Why does tea taste better at home?

yes i do recognize that
and even at home i have my favorite cups

yeah maybe that the styrofoam is so porous it is sucking up all your flavors!

Likely the cup? Even some plastic ones leave a cruddy aftertaste….although who’s to know what the water quality is like on the road? I refuse to make any tea in the office and thermos it because I hate the taste of the chlorinated tap water. I think I may be turning into a control freak in my old age.

I definitely believe it is the cup. I notice a plastic-y taste from the lined paper cups that I get from most coffee shops, it really affects the flavor of the tea. So does styrofoam.

It also has something to do with the water that is used, in my opinion. I always use freshly drawn and filtered water when I brew my tea, and I doubt that most places I visit are as fastidious about this as I.

And then there is the water temperature. Most coffee houses look at me strange when I ask them the temperature of the water when I’m asking for a cup of green tea, as if they had never heard of anything as ridiculous as brewing tea with anything less than water that’s had been thoroughly boiled. Unless they’re a “tea nerd” or a “tea snob” (both “affectionate” terms with which my husband has labeled me), they probably don’t realize that different teas require different temperatures and steep times.

sigh

At this point I think it’s the water. I managed to find a travel mug but it’s only a little better. I’m using filtered tap water but maybe the water is just icky here. Again…siiigghh

This might be me being a bit crazy… But I have found that some teas taste better at work and others taste better at home. I have no idea why… Even if I brew a tea at home and take it to work, it just isn’t the same… I can’t explain why… It just is…

A few days ago I was at Saint Petersburg(for work) and the water there is absolutely horrible :( (not the tap water, the one we had was actually filtered one). And the water in Moscow is even worse, much… I guess living in a small town has its benefits :)

Pretty much anything I tried to brew there was subpar to what I had at home :( But it was still way better than tea bags :) Always take your tea with you! :)

I agree that it could be a number of things from the cup to the water or even the way they brew it. Or maybe it’s a mental thing as well. Nothing’s better than kicking back and relaxing at home with a cup of tea brewed to your specific taste!

I think there are a lot of reasons why tea is usually better at home than on the go.

The first reason, if you grab it from a cafe or teashop, I find is the cup. Whether it’s styrofoam or paper, the flavour of the cup will always kind of run into your tea.

Also, depending on where you got your tea from/who made it, sometimes they aren’t always made properly. A few times I have surely gotten a tea from a teashop where they have used way too hot of water for a green tea and as a result burnt the leaves. In contrast, if you brew your tea yourself at home you can always assure it was prepared properly.

Traditionally, Chinese and Japanese used cast iron or jixing pots to brew their tea, which overtime begins to collect the aroma of the tea you used. They would use one pot specifically for green, one for black, or one for oolong, always to assure the flavours do not mix. After you have used a pot for a long time and it has begun to collect the aroma of your favourite tea it will enhance the flavour of your tea every time you make it. That being said, making tea out of your very own, special pot at home could never compare to paper cups from a tea shop or cafe.

I think another reason why I enjoy tea more at home is a completely psychological thing. I can’t drink tea when I’m on the go… it just doesn’t work for me. I need to be sitting, and the more relaxed I am, and the more time I have to enjoy my tea, the more I find I always enjoy it.

I think for me the reason is, at home, I get to make my tea in a more relaxed manner. At work, I’m usually rushed and the tea tastes rushed most times. I use the same leaves and the same mug as at home, but at work it never tastes the same. I think too ‘cause the water comes through a filtered system here and I’m just so use to using my tap water (I know, filtered is better, but I’m not use to it).
I never get the chance to really enjoy the cup of tea at work either. I’m usually running to the next task at hand and the cup tends to get cold very quickly…