I’m celebrating the advent of winter with a snuffly nose this year, so in light of my decreased capacity for sensing aromas, I’ve decided to forego the tea review and write instead about Teas Etc’s new tea travel mug.

Last year, when I put together my article about tea travel mugs, Teas Etc’s travel mug came out as one of my top two picks. With the release of their new BPA-free Tea Traveler, Teas Etc generously sent me two Travelers for review — one for me, one for Bec.

How it works

The Tea Traveler is composed of three parts: the mug, a stainless steel screw-on strainer and a lid.

To make tea, you place the tea leaves in the bottom of the mug, screw on the strainer, pour in the water and finally screw on the lid. It’s a simple process, but one word of warning: don’t pour the water in before you screw on the strainer, because you’ll find it impossible to screw the strainer on after you’ve added water — the mug expands a bit due to the heat. I learned that the hard way.

Of course, this means that the leaves sit in the water the whole time*, which means you could oversteep the tea. To get around this, decrease the amount of tea leaves you use, or use cooler water. I’ve found that covering the base of the mug with tea leaves generally yields a very good cup of tea, with the last bits of the tea being stronger but still palatable.

If you really want to be able to control how you long you steep the tea, I’d suggest Copco’s thermal mug, which has a twist-to-stop steeping device. But the problem with Copco’s thermal mug is that you can’t use it for any teas that have larger leaves — you’re limited to small-leaf black and green teas.

With Teas Etc’s travel mug, that’s not an issue. I love the fact that you can use it to make oolong tea, green tea, or any other kind of tea, because the leaves have plenty of room to unfurl. It’s a beautiful thing to watch oolong tea leaves uncoil slowly in the water, eventually revealing their full size.

For a demonstration of how the Tea Traveler Mug works, check out this video on Teas Etc.

* Unless you pour the tea into something else after infusing it. You could use the Tea Traveler as a makeshift teapot/infuser instead.

Easy to clean

One benefit of this design is that it’s really easy to clean. You just pull the mug apart, wash each individual part with water (don’t use soap on it), and you’re done.

Warm to touch (not too cool, not too hot)

It also stays warm to touch, without being too hot — even straight after adding boiling water. I’ve actually used the Tea Traveler around the house when I’m taking care of Benny (my one-year son), simply because I know he can touch it without burning himself. Granted, I still don’t really let him touch it in case he unscrews it — but at least it’s safer than a regular cup.

At the same time, it still insulates the heat well enough to keep the tea warm for at least an hour.

A better tea drinking experience

The number one thing I like about the Tea Traveler Mug is that it makes for a much nicer tea drinking experience than any other travel mug I’ve used.

You can actually smell the tea when you unscrew the lid, so it allows you to enjoy the tea’s aroma. I also appreciate that it’s warm to touch — the act of holding a warm mug is for me a key part of the sensory experience of having a cup of tea.

But most importantly, it has remarkably little effect on the tea’s flavour, which is a very good thing indeed. I find that most plastic mugs have a way of making tea taste washed out, while stainless steel mugs also change the flavour somewhat. With the Tea Traveler Mug, you’re getting a pretty accurate idea of what the tea should taste like.

Who should get this?

If you want control over how long you steep your tea leaves, don’t get the Tea Traveler Mug — try the Copco thermal mug instead.

On the other hand, if you want to be able to make any kind of tea – not just small-leaf green teas and black teas – the Tea Traveler Mug is the best mug I’ve used. It’s easy to clean, keeps the tea hot but won’t burn your fingers, doesn’t leak and most importantly, it makes for a great tea drinking experience. And at $19.95, the Tea Traveler Mug is very well priced.

The Tea Traveler Mug is available from Teas Etc.

© Eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2010. | Tea Traveler Mug from Teas Etc | No comment |
Post categories: Tea cups and teapots, Tea reviews
Post tags: 12.85 oz travel mug, tea travel mug, travel cups, travel mugs, travel tumblers

Just a few weeks after I received the Travel Buddy tea mug for Sinterklaas, the folks at Copco sent me the latest addition to their Total Tea range: a stainless steel tea thermal mug.

There are a few things I really like about the Copco thermal tumbler, but there is one definite standout feature: the twist-to-stop steeping feature, a device that allows you to control how long your tea steeps for. It’s simple, intuitive and shows that Copco understand tea drinkers’ needs.

