Suggestions for brewing tea in a thermos?

[Panda]

In the last year or so, my passion for tea has burgeoned, and I'm starting to really get into loose leaf tea. I have a few strainers that can be used to brew a mug of tea, but I most frequently make tea in a thermos for convenience. The problem is the mouth of my thermos is only just over 4 cm in diameter, so my tea strainers don't fit in it. I've been using filters for now, but does anyone have any other suggestions of what would work to brew tea in a thermos (i.e. some kind of narrow/hopefully affordable tea strainer)?

Thanks!

[Margules]

If you check out Monday's Teaday thread, people discussed if/how they take tea with them on the go, so a lot of it is probably applicable to your question.

I personally have never had too much success with thermoses and tea, as plastic and metal containers seem to do unpleasant things to the taste, especially if the tea is left sitting in them long enough to make the heat retention of the thermos necessary.

Even if you found an in mug style infuser that fit in a thermos, it seems like it would probably prevent you from putting the lid on it. If you have no other options, I would probably just make the tea in a normal teapot, and then just pour it into the thermos.

[Victoria]

You will find much discussion here:
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=10582

[Intuit]

Stainless steel thermos is probably best used for keeping boiling water hot. Remember to pre-warm your thermos for optimal heat retention. Use a mug and strainer for cup brewing. Glass thermos works ok for premade tea, brew it at home. Make sure you rinse out the thermos at the end of use.

I have ruined several thermos, both stainless steel and glass, by leaving tea in them for extended periods while on multi-day remote field work trips. It's impossible to get them odor-free once they are contaminated with mold.

[Panda]

Thanks for the input. The glass thermos idea is kind of intriguing-- I might look into that in the future! But for now, I have a metal (I think it's stainless steel) thermos that I'm happy with. I usually brew tea in it and then take out the filter or bag before I leave, so it's not an issue if my thermos cap won't fit over the strainer. I just want something that I can stick in there for a few minutes. (I brew it directly in the thermos instead of brewing it elsewhere and pouring it in so it will stay hot longer.)

Does anyone have any experience with things like either of these?

[nonc_ron]

I have ruined several thermos, both stainless steel and glass, by leaving tea in them for extended periods while on multi-day remote field work trips. It's impossible to get them odor-free once they are contaminated with mold.

Why?
What kind of mold?

[Intuit]

I presume the mold creeps into corners, where it forms a highly adherent biofilm. Don't know the type of mold, but once it's contaminated both plastic screwcap top interior and the body of the thermos, it's nearly impossible to get rid of it. Long periods of drying didn't work, even after scrubbing.

If I had thought about it before pitching them, I might have gotten rid of the mold by freezing-thaw cell rupture. Put the thermos with lid off, in a low temp freezer for an extended period of time, remove and warm up, then return for additional cycles of freezing and warming. The periodic freeze-thaws rupture the cells, and can kill off spores, too.

[nonc_ron]

I keep a gal milk jug of iced tea in the fridge all the time.
But after a week of brewing tea black mold spots start growing inside.
My remedy is to smash it flat an throw it in with the plastic recycle bin.
But thats treating the symptoms not the problem.
The mold obviously came out of the tea. (that I'm drinking )
It would be nice to know a little more about it.

[nonc_ron]

I've been avoiding the problem of mold in my Yixing teapots by having 3 in rotation. In the evening I dump the expired tea leaves and hang up the pot to dry. The next day I use the second pot, Then the third.
So far its been working.

[Intuit]

Of course dry tea could carry mold, but refrigerators are a damp environment well known for picking up and harbouring mold and bacteria. Kinda doubt the mold in your iced tea came from the tea itself.

[Cinnamon Kitty]

To brew tea in a thermos, I would suggest picking up some disposable tea pockets aka fill-your-own teabags. The spoon and tea swizzle stick looking thing won't allow the leaves to expand very well, but the tea pockets are flexible enough to allow the leaves to expand while still fitting in a smaller mouthed thermos.

Here are the paper filters from our host, Adagio.

[Cha no yu]

Thanks for the input. The glass thermos idea is kind of intriguing-- I might look into that in the future! But for now, I have a metal (I think it's stainless steel) thermos that I'm happy with. I usually brew tea in it and then take out the filter or bag before I leave, so it's not an issue if my thermos cap won't fit over the strainer. I just want something that I can stick in there for a few minutes. (I brew it directly in the thermos instead of brewing it elsewhere and pouring it in so it will stay hot longer.)

Does anyone have any experience with things like either of these?

See also this Coffee/tea | Zack (image): http://www.chikado.nl/eng/products/5009/
I've got no experience with it, but it seems good for tea brewing with a thermos bottle.



A friend of my did use it, but wasn't satisfied with it.


Interesting. And I'm curious if the inside is easy to clean. But maby that same question comes with the Coffee/tea | Zack above, I've tipped you.

Btw: Can anybody tell me, why I can't use [ url= ][ /url ] - tags? I did a search in the faq, but didn't find anything.