Thermos Tea Tastes Bad
Howdy folks!
I’m new to the Steepster community and new to being serious about my tea haha. I am in need of some advice on how to get my tea to taste better.
Recently I purchased a Hydroflask 20oz coffee/tea thermos. I solely use it for tea and clean it daily with a bottle cleaner and do a vinegar rinse every 2-3 weeks.
Every day I get up and boil water for black tea (a nice English breakfast) and then pour it into the thermos with some sugar and let it steep for 4 minutes. I wait until I get to my destination to add my dairy and let it air so that it can have some time to cool down on my 45-minute ride.
By the time I get to my destination, my tea has cooled to a perfect temperature and I add my dairy, however, every day it just tastes stale.. I cannot for the life of me figure out why. At first, I thought it was the dairy which is why I add it later.. but even then it still tastes off and gets worse throughout the day. It is a vacuum seal container and I thought that potentially it keeps the tea too hot but I have even tried making the tea in a mug and then transferring it and that was not much better.
When I make my cup at home it is perfect. I’m getting very frustrated so any advice would be much appreciated.
I am not familiar with the Hydroflask brand but I assume it is stainless steel inside? While that is supposed to be non-reactive, it’s possible your tea is picking up something from the lining of the thermos. Second surmise is that the constant, consistent heat is ‘stewing’ your already brewed tea and making it taste ‘off.’
You may not want to spend the extra money, but I’d recommend a glass lined tea thermos.
Ah darn! I Just purchased this one last month!! Do you think steeping it and cooling it outside the container then transferring it OR cooling the flask in the fridge at night might prevent the stewing?
I don’t know the answer but it would be good to experiment with both methods. I have always felt that the vessel you use for the tea will impact the taste. Try this at home if you wish; brew tea, then let it sit in a styrofoam cup, a paper cup, a plastic cup, a tin cup and a ceramic or glass cup, then judge what tastes best. To my taste buds, the glass is the true non-reactive one.
I think its your thermos. I have come to the conclusion that I can’t stand hot tea (cold isn’t as bad) in anything other than glass or ceramic. Both plastic and metal just give it a bad taste.
I get the exact same affect from the various insulated travel mugs. Just YUCK.
Dustin, if you’re asking me, I don’t really know. I have worked from home for years so I can just walk from my office upstairs to the kitchen to make tea. No need for a thermos.
I believe Tealyra makes a glass thermos. It needs to be mentioned that all glass tea thermoses and tea tumblers are very fragile.
No, I was asking Random because they had mentioned glass and ceramic. I don’t think a thermos would be so fragile if it was glass/ceramic lined with a steel outside. I saw some on Amazon that were steel coated with ceramic on the inside, but they were more single cup size, not standard thermos size.
Sorry, I can’t say. People keep buying me travel mugs because they think I need them for my tea. but they make the tea taste awful and do a pretty piss poor job at keeping it hot. And, they can’t be stuck in the microwave to reheat as needed. (yes, travel mugs do not keep tea hot enough for my liking and in fact, seem to make the tea go colder faster).
But, I am not one of those people who has to have some massive container of fluid with them everywhere they go. I have a bottle of water in my car that gets refilled maybe a handful of times a month and that’s about it.
I make tea at work or at home. I use some random ceramic mug that’s handy and stick it in the microwave if it gets too cold for my liking.
So I know what plastic and metal do to the taste of tea, but I’ve never cared about the subject enough to find other options.
I just ordered a steel thermos that is ceramic-lined to try out, Dustin, so I’ll let you know as soon as I get it. My thermos has also been getting cold very fast recently and has been needing to be replaced for quite some time. This one is 16 oz and honestly I would’ve been happy with 12 oz — I usually can’t get through much tea with how busy/distracted I am at work before my lunch hour rolls around and I come home and am able to brew a fresh, hot pot anyway (and if I don’t have time, I switch to a water bottle of cold brew out of the fridge). So I usually just need a little hot tea to get me through the morning of my shift.
Yes, I’d love to hear what you think of it, Mastress Alita! I’m thinking that with winter coming along with a rise in covid cases I’m going to be spending a lot of time outside to visit friends and I want a GIANT thermos of tea to keep me warm! And a blanket.
ALSO… and to derail a little… I need a giant thermos of hot water so I can bring one of the adorable travel tea sets this shop has with me and sip in style. https://www.etsy.com/listing/717466934/thetastestyle-portable-tea-set-travel?ref=user_profile&pro=1&frs=1
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