Apr 11th 2008 09:48 pm No more tea bag at work (2) - Mug
My last post explained why one should not make tea from tea bag. I am going to start talking about how I make good tea at work without hassle. Most people either use paper cup from the office kitchen or bring their own cup to make tea. I have tried both, but none of them really work well. The disadvantages (or advantages) of paper cups are pretty obvious, I won’t go into details here. A normal coffee mug or cup won’t work for me either since I don’t sit on my desk all the time. And as most tea lovers know, some teas need to steep (like Pu Erh) for a longer time in very hot water; a normal cup (especially without lid) just cannot keep the water temperature high long enough.
Then I tried one of these stainless steel vacuum coffee mug with a lid 
(actually, that was a giveaway from my previous company). It worked pretty well, much better than my old cup. I could roam around the office with it and it keeps the water pretty hot for a long time. This is not the mug I am currently using though. Before I show you what I am using today, let me talk about what other people use across the Pacific (China, that is).
Two most common styles of tea”cup” I have seen are tea jar 
and tea cup with lid 
. The tea jars are nothing more than a long cylindrical plastic or glass jar with a twist top. Actually, an used spaghetti sauce jar works just fine. I remember when I was a kid, bus and taxi drivers in Hong Kong simply use jars like that for tea. Back then, there was no cup holder in cars. The ceramic tea mugs with lids are classic. You can see them whenever you see Chinese government officials in Hollywood movies (remember the court scenes in Red Corner from Richard Gere?). Even today, they are the still used in the National Assembly meeting in China.
I guess I have side tracked too much :). Here is what I am using these days. 
Nothing really fancy. It is very much like a normal thermal travel coffee mug, but with a water-tight screw top. For making black tea, I can close the lid and let the tea steep for a longer time in very hot water. For making green tea like Dragon Well, I can keep the lid open so the tea is not cooked. In any case, the screw top comes in handy since I like to shake the tea a little to make sure the tea has an even flavor. It is so water tight and sturdy that I have dropped the mug a couple times (with the lid on) and nothing spilled.
I would like to know what mug or cup other tea lovers out there use for making tea. Please send me a picture or leave a comment with a description.
David from www.just4tea.com
Posted by david / Pratical tips
One Goodie on 30 Jul 2008 at 10:18 am #
David:
Have you heard about the Tigo Filter Cup? Here’s the description of it that we used on our site, onegoodie.com/foodie today. The Tigo Filter Cup is today’s goodie, which means it’s only available until midnight (eastern) or until inventory runs out (and we’re running low). Please read the description below, and if interested, visit us at www.onegoodie.com (there is a picture on the site):
There’s a lot of talk about water bottles these days. Which ones are safe? Which ones are BPA free? There’s also a lot of talk about tea and all of its health benefits. What if - and we’re just thinking outside the box here - you had, instead of a water bottle a TEA bottle that you could use with your own loose-leaf tea and carry with you? And - in this perfect world - what if that bottle was made of styrene plastic and did not contain any polycarbonate or bisphenol-A?
Well, welcome to Nirvana, tea drinkers. Let us tell you a little about the Tigo Filter Cup.
Tigo Filter Cup is the all-in-one way to enjoy loose leaf tea at home, at the office, or on the go. Its simple two-piece design makes brewing loose tea a snap! The secret is the built-in rotating filter – just rotate the filter to vertical to add tea leaves and water, then horizontal to strain out the leaves while drinking. You can then re-fill it to brew another cup, or if you’re done, just rotate the filter back to vertical and rinse! There’s no need to clean the filter separately because it’s built right in to the cup. The filter rotates by turning the metal band near the top of the cup. Complete instructions are included with the product.
Tigo Filter Cup’s practical design makes loose leaf tea convenient and portable. And fun too – you’ll love seeing the leaves swirl around as they brew the tea to a beautiful green hue. Now you can enjoy loose tea anywhere you go – it’s Tigo!