Tea at Work

I have a $29 stainless steel electric kettle from Target at my desk (and at home too). I wing it on the temp at work. I used to use a thermometer (for along time, actually), but got pretty good a figuring out how long to let it sit after boiling before pouring for each tea type. I keep small tins of loose tea (use small beehouse pot) and bags. Am thinking of the Perfect Tea Maker (similar to ingenuitea I think), for work, but while I like the idea of all the swimming around room for the tea am turned off by the plastic. Do y’all like these?

Thank you so much

I brew most of my teas from a hot water cooler – it’s at 190 (so I mostly do greens and whites). I do have a cheap electric kettle for when I feel like I have to have a black.

I mostly do pyramid bagged teas at work (Lupicia and H&S are the two major brands). It’s just easier, and I’m pretty pleased with the quality of those.

It is a pain to make tea at work. And the “hot” water from the water cooler is luke warm at best…

So, I purchased a Pino temperature variable electric kettle BUT- if I plug it in , the electric circuit trips and now I just carry a tea thermos….

…I portion a empty tea bag with whatever tea I am in the mood for.
Bring it to work and throw it in a highball glass.
I use hot/cold water on one of those water stations in the office…I don’t use tab water.I always try to keep the water as hot as I can bare as i still have to carry the glas back to my desk…
Even though the water is, of course, never on boiling point…I still get great results from pure or flavored blacks…sometimes even a smoother result then done very hot at home.

The only kind of tea that I would never bring to office and infuse that way would be a Oolong…I tried before. Takes ages until the leafs curl up and the flavors develop.

By the way, today I am having a “White Fur Silver Needle”, scented with jasmin…am on my third infusion.

I use the hot water spigot on the industrial coffee machine. It gets hot “enough” to steep just about every kind I’ve tried. To the point where it actually has to cool down before I try to drink it. I figure that’s my litmus test. I don’t have time to worry about temperature usually – don’t have a set lunch/break time.

The only concern I have at work is the fruity blends smelling so good and being strong – have cube neighbors with sensitive noses. So I opt for really good non-blended varieties and keep the lid on my thermos. So far I’m a happy camper.

One of the places I worked in Australia, they still had an old fashioned “tea lady” who came around with a cart and a pot of boiling water and made you tea twice a day. After about a week, she even remembered just what kind of tea you liked and how you liked it. She was a treasure above gold and rubies (or however that bible verse goes). I guess most work places used to have tea ladies in Aus but they have gone by the wayside, most places. Too bad. What a lovely custom and nice way for empoyees to be treated.

With the masses heading back to work this month from the holidays we thought we would pitch in our 2 cents on the topic!

Winning Ideas for Tea at Work – http://blog.joysteaspoon.com/300

Would love to hear anyone elses suggestions!

The hot water issue is the biggest problem, depending on your outlet situation, you could always get a $60 hot water dispenser of your own and plug it in at your cubical. Then, fill it once a week with bottled spring water, it will never have to leave your desk.

Then you just push a button to dispense your hot water daily.

These are also handy, i have two in stock, they just aren’t listed on the site yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zd4Qe47w7Y

I use the Libre I got for Christmas now. I used to use a paper towel to strain the leaves, but I finally upgraded. I get hot water from the coffee machine, which is hot enough for black teas.

I always bring a 32 oz jug of iced tea for work, then at break, enjoy some hot tea. That’s been my ritual.