple Berry Oatmeal, Mike’s Hard Sour Apple, and Larry’s Market Black Forest bread come readily to mind). So off to the Web I went for answers. Happily, they have not been discontinued! I found the teas at Stash, a 240-count box for $33. Great, I thought! The number two result was Amazon, offering 216 tea bags for only $26.56, with free shipping. Even better, said Darling Husband, so I placed the order, happy to be supporting a local company – Stash teas are based in Portland, just a few hundred miles away.

It was only when I got the shipping confirmation from Amazon that the penny dropped. The UPS tracking information showed that my package would take five days to arrive, since it was coming from Campbellsville, Kentucky. Yes, Kentucky, 2,438 miles away from here. Rand McNally tells me it takes 36 hours, 45 minutes to drive one way. Once the boxes arrive chez nous, the inefficiency and true cost of the transaction are staring me in the face.

I saved a penny per teabag, but burned enough fuel to truck four little boxes nearly 5,000 miles. From Oregon to Kentucky to Washington. Next time, we’ll buy direct.