Cruisin' with Tea
I’m going on a Princess cruise to Mexico soon, yay!
I’d like to bring my own loose leaf tea to ensure I have an relaxing time and drink down my stash. What would be the best gear to bring? A steeping basket, maybe a travel tea tumbler? army of paper tea filters?
I’m going to be drinking both blends and unflavored. I’d love to attempt some gongfu style brewing too.
(so pumped, I heard there should be afternoon tea on my cruise!)
Maybe a bit of everything? My standard travel gear includes some paper filters and an infuser basket if I can. Maybe check what sort of hot water access you have. Enjoy it! There’s always tea at home if it doesn’t work out on the trip. :)
Awesome, have fun on your cruise!
When I went on a cruise I brought an “army of paper tea filters”. Thought it was the easiest method. I would also add tea to the filters, roll them up and carry them in my purse so I could my tea with each meal.
Have fun, I spent 5 months once working a cruise ship as a working vacation. Afternoon tea was always one of the most popular events on the ships and the pastry chefs used to go all out. Have fun!
Thanks! This is my first cruise, it’s only a 3 day one to see if I like cruising. Though, I heard these short cruises are deadly for eating more food than normal, lol!
I think the food issue is pretty well standard on most ships , but when you have sea days it’s pretty easy to have long leisurely meals. I had never gone on a cruise before I worked on a ship. I didn’t even know if I was prone to sea sickness! My Aunt and cousin have gone on several and loved them. There really is a ship and style of cruise for pretty well everyone, and the service is usually outstanding.
Most cruise ships should have tea pots. They might use bags, but no reason why you can’t use loose. Just bring some with you into the dining room. The hard part will probably be getting water hot enough to brew your tea. The waiters will probably want to bring you a teapot full of water they’ve gotten from the spigot. By the time it gets to you it may no longer be hot enough. Perhaps you could tell the waiter you get on the first day that you’d like him to take your pot with leaves you put in and fill it there. Or he might let you bring it to the hot water spigot yourself.
Make sure to tip him (or her) for that consideration at the end of the cruise.
I saw a nice mini travel (mini as in 2.5 oz) gaiwan set on teaviver. that might be nice.
I have that set, but it has been hard for me to adjust to such a small size, especially since I generally brew 8-16 oz at a time when I’m at home. I will say that it travels well, mine normally gets tossed in my camera bag and bumped around a lot. The case has kept everything secure and nothing has broken.
Ah see I brew about 8-16 oz at a time as well but I do mini infusions. I’m used to a 3ish oz shiboridashi, only I wouldn’t travel with that.
Like, Stacy, I took paper filters to use in the dining room. I also took a plastic Takeya infuser pitcher for making tea in my room in the evening. I couldn’t tell you now how we got the hot water in the evening, though. :)
Everytime we travel, I pack my little 16 oz Bodum kettle so I know that I will have hot water. It’s like any other electrical thing, so it should work in your cabin, right? It’s a convenient size and doesn’t take up a lot of room (you can store the tea, filters, etc in the kettle for packing). I would agree about taking the paper filters. I will either take sample packs of teas with me, or go ahead and fill the paper filters, roll them up and put them in labelled ziplock baggies. And I personally would take my Timolino so if you leave the boat or are lounging on deck you can have piping hot tea with you! Have fun on your cruise!!
Oh wow a cruise! How fun!! :D I’m going tent camping this Friday/Saturday/Sunday and I’m plotting how to get my tea fix as well. There will definitely be a kettle and a propane burner to boil it on! I’ll probably pre-pack some teas in my little disposable drawstring tea filters that I take to work. I’ll have to be sure to take teas that aren’t too temperature sensitive :)
I don’t leave home without my glass tea thermos. It works great for tea glass style brewing but also makes for a great teapot, as well, with no waste of paper filters. If you are worried about breakage, use the stainless steel version. Plugging my company: we have the best glass ones made for us and the new stainless shipment should arrive within a week now. As long as you have access to good hot water, you can do anything!! Enjoy the cruise, my friend!!!!!!!
I was actually eyeing your glass tea thermos to snag for my cruise. I was debating it as I still haven’t tried everything from my last order and was holding out on another order. Hmmmmm, tempting! Maybe I’ll treat it as an early birthday present (It’ll be my birthday while I’m on the cruise!)
I have a glass tumbler similar to this that I picked up at a grocery store when I was staying with my cousin’s kids. It actually works quite well for impromptu gongfu sessions ( except maybe if you want to use really short steeps. If you want to drink from it place the leaf in the basket if not you can place it in the bottom and use the filter to filter out the leaves. If using a smaller amount of water I leave the leaves on top of the filter and flip the tumbler upside down ( test this on yours when you get it to make sure it’s water tight) Then I just remove the basket if it’s an oolong or larger leafed tea.
Hi- I brought my tumbler from Teavana with the built in stainless steel steeper. It’s removable and keeps the tea hot for hours. I also brought their travel kit- which contains a special spoon/ steeper and 2 tin canasters to put loose tea in. I ordered room service for the carafe of hot water and I was good to go.
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