Monday March 24, 2014 | 7 comments
I was reading a recent story on the World Tea News site about the Tea Clutch. The article goes on to introduce the reader to two different traveling tea clutch options, from Teabar and Stash Tea.
So what do you think? Should we self-professed tea junkies get on line and order our very own tea clutches? Clever, yes. But are they really necessary?
Having recently returned from three weeks in Spain, I can share my experiences with tea on the run. The tea I brought along for traveling was first sampled on the airplane where I was held captive for over 20 hours. Not a pleasant travel itinerary, going from the west coast of the U.S. to Spain, I’m afraid. One thing I can tell you: hot water on airplanes is dreadful. It ruins your tea. If I had asked for a cup of hot tea, I would have been given a dreadful little tea bag containing a scant amount of low quality black tea. Knowing that, I brought my whole leaf tea along with me – only to have it reduced to something far less than delicious due to the quality of the water.
This brings us to the Thistle Down Cozy which provides a space for including your water thermos. Now certainly that’s moving in the right direction! it occurs to me however, that IF you’re going to be bringing along a thermos for water, why not just bring along a thermos of tea? For those traveling by plane – remember, you will not be allowed to bring a thermos of your own hot water as it exceeds the four ounces of liquid allowed by airlines for carry-on. It certainly wouldn’t remain hot for a journey of any duration.
Once I landed, I quickly learned that in Spain, the tea bags offered at restaurants and cafes consisted of low quality black tea. The solution was to apply what I’d learned to do at home: when I am at a restaurant, I typically begin by asking to see their tea selection and go from there. If I’m pleasantly surprised and find a decent tea selection, I will make my choice. If it arrives in the form of a tea bag, I usually have to wait for the water to cool down, but that’s easy enough to accomplish. If the selection is dreadful, I explain that I don’t prefer the offerings and, “I’d like to use my own tea if you don’t object?” The vast majority of time, I’m not charged for the hot water. Unfortunately, most of the time, the water is unsuitable for more delicate orthodox tea, so I’ve learned to bring along a blend that has the advantage of disguising the taste of the water.
I decided I would use a similar tactic in Spain but the results weren’t as reliable. When I was forced to ask just for a cup of hot water, I got the uncomfortable feeling that the server thought I was trying to avoid paying for a cup of tea. Unfortunately, my command of Spanish is inadequate for having a reasonable discussion with my server.
So I ask you, is it really worth all the fuss – when the likelihood is that the water quality will be inadequate to produce an exceptional cup of tea – even if you bring along your favorite orthodox tea? What I’ve come to realize is that this is the ideal circumstance for a tea bag.
Yes, you read me right: I just wrote that a tea bag was the ideal solution.
Many high- end tea companies provide self-packaged tea bags that easily fit into your purse or pocket. My favorite is Smith Tea, a company that uses high quality whole-leaf tea to fill their tea bags. These self-contained traveling tea bags provide an effective solution for tea on the go. Isn’t simple often the best?
One reason why aircraft tea is so bad is that the cabin is pressurized to 8,000 or 9,000 ft. At this pressure water boils at 93 deg C (199 deg F) – totally inadequate for black tea needing a rolling boil of 100 deg C (212 deg F) This was brought home to me on a small unpressurized aircraft in South Africa where the few passengers were issued with a thermos flask of hot coffee. Ever the investigator I took the cap off as soon as we reached cruise altitude at 10,000 ft – and the coffee, still several degrees above the 10,000 ft boiling point, erupted. Fortunately I had the geyser pointing away from me – but a good reason not to take hot flasks onto aircraft – or at least to be patient if you do.
A third thing against aircraft tea is that they will always mix up coffee pitchers with tea pitchers – old coffee taint really ruins any tea.
However if your airline flies to SE Asia they may carry green tea – 9,000 ft boiling point is ideal for a passable cuppa.
Very interesting Nigel. Thanks for the tip:)
Hello Nigel,
I am sorry to say Nigel but your explanation of the boiling water is not right…..water boils or it boils not.
And when it boils at 93 deg Celsius because the pressure in the plain or when you walk high in the mountains it
boils and is as hot as at home with the pressure you are used to with pressure 1.And in your case the water shall produce steam by93 deg Celsius
Next, although its still an interesting story it seems to me ,as a real tea lover like all of us[and i drink it almost all day]like an addiction when you have problems with bad tea during [or no tea]during your flight.
Sorry Bart – if you disagree it’s you against the long accepted Laws of Physics – leave me out as a spectator.
The relationship between boiling and temperature can be confusing. The thing to remember is that boiling can happen at any temperature, it’s more about air pressure than temperature.
Boiling is the rapid vaporization of a liquid. Atmospheric pressure – the weight of all that air above you – governs the temperature at which that happens. Mars, for example, has a very thin atmosphere, about 2% of ours (I think. I forget the exact number.) That’s why Mars has water ice at its poles but no liquid water. The atmosphere on the surface of Mars is like being at more than twice the height of Mt. Everest. There’s just not enough air pressure to keep water in liquid form at Mars’ temperature.
You can stimulate this by creating a vacuum in a jar containing a glass of water. When enough air is pumped out of the jar, the water will boil at room temperature. Watch: http://youtu.be/XoOQNwcrDWE
On the other end of this, if you’ve ever used a pressure cooker you’ll know you can get water to a temperature higher than 212F/100C before it boils. The device simulates an environment with an atmosphere even greater than Earth’s.
What does this have to do with tea?
When someone describes a tea as “best steeped from a rolling boil” they are not giving accurate information. Boiling does not always equal 212F/100C, and it’s the temperature that controls the resulting tea. Boiling doesn’t do anything for the tea, it’s just a convenient way of gauging the temperature of the water.
The bottom line is this: If you are at a very high altitude, you’ll need a pressure cooker to get the most from teas described as “best steeped from a boil”, like most blacks and some oolongs.
(This just gave me an idea: do some teas taste even better when steeped ABOVE 212F/100C?)
Thanks, Nigel, for holding your ground! Having backpacked in high places, baked at 10,000 feet . . . the water does not get as hot when it boils at 10,000 feet as it does at sea level. Obey gravity; it’s the law.
Back to the post – those tea wallets are so cute that I might just bust out my sewing machine and try to make one.
I live in high altitude (2,600 m) and I can tell you that the boiling water isn’t as hot.
It takes more time to cook a boiled egg than if I was at sea level.