Specialty Bottle Tea Tins, Review

[yresim]

I went ahead and picked up a few of the tins from Specialty Bottle to see how they work as tea tins. I got TND1-TND16, as well as TWS6. Here is what I found.

Stacking with self:
All of the containers stacked okay with themselves. This means that you could stack them and they will sit flat on each other. However, if they are jostled, they may topple over. The TND's all stacked up to 4 high, while the TWS6 will only stack up to 2 high.

Stacking with others:
All of the canisters stacked okay with the canisters larger than them. However, some stacked particularly well, not toppling even when jostled. The TND1 is best on top of the TND2. The TND6 is best on top of the TND8. The TND8 is best on top of the TND16. The TWS6 is best on top of the TND4 or the TND8.

Conclusion:
If your shelf space is right around 6 or 12 inches high, the TWS6 is probably going to work best for you. If your shelf height is about 7.75", a combination of TND4's & TWS6's will probably be the most stable. For any other shelf space height, it is probably better to use another canister and/or a mix of canisters.

For those who want to replace their Adagio sample tins with something more stackable, the TND4 and TND6 will work best.

For more information, including capacity, please see the complete review.

~Yresim~

[Kai]

Outstanding review.

1question.

How is the seal on all of the tins?

[yresim]

How is the seal on all of the tins?

TND1-16:
The seal on these tins is a metal-lid-on-metal-body seal. They are not quite as tight as the Adagio sample tins. However, they are still fairly tight. Tight enough, at least, that they do not come open when dropped (something I did several times while trying to determine how well they stacked).

TWS6:
Although the outside of the lid is metal, there is a ring of plastic on the inside of the lid. This means that the tin uses a plastic-lid-on-metal-body seal (a plastic ring goes on the inside of the metal canister). It appears to seal just as well as (if not better than) the TND's, and does not pop open when dropped.

Please note that no tin was dropped more than 5 feet. So, I can not attest to what will happen to your tea if your canister falls down a flight of stairs, for example.

In the hopes of determining how they compared in terms of seal, I placed four tins (1 new Adagio sample tin, 1 old Adagio sample tin, 1 TWS6, & 1 TND16) in 94 degree F water for ten minutes. Unfortunately, all four leaked, so no comparison could be made.


~Yresim~

[garden gal]

The flight of stairs test is important in my case since I put the tea shelf right at the top of the stairs- why didn't I think of that problem after all these years of having 3 boys and many canine americans under foot?