Unlike the Travel Buddy, the Copco thermal mug stays cool to touch, even if you have boiling hot tea in there. That’s a good thing, though I must admit I burned my tongue the first time I used it — in a way, the fact that the Travel Buddy is so hot to touch acts as a warning to be careful when you drink from it. With the Copco thermal, the walls are made with plastic on the inside and stainless steel on the out, giving it a sturdy feel. A silicone grip around the center of the thermal makes it easy to hold onto.

My main complaint about the Copco thermal mug is how small its infuser actually is. It’s roughly half the size of the Travel Buddy’s infuser, which I already found to be quite small. As with the Travel Buddy, the small size means that you’re limited in which kinds of teas work well in it — I tend to stick with small-leaf green teas and black teas.

At $14.99, the Copco thermal is surprisingly cheap (considering how much some other travel mugs cost). Click here to buy it on Amazon.com.

For an overview of some other cups for drinking tea on the go, see my guide to travel tea mugs.

I have also added Copco’s teaware to the Tea Finely Brewed marketplace — they have some interesting stuff!

© Eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2010. | Copco 16-Ounce Stainless Steel Thermal Mug | No comment |
Post categories: Tea cups and teapots, Tea reviews
Post tags: 16-ounce travel mug, Copco, stainless steel thermal mug, travel mugs, Travel Tea Mug

It’s the silly season, as they say. That time of year where you burn cash like it’s firewood. As my token gesture of seasonal anticipation, I have put together a list of gift ideas for tea lovers. Send this to your family and friends to give them some ideas on what to get you, or use this as a starting point if you’re buying a gift for someone who loves tea.

Tea Sample Packs

Pretty much every tea shop out there offers sample packs, which can be a great way to introduce someone to the world of tea. Adagio, for example, offer a whole range of sampler packs, including ones for black tea, oolong, white tea, green tea and herbal tea. Mighty Leaf also have a number of samplers, among them a Japanese green tea collection and a private reserve mini loose tea collection.

Also check out samplers from Teas Etc, Art of Tea and The Teaspot.

Tea of the Month Club Membership

The gift that keeps on giving. Instead of giving your loved one a handful of tea, why not give them a year’s supply? Art of Tea have 3-month, 6-month and 12-month memberships, with one seasonally selected tea going out every month. Mighty Leaf have a similar deal, with 3-month, 4-month and 6-month clubs. One bonus with the Mighty Leaf program is that you can find out exactly which teas you’ll get ahead of time. Alternatively, you might prefer O-Cha’s membership if you love Japanese green tea. Those are just three of the merchants with club memberships — I’m sure you can dig up a few more!

Flowering Tea Sets

I confess I’m not a huge fan of flowering teas, since the quality of the tea can be sub-par, but I know plenty of people love to watch these unfold. Numi Tea have a bamboo flowering tea gift set and Teas Etc have a flowering tea set that comes with a glass mug.

Matcha Starter Kit

Photo copyright O-Cha

I bought this for Bec last year for her birthday (which falls a week before Christmas). If you want to introduce someone to the wonderful world of matcha, O-Cha’s matcha starter kit is the perfect introduction. You’ll get a tin of the matcha of your choosing, an authentic Japanese bamboo tea whisk and a bamboo matcha spoon. You can also add on other matcha accessories (chawan, water cooler, whisk holder) with a 10% discount.

Art of Tea also have a matcha set that comes with a tin of their ceremonial matcha, a whisk, whisk holder, matcha spoon and matcha bowl (chawan).

Tea Travel Mug

This is what I’ll be asking for this Christmas! As I found a couple of months ago when I wrote about travel mugs, there are plenty of options out there for the tea lover.

Matcha Bowls / Chawans

If you know someone who loves matcha, check out O-Cha’s collection of matcha bowls (chawans). I found myself drooling over these last week! They’re not cheap, but they’re handcrafted in Japan and they’re absolutely beautiful. A great gift for the matcha lover.

IngenuiTEA

The IngenuiTea is a smart little device. Just put the tea leaves and water in it, allow it to steep, and then place it on top of your cup, which forces the tea to drain down.

