Tea and Me Blog

So I love to travel…honestly who doesn’t? But every time I travel I have to figure out how to get my tea fix. It sometimes consists of getting a cup of tea from the hotel’s lobby and sneaking four other pouches of their complimentary tea and hoping no one notices. I realize that might not be totally ethical, but a girl’s gotta do what a girls gotta do. It does not take much extra planning for you to bring a couple of extra items for your own fresh brew. I am sure you do not want to steal all the hotel’s tea (and the hotel probably does not want that either), so here are some tea tips to aid when traveling around!

1) Bring a Yeti Mugs or Equivalent-Quality Mug on Road Trips

Yeti Mugs are amazing. End of Conversation. Not Sponsored by Yeti. Wish it was. For a road trip though, oh my goodness this mug will make your tea stay hot and ready for a looooonnnggg time. So there are a couple of options with this. You can either brew tea and pour it into the mug or just have boiled water in the Yeti and brew the tea when you wish. Then any time you have access to hot water (aka a hotel lobby or such), you can fill up the Yeti and be able to drink tea whenever convenient for you. My mom personally loves her YETI 20 oz Rambler and puts her tea in it all the time! Another item you could totally go out and get is a tea infuser mug. While loose leaf while traveling is inconvenient, this is a way for you to enjoy either leaves you bring or tea you find while on your journey!

2) Invest in a Travel Sized Tea Kettle

This is an absolute game changer. Bring a small electronic kettle in your suitcase. Anytime you want tea, pour bottled water (or tap, your call) and boil away! It isn’t the perfect formula for tea temperatures and everything, but honestly, I would prefer it 100% over no tea at all. When I am on vacation, the hotel room nowadays only have keurigs or keurig-type coffee machines with no tea options or tea options that give you a really bad cup of tea. While you could choose a boil water option, I prefer the versatility of the electronic tea kettle. Also then there is no chance of your water tasting slightly like coffee.

Fun Fact: You can fly with Tea! I boarded a plane with multiple tea sachets in my carry-on and had no problem. I plan on traveling back with a medium-sized (unopened) bag of loose leaf tea as well. (UPDATE: I had no problem boarding with the bag in my carry-on) You even can ask the flight attendant for some hot water and they usually will give it to you.

3) Bring Tea Pouches

As always, you have multiple options here. For vacations, loose-leaf tea is really not an ideal option. Where will you put your leaves when done? Extra space will be used by the tea strainer and tin of tea leaves. It just doesn’t work. The best option is tea pouches/sachets. There are some companies that sell tea in grocery stores that are Danielle approved. Tazo, Bigelow, and Yogi being a few. Also, a few novelty stores who sell tea usually sell some sachets as well as a convenience to it’s customers. But for those who love their loose leaf teas, I would make your own sachets with Disposable Tea Bags and store them in a tin to keep them fresh. You also can dry out the tea bags when you are done with them and (if camping) use them as a fire starter.

4) What Teas to Bring

This seems simple enough, right? But when packing your clothing and other necessities, think about what teas you will actually need and the process of steeping them. Black tea for caffeine. Herbals or chamomile for sleeping is especially good if there is a time difference and you are finding it difficult to sleep. Those might even be the best two to bring. You want to pack smartly as well so calculate how many you might need. For example:

(5 days x 2 per day) + 2 extras = 12 tea sachets

Honestly the most basic of equations but you understand what I am getting at. Space, for me at least, is very limited in my suitcase. So I want to save as much room as possible and only bring what I need to.

In summary, it should not be super difficult to keep up your tea habits and loves when traveling. Sometimes you might need to invest a little for the benefit of continuing to do what you love or think outside the box. I hope these tips help next time you are traveling for spring break, summer break, or maybe a much-needed winter break! Happy Brewing (and traveling)!!

-Danielle