In this modern era driven by consumerism, most companies are pushing for their customers to buy and buy more teawares. The common narrative is: “Our product is better than others”. While the term better is subjective, certain items are necessary for a good tea experience.
In this blog, we will discuss about tea ware items are essential for a good and affordable tea experience.
The content of the blog is based on my experience drinking teas in different setups in the last 15 years.
Teaware for Home:
I used to brew (heated pot) loose leaf tea when I was younger, but that is a wrong practice specially if you are not drinking milk tea. If you are at home, you have a lot of utensils at your disposal. The minimum teaware you will need for a good tea steeping experience are below:
- A tea pot: A basic tea pot will cost you somewhere from 15-50 dollars. This might end up costing more based on origin and material. The following are the things that you should consider while buying the tea pot:
- The gap between the pot and the handle: If the handle is small and does not have sufficient gap for you to hold, it will end up burning your hand.
- Built in Strainer on the tea pot: It is often the best for your experience if the tea pot already has a built-in strainer. This way, you don’t have to buy extra strainer or be stranded if you misplace it somewhere.
- The walls of the tea pot need to be sufficiently thick so that it does not lose heat during steeping. Remember the key to perfect cup of tea is time and temperature, if temperature loss is high, the tea won’t yield same flavor.
- Tea Cups: Depending upon the number of people you are serving, you will need X number of tea cups. Glass or Ceramic Tea Cups with handles are often considered best because of their capacity to retain heat and keep the tea warm.
Teaware for Office:
If you are at the office, you normally do not have the luxury to steep teas on your own time. Hot water is often available, but there is no fun in drinking the bagged tea. So, what you need is a teaware that is portable.
My suggestion, steep it at home early in the morning and use a Tea Tumbler to use it at the office. For the last 6 years I have been using this Yeti Tumbler, which keeps my tea perfectly warm for 5 hours. Also, perfect size because if you do not want to drink more than a liter of tea.
If you drink more, bigger tumbler is better. Same goes for cold tea, this keeps both hot or warm tea. These Stainless-steel tumblers keep your tea at the perfect temperature.
Teaware for travel:
If you are traveling and would like to have hot beverage- the best teaware is: Again, the Stainless-Steel Tumbler. If you are like me and like cold tea during travel, a plastic pitcher is also good, but you will need to ensure that you carry this on a separate container which can keep the pitcher cool.
In conclusion:
If you love drinking tea, you can buy minimum teaware as mentioned above and still have an amazing tea experience. All you need to do is to pick some wonderful teas that your palate will enjoy.
What Teaware do you think is crucial for good tea experience?
Written By:
Bhaskar Dahal
Founder and C.E.O
Nepal Hills Tea Inc.