My mom bought one of these for me years ago, and it’s been one of my favourite devices for brewing tea ever since. Easy to use and easy to clean. You can pick one up from Adagio or Teavana.

Tetsubin Tea Gift Set

A tetsubin is a cast-iron Japanese teapot. Art of Tea’s Tetsubin Tea Gift Set comes with a tetsubin, a trivet and a pair of teacups.

Stain Teacups

If you’ve been with me since the very start of this blog, you might remember these nifty teacups I wrote about back then. The cups start out white, but as you use them the natural staining that comes from tea reveals an underlying pattern. Very cool. They’re available from designer Bethan Laura Wood.

Story of Tea: A Cultural History and Drinking Guide

I’ve been raving about Mary Lou and Robert Heiss’ The Story of Tea ever since I started this blog! It’s been an indispensable guide to the world of tea and I heartily recommend it. A well-designed, easy to read guide to tea, covering everything from tea production methods to the health benefits of tea. Read my interview with Mary Lou Heiss or pick yourself up a copy of The Story of Tea from Amazon .

The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea

I actually just received this in the mail today. Michael Harney’s Guide to Tea is a lovely book providing a valuable reference point for learning more about the huge variety of teas available out there. You’ll feel like a smarter tea drinker within five minutes of picking it up! Available from Amazon .

Liquid Jade: The Story of Tea from East to West

This one is mostly about the history and culture of tea — a fascinating story. I reviewed Liquid Jade earlier this year, so be sure to read my review to see whether it sounds like something you’d enjoy. It’s available from Amazon .

Tea Shirts

Eh, you’ll have to pardon the pun! CafePress has some great t-shirt designs with a tea theme. Personal favourites? Make Tea Not War, Tea is the New Black and Instant Human. Just Add Tea….

Sigg Bottle

While you’re on CafePress, check out the tea sigg bottle designs. A lot of political stuff on that page, but there’s a few nice tea-related ones. My pick of the bunch is the Make Tea Not War bottle.

Tea Posters

I assembled a little gallery of tea posters earlier this year, but there are countless other tea posters at AllPosters.com.

© Eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2009. | 15 Gift Ideas for Tea Lovers | 2 comments |
Post categories: Miscellaneous
Post tags: chawan, ingenuitea, matcha, tea books, tea club memberships, tea gifts, tea samplers, tetsubin, travel mugs

But it’s awfully handy having a travel mug, so lately I’ve been checking out some of the options available out there. Turns out there is quite a bit of choice for those of us who like to take their tea on the road. In this post I’ve compiled a list of some of the factors to consider and a run-down of some of the best choices available to tea drinkers.

From left to right: The Zojirushi Stainless Steel Tumbler with Infuser; Teas Etc. Tea Travel Mug; Teavana Dragon Double-walled Travel Tumbler.

7 Factors to Consider when Buying a Tea Travel Mug

There are a number of factors that come into play when trying to decide between travel mugs.

What kind of material is the cup made of?

Stainless steel, glass and plastic are the most common choices, though Teavana also offer a selection of tumblers made of bone china. I don’t know about you, but I really don’t like the idea of a plastic travel mug. Bone china also kind of freaks me out, because I have a tendency to be quite clumsy. Of stainless steel and glass, I find myself leaning towards glass — the last two mugs I had were stainless steel and I found that one of them had a nasty tendency to make the tea taste metallic. Granted, my wife thinks I’m silly to go for glass because I’m so clumsy…

Is it spill-proof?

Of all the factors to consider, this one is the hardest to judge without personally trying the cup. It’s also one of the most important, in my opinion. Ideally, I should be able to stick the cup in my bag without worrying about it spilling tea over the other stuff in the bag. As I more or less expected, most of the cups I read about said they were spill-proof, but reading some of the comments and customer reviews was helpful in picking out which cups are a little more susceptible to spilling.

How long does it keep tea warm for?

Some promise to keep your tea warm for up to eight hours, while others promise less than four. Again, the customer reviews were very helpful in sorting the wheat from the chaff. One rather novel thermos comes with a power cable that plugs into your car cigarette lighter, so you can keep your tea warm for even longer.

How large is it?

The travel mugs I came across ranged from 8 oz capacity to 16 oz capacity. This is a fairly minor factor to me.

