Life hack advice: brewing great tea on an airplane
I’ve been flying a lot recently. To the point that I’ve been wondering…have any of you succeeded with brewing lovely tea (loose leaf, of course) on a flight? What did you do? Please enlighten me!
I flew last week. I was all ready for the flight and some full leaf bags ready. But, when I asked the flight attendant for hot water, it obviously annoyed her (they had brewed tea on the cart but not just hot water). So, I took their nasty overbrewed tea and drank it.
Lol. Bummer. What did you take to brew it? Did you just use one of the cups they had?
I always fly with my own tea.
Often Security will take apart my tea tumbler, so better to have it empty and tea in another container for less screwing around with them.
It depends on the air carrier, but I got hot water on WestJet, Alaska, and Air Canada. United was a no. The water is usually not that hot though. Depends on the Attendant too, sometimes they’ll give you a little paper cup, other times they will just fill my tumbler.
Better is to just fill up on hot water after security before you leave for your flight. I usually fill my tumbler and an extra stainless steel one at Starbucks/Tim hortons/any coffee shop.
weird. I always fly united and never had a problem getting hot water.
+1 for free hot water at Starbucks.
flown united 3 times and all had no hot water, maybe a west coast thing or just really bad flights (actually they were all really bad flights).
Ha Garret, I’ve flown many times with the Mandala tea glass too!
Maybe it’s a west coast thing.. I’ve never even had problems getting hot water on those puddle-jumper planes for a 1hr flight.
Having worked as an fa I never had a problem bringing people hot water. Generally water boilers are not turned on until fa’s get up after take off. So if you ask for water shortly after the seat belt sign comes off the water is unlikely to be that hot. The water boilers are not supposed to be turned on on the ground without the awareness and permission of the pilots.
I bring my tea thermos and leaf with on the airplane! While the water may not be the best quality for good tea, it’ll do. You may want to do a pre-flight fill at a coffee/tea place within the airport as they likely have better water than on the plane itself. Flight attendants are happy to fill your tea thermos for you and it starts many a good conversation about tea. For travel I bring the stainless steel version because the last thing I want is a broken glass one on a flight of in the airport. Safe travels :)
I bring my loose tea and pack some large paper filters. One day, I’ll fill my thermos at starbucks, then pull out the gaiwan on the plane. That’ll turn heads.
Yeah, you guys have never been to the Evansville IN airport. There are two gates. You go left for A and right for B. There is one little place that sells drinks but they aren’t past security.
I pack a separate travel set for the hotel. For the plane I do what Garret and Oolong Owl do. I bring leaves and I fill my awesome thermos up with hot water at Ruta Maya or Starbucks
Assuming you’re American and dealing with the TSA, here’s an idea. Try brewing a super concentrated tea that you can then dilute in whatever kind of water you can get your hands on in the plane. The TSA allows 3.4 oz containers. I’ve never tried Russian style brewing, but I think it could work well.
Taste buds are also affected at altitude so I’d be wary of bringing any subtle favorites. :)
Only ever asked for hot tea 3 times on a flight. Two were on a Kenyan airline so they had the bagged Kenyan Lipton tea. It was an 8 hour flight – I can’t go without tea of some kind for that long! :) The other I got the hot water spilled in my lap by the flight attendant. So… I avoid it now. Plus, I hate using the restroom on an airplane and too much tea… yeah.
Traveling with an empty tumbler isn’t a bad idea. I’d take along my CTCs that steep well in suboptimal water or, as noted, get from Starbucks, etc.
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