2019 Year of the Sipdown Challenge

I thought I’d start a thread where those of us who have taken Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge can keep track.

So far, I’m at 2 for 2 days into the year. OK, they were samples. But I’m counting them.

Even more exciting, I’m closing in on 500 total sipdowns since I started counting them.

You?

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I finished 2018 at 251 teas sipped down! Last year is when I started keeping track of that stat.

I have finished one so far for this year, a teabox tea, Wuyi Rock Oolong by Soleil Tea (but it was a single serving). Right now I’m working through a box of bagged Bigelow Vanilla Chai which will probably be my work thermos tea until that box is gone, and in the evenings I’ve been working on a chocolate mint rooibos, Red Choc Mint by T2. I’m not much of a fan of either which will make them feel quite satisfying when I finally finish them off, heh. I have found the chocomint rooibos is a lot better with some chocolate almond milk, though, which may help that along.

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Wow, that is amazing! I cannot compete.

I just looked through all my old notes. I started tracking sipdowns 5 years ago (started posting here 9 (!) years ago). And after 2014 rolled over, I kept the old number but started tracking again for the current year. My total isn’t so great when you think about it, averaging about 100 a year, but I tend to disappear from Steepster for stretches. During those stretches I find I don’t drink as much tea.

I was thinking about why I disappear I realized that it happens when I’m writing fiction. It’s too much for me to write fiction and do other non-day job related writing, so something gives and it’s generally Steepster.

The fact that I’ve been here regularly over the past year plus correlates with the fact that I have been doing zero fiction writing during that period. I’m sure it will cycle back at some point, but right now I’m on hiatus and I’m not really itching to go back to it. I had gotten to the point where I needed to do some serious marketing to increase my profile and with the day job, kids and everything else it was more than I wanted to take on. Also, my new day job (not so new, coming up on 3 years) has been pretty wonderful and I’ve felt as though my creative urges were being well tended there so I feel less need for the fiction piece in my life right now.

But I digress.

Anyway, I’m excited for this challenge. I have a couple of sipdowns all planned out for today and tomorrow!

I think 100 a year is pretty impressive, that’s almost 1 every 3 days!

Every sipdown is a blessing!

I used to do short fiction or RP-type writing and then transitioned into tea-writing instead. Seems I like to always be writing something, but what interests me at any given time changes. I got into tea at the very tail end of 2016 (late fall, I think?) and have been enjoying this hobby since. I started on a Wordpress blog but didn’t really feel a sense of community there, so when I discovered Steepster at the very end of 2017, I converted from Wordpress to here. I’m still really enjoying it and am happy to stay on this train as long as it’s chugging along!

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Arby said

I’m starting January 1 with the goal of 12-15 sipdowns per month.

January
15/15 so far! GOAL REACHED

February
0/10 (I’m away for two weeks and will likely be unable to sipdown as much tea)

That sounds like an excellent plan. I think I will try to do 10 a month with 15 as a stretch goal.

You should think of a little reward for your stretch goal! ;)

Yes, as long as it isn’t more tea!

I’d go for a really nice pastry/dessert with your next cuppa. :-)

Arby said

I bought more tea as a reward. Oops! (and I haven’t even met the goal yet…)

Kittenna said

How did February end up going, Arby?

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I’m halfway to the goal of 10 for the month of January as of this morning. Yay!

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Don’t know if I’ll participate in terms of tracking my own sipdowns, but I’m exciting to follow along with how you all do! :)

Nice — I encourage you to join us if you like, but I’m happy for any cheerleading from the sidelines as well!.

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I’m starting out with the goal of sipping down my swap samples – 1 per day.

Then I think I’ll move on to working through some of my purchased samples and also some of my older or less-favored teas.

TOTAL: 85 samples, 13 full

January: 69 samples, 10 full
February: 16 samples, 3 full

Go go go!

Go go go yourself! Rah rah rah! :D

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Finally finished off that box of Bigelow Vanilla Chai. I didn’t really like it, so it feels a relief to be free of it.

That is a special kind of relief!

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frjeanxeau said

Excited to do my first official sip down (with tracking) this year!

Woo hoo!

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Nattie said

I am currently 155 teas into a 397 tea sipdown challenge. It started off way smaller and I changed the number every time new teas entered my life, and is probably going to be over 400 by the time I’m done. My overall goal is to get my cupboard down to 100 teas in total before I allow myself more purchases, especially as most of my teas are at least a couple of years old at this point. My cupboard’s now at 342, and I don’t think I’ll get to 100 by the end of the year but I’d like it if I could manage 200. So that’s 142 teas to finish this year! (Not including the ones I’ve finished between January 1st and now).

Good luck everyone! I’m going to check back in every now and again to keep myself accountable and see how everyone else is doing.

Good luck, Nattie! Yes, I always update my cupboard number on a Google Doc/Spreadsheet whenever I got new tea, as well, which is why I’m on a strict “no acquisition” ban right now (I have no space in my house for more tea right now anyway!)

For me, I’m less interested in “the number” than in clearing space, which means drinking small samplers (which would drop the number significantly!) isn’t going to help me as much as working through bigger bags… so my progress may look “small”, but if I’m clearing out shelving/cupboard space, then I’ll be happy!

Nattie said

Thank you! Have you thought about weighing your tea or having a more ‘space-driven’ goal, i.e. clearing out a cupboard etc.? Mine is more an age issue than a space issue personally, so I’m trying to go through my cupboard by date added.

I’m targetting my teas by age as well, but don’t want to have to re-weigh all my packages. I do have my spreadsheet arranged by original package weight and also buy date so I can target “bigger” package sizes and also things I bought earliest, though!

Nattie said

That’s a great idea! I might add weight to mine when I eventually buy new teas. Mine is currently just organised alphabetically, but I’ve also listed the tea type, origin, and date of purchase/acquisition where possible.

This is what my spreadsheet looks like… I think my being a cataloger in a library for 15 years is showing, hahaha!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D2J0sUMNItRsf0jBRBR6XDFUimm60f0o/view?usp=sharing

Nattie said

That is incredible! My spreadsheet is getting a serious overhaul (when it’s more manageable).

Lindsay said

@Mastress Alita – Wow! I am SO impressed by your tea spreadsheet!

blushes *

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At January 9th, 4 sipdowns so far this year, 2019.

And 64 sipdowns since I started counting.

Thanks for initiating this thread, Morgana!

Thanks for participating Evol Ving Ness, and good luck!

As of April 11th,
Sipdown 78
(18 of 2019)

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