You’re always going. Most day are about shuttling between school drop off, your office and after school activities. Your weeks often involve driving to meetings hours away or weekend visits to your parents. You feel like you’re always on the road. While car time can be optimal audio book time it can be really hard to indulge your love of tea. You need an easy and delicious solution for tea on the go.
Travel mugs can be helpful but messy. Trying to dispose of a tea bag while driving can be dangerous but you don’t want to leave a bag of green tea steeping. (Yuck…bitter!) Your favorite spot to stop in for a cup doesn’t have a drive up. Honestly, Starbucks will do in a pinch but it’s not your favorite.
You need to stream line and simplify your on the road tea game. May I suggest a new look at an old product? Have you considered instant tea?
No, I am NOT suggesting you turn to Lipton or Nestea. I would never! (Sorry…my tea snob is showing.) But, instant tea has come a long way. Like many things in our world, it has benefited from new technologies. Three companies have new products to change your mind about tea on the go.
Please note: I purchased these three products with my own money. NO ONE is sponsoring this post or asking me for my opinion. Amazon links however are my affiliate links for Amazon.
Tea Drops is what started this adventure. While I did purchase more of these, my initial introduction to Tea Drops was as a Christmas gift. I love the concept of pressing tea (much like one does with puerh tea) for an easy solution to drink tea on the go. The Tea Drops drawback is the added sweetener. I don’t normally add anything to my tea and it was certainly a different experience for me to have “sweet” tea. You can find the sugar content of each Tea Drop on their web site.
I found the Rose Earl Grey and Citrus Ginger quite delightful. Our local independent cinema, The Moxie, serves tea but has no decaf options. They were more than happy however to provide me a cup of hot water so I could make a cup of Citrus Ginger. It made for a very cozy viewing of Lady Bird.
I ordered two other teas on Amazon, one I had heard of before, Pique Tea Crystals and one Amazon so kindly recommended to me based on my selections, Cusa Tea.
Cusa Tea uses what they call Cold Steep Technology to bring you their instant tea product. Their website says they start with premium USDA organic tea leave to make their tea. My experience thus far with the taste quality has been mixed.
I ordered the variety pack and my first test was the green tea. It was at a meeting where someone gave me a cup of boiling hot water. The first sip of this green tea was fine but soon it became very bitter. (As I said before, as a general rule I don’t sweeten my tea.) It was so bitter I couldn’t finish the cup and threw it out. My second test was the oolong tea with water I let cool a bit first. While I am normally not an oolong fan, I found this blend to have pleasant woody flavor. I also gave the mango green tea a try (with cooler water) and found it to not be bitter at all. It think it would make great iced tea.
My next taste test was a company I’ve heard about but had yet been inspired to try, Pique Tea. Pique Tea uses their Cold Brew Crystallization process to offer loose leaf grade organic tea in crystal form. I also ordered their variety pack (which sadly did not offer their decaf option) that includes English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Jasmine green, Mint Sencha and Sencha.
I sipped the Mint Sencha first and found it delightfully fresh for a post lunch drink. It was smooth and not artificially minty. My second choice was Jasmine green. I also found this to have lovely light and smooth taste. Neither tea got bitter although I learned my lesson and let the water cool before adding the tea powder. I also found the Earl Grey quite pleasant. I really couldn’t taste much difference between these teas and higher quality bagged teas.
I would suggest the Pique Tea Crystals as my overall top pick. Not only will the flavors resonate more with tea connoisseurs there is also no added sugar. If you see Cusa Tea at your local Lucky’s Market or REI and want to give it a try, I would suggest the oolong. If you put a little sweetener and milk in your tea normally, try the Tea Drops Rose Earl Grey. You’ll feel right at home.
As I pack my bags for my next adventure, I’ll probably be putting the Pique Tea Crystals in my carry-on as my tea on the go solution. If you want to follow my travels, foodie finds and tea time discoveries be sure to check out my Instagram feed!