How easy is it to wash?

A couple of the cups I saw said they have to be washed by hand. One tumbler, Teavana’s Harmony Glass Tea Tumbler, said it was safe for the top shelf of a dishwasher. I don’t use a dishwasher, so this is pretty much a non-issue for me. However, I do want a cup that can be washed by hand easily, without any hard-to-reach bits.

What does it look like?

Depending on your taste, this might be an important factor or completely irrelevant. Personally, I’m in the latter category, but if you like pretty cups, check out Teavana’s range. Zojirushi also have one very slick-looking mug, which incidentally topped the list in terms of price.

And finally… what does it cost?

The cheapest cup I saw was the VR3 Stainless Steel Heated Insulated Travel Mug, which was $11.37. The most expensive one, as mentioned, was Zojirushi’s beautiful stainless steel mug, which goes for $52. On average, most mugs seem to be priced around the $20 – $25 mark.

My Top 2 Choices

After considering all the factors listed above, I’ve come up with three mugs that I feel — based purely on research — have the edge over the competition.

Tea Travel Mug by Teas Etc.
This double-walled travel mug with a stainless steel infuser holds 12.85 ounces of tea and is very reasonable priced at $19.95 $15.95 (this is a special offer if you click the link above). It has some very enthusiastic reviews — though a few did offer some helpful points of criticism — and comes from a tea company I trust. The combination of price, material and customer feedback puts this one at the top of my list.

Thermos Stainless Steel Tea Tumbler with Infuser
Again, people who own this seem very happy with it, based on the reviews on Amazon. At $22.49, it’s middle-of-the-road in terms of price, but for me the big drawcard is just how happy most people are with it. And it’s made by Thermos — one company that really ought to know about making good travel mugs.

13 Other Travel Mugs to Consider

• Glass Tea Cup Thermos by Summit Tea Company – Glass, with a stainless steel infuser; holds 12 ounces and ticks in at $19.95.
• Glass and Stainless Steel Tea Brewing Tumbler by Summit Tea Company – This is basically the larger version of the previous one by Summit. It holds 16 ounces and costs $24.99.
• Highwave Original Joemo Tea Brew Insulated Mug – A 14 ounce, stainless steel mug that costs $17.
• VR3 Stainless Steel Heated Insulated Travel Mug Cup – This plugs into a cigarette lighter, but the fact that it’s so cheap is a bit of a concern. It also doesn’t include an infuser. Holds 14 ounces and costs $11.37.
• Zojirushi Stainless Mug with Tea Strainer – The designer’s choice. Stainless steel and beautiful, holding 11.75 ounces and costing a whopping $52.
• Trudeau Tea-riffic 16-Ounce Travel Tea Tumbler – A plastic tumbler holding 16 ounces and costing $12.95.
• Tea Thermos with Strainer by Teavana – This one looks fairly similar to the Thermos tumbler I’ve listed above as one my top choices (except that it’s brown). Why isn’t this one listed up there then? At $27.95, it looks a bit over-priced.
• Harmony Glass Tea Tumbler with Infuser by Teavana – Again, this is very similar to Teas Etc.’s Tea Travel Mug. It’s glass, holds 11 ounces and costs $19.95. So in pretty much every respect it’s the same, except that it holds a bit less than the Teas Etc. model and it’s more expensive (if you take advantage of the 20% discount on the Teas Etc. Tea Travel Mug).
• Travel Press by Art of Tea – Art of Tea offer this plastic, 16 ounce cup that uses a press instead of a regular infuser. It’s an interesting approach, though the use of plastic turns me off. This costs $15.

Another Option: The Tuffy Steeper

The Tuffy Steeper doesn’t fall into the travel mug category, but it’s an interesting alternative. Instead of lugging around a cup, why don’t you just carry this collapsible silicone tea infuser, specially designed to fit most cups? The Tuffy Steeper is $8.95 from The Tea Spot. I don’t think it’s quite what I’m after, but I see it as a useful option for those who are travelling, or those who have a travel mug that doesn’t have its own infuser.

© eric for Tea Finely Brewed, 2009. | Tea Travel Mugs: A Buyer's Overview of the Options | 9 comments |
Post categories: Tea cups and teapots
Post tags: travel cups, travel mugs, travel tumblers