Favorite travel mug

I’ve yet to find one that’s perfect.

I’ve got the Timolino from David’s Tea. It keeps the tea REALLY hot and no leaks. On the down side it’s got a plastic rim and cover. This changes the taste of the tea.

A double walled glass one from Tea Emporium. You see this one around everywhere. It doesn’t keep it as hot as the one from David’s Tea but there’s no plastic and the tea tastes much better. No leaks either.

Ceramic one with roses on it from Teavana. Got this one for Christmas and thought it was the BEST…until I used it. It leaks, it doesn’t hold much tea and it’s heavy.

After searching for a long time for the “perfect travel mug”, I’ve decided it just doesn’t exist (at least to my idea of perfection). But these are the ones I have experience with.

The Libre tea mug:
pros – very pretty! Haha that contributed a large part to my purchase. But seriously, it actually allows for on-the-go steeping and removal of tea from leaves. You can put the leaves between the mesh and lid and invert the whole thing to steep.
cons – doesn’t retain heat well (I like my tea really hot), takes a bit of practice to steep/drink without dripping everywhere, steeping chamber is on the small side and the mesh is not super fine so may allow small bits to go through.
Nevertheless, I loved this mug and was sad when it broke (dropped it on the floor from the counter)

David’s Tea Travel Carry Mug:
pros – keeps tea hot forever (ok that’s an exaggeration, but at least keeps hot for a couple hours and warm for the whole day), sturdy (learned my lesson after the previous mug), large-ish basket for steeping
cons – can’t stop steeping on the go unless I have something else to put the basket in (still would be a drippy mess), keeps tea too hot (kind of self-contradicting here, but I can’t drink it for a while unless I take the top off for it to cool, or brew with cooler water)
This works great for work since I can just leave the basket on my desk and take the whole thing home at the end of the day and not worry about cleaning it at work.

Really hoping someone out there can design a travel mug that can be aesthetically pleasing, steep (and stop steeping) on-the-go, and maintain a perfect drinking temperature. Heh but that might be asking too much :)

I don’t bother with steeping travel mugs. I have my gloriously spill-proof Contigo travel mug. I usually steep at home. If I’m in a rush I use a disposable filter and toss it when it’s done.

I don’t love stainless mugs because I think they change the taste of the tea. Right now I’m using a ceramic one from Starbucks, but it’s heavy.

I haven’t found one I love but I usually use a keepcup http://www.keepcup.com for a few reasons. I don’t like my travel mugs to retain heat for ages (I’ll use a thermos for that), I want to be able to drink right away. The KeepCup retains heat better than a paper cup, but not by much. All the parts are removable so its easy to clean. Inexpensive if I should happen to lose it. No funny tastes. And of course lots of fun colors and combinations. The lid isn’t airtight so I can’t stick it in my bag, but otherwise I quite like it.

Which Teavana mug do you have? I use Teavana’s Contour Tumbler and it keeps my tea hot for 5-6 hours at least. I absolutely love it.

I just got the David’s Tea Travel mug and it is excellent for retaining heat. I burned my mouth at 10:00 and again at 2:00. By 5:00 the tea was finally cool enough to drink! I also love my Contigo travel mug. I like steeping bagged teas and taking it with me when I am in a rush. It is spill proof and retains heat well.

I have too many tea travel mugs. http://oolongowl.com/category/tea-gear/travel-tea-tumblers/ I have 3 more that I haven’t blogged about yet (Libre – didn’t like it, and 2 generic ones)

Out of them all, I like the double glass of the Mandala Tea one. http://oolongowl.com/mandala-teas-glass-tea-thermos/

I’ve been eyeing the one from Crimson Lotus teas HARD. I want it because it looks great for gongfu steeping. http://crimsonlotustea.com/collections/gongfu-tea-starter-sets/products/gongfu2go-double-wall-glass-portable-tea-brewer

Great suggestions by all, but no one has mentioned the Zojirushi travel mugs. It got special honors at the 2014 World Tea Expo. If keeping your brew warm is important, see the video on Amazon about the vacuum insulation system and why its the best system for maintaining temperature.

http://everythingfortea.com/product/zojirushi-travel-mug/

Good luck and enjoy your tea journeys!