Tea and Traveling!

I'm back from 7 glorious, amazing filled days in St. Thomas. I can't even begin to describe the beauty and serenity I found there. If you haven't been, go. You will not regret a moment. So, now my wallet is empty and I'm back at work and wanted to post something about traveling with loose leaf tea.

As everyone knows, I love my rooibos tea. I drink it for health benefits and because it tastes great! While we here at Sterling Tea do carry tea bags in certain flavors, I wanted to take along my favorite Sterling Tea, "Orange Swirl". So I packed a bag of my red tea along with a brew basket and a few finum tea filters. I honestly thought this all might be a bit of a pain to brew on the go, but how wrong I was.

We took off from DFW airport and landed in Ft. Lauderdale for a 2 1/2 hour layover. Being as we left at the crack of dawn, I was ready to relax and have a cup of tea. I grabbed my Sterling Tea, and one of the finum filters, hopped over to a food counter and asked for a hot cup of water. To my delight, I was given one free! (So rare to get anything free these days!) I measured out my tea into the tea bag and plopped it into the cup to brew for the requisite 6 minutes. (That's how I like it!) Voila! I had my cup of tea. Not only was it good, but amist all the chaos of airports, crowds and general mayhem, it grounded me and gave me the peace I needed to continue the next leg of our journey.

Once we got to St. Thomas and our beautiful condo, again I wanted a cup of Sterling Tea (this time, our delicate White Silk Earl Grey). I got out my brew basket this time, boiled me up some water and soon I was enjoying a delightful cup of tea on our balcony overlooking Sapphire Beach. I was in Nirvana. Seriously.

While we were staying in our condo, my sister asked me to make a pitcher of our Strawberry Hibiscus. I was able to make this using one of our larger finum tea filters and we all found it hydrating, refreshing and just all around good! I should note here that we were traveling with a 3 year old and while our eating habits were not always the best, I was glad I had brought the Strawberry Hibiscus so we didn't have to drink a lot of sodas and sugary drinks. This helps a lot with a spunky, fiesty 3 year old! Now that's not to say I didn't have the island's infamous drink known as "The Painkiller". LOL

As our trip drew to a close I savored each cup of Sterling Tea I brewed. It was for me, a little taste of home. Once we left St. Thomas, it was rush, rush, rush through security, customs, and to our gate that we barely made in time to board. I was jonesing for a cup of tea while on the plane back home and thought what the heck, let's see if I can do this. I got my Sterling Tea, and by this time I was out of Finum Tea Filters, so I pulled out my brew basket. I got a few stares but I didn't care, I then asked for a cup of hot water which the stewardess promptly delivered. Bam! I had a cup of my soothing Sterling Tea. When the stewardess came round for trash, I dumped my grinds and wrapped my brew basket in a plastic baggie and repacked it.

Brew Basket

Back home, I rinsed out my brew basket, and unpacked my things all with a deep sense of both happiness to be home and sadness to have left such beauty and the "Island Life" behind. I learned that I can travel with loose leaf tea and it wasn't a hastle. I had my tea, and I had it my way. Now that's the way to travel!

Be Well!

Ang.