Hi Tea Owls!
Last month I went on a Princess Cruise from Los Angeles to Catalina Island to Ensenada Mexico and back! Totally check out part one of my experience on a cruise ship (aka, OMG Afternoon Tea Time!). In a crazy turn of events, it looks like I’m going on another cruise! I’m sailing for Hawaii tomorrow! Since I’m going on another cruise, I wanted to show what my travelling with loose leaf tea on a cruise ship set up was.
This was my first cruise and I knew I needed to bring my own tea. I was glad I brought my own tea as the ship’s selection was Twinnings, Bigelow and Lipton. No white, pu’er or oolong teas! I would of also been bored of the cruise ship’s selection of tea. Within the brands, the blends they had were English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Peppermint, Lemon, Orange herbal, and Green tea (though, this one was always first to run out).
So, how does one use their own loose leaf tea on a cruise ship?
Bringing Your Own Loose Leaf Tea
I put 1 to 3 servings of loose leaf tea in little plastic baggies and packed all of the baggies into a tupperware. Little plastic ziptop bags were great for my short cruise, however you may also use small tins. Ensure to double bag any potent smelling teas like jasmine or mint to discourage wrecking your other teas.
Travelling with tea is also a great time to use your samples or sip down the last serving of loose leaf tea! Pu’er tuochas, blooming and rolled teas are also fun to pack as they are self contained and easy to determine a serving of tea.
Hot Water for Tea on a Cruise Ship
On the cruise there were multiple hot water machines, mostly near the buffet area or anywhere there was coffee. The water wasn’t boiling hot, but was good enough for tea – my guess was the water was around 200 to 185f. For any dining room meals they could bring you hot water in a metal tea pot that held about 2 servings of tea.. around 16oz. My waiter at dinner was also happy to take my tumbler and fill it with hot water. Beyond the buffet and dining room meals, you can order room service to bring you tea. Either way, it was very easy to obtain hot water for tea, though keep in mind temperature of the water isn’t consistent.
My room (the cheapest stateroom with no windows) had a bar fridge. Cold steeping tea is also an option!
Travelling with Loose Leaf Tea on a Cruise Ship
After asking around on Steepster, it was suggested one should go with either paper tea filters, a brew basket or a travel tea tumbler in order to enjoy great tea on the cruise ship. I brought all 3.
1. Paper Tea filters – You can purchase empty paper tea filters and fill them with your own tea. I’d try to find large ones so your tea will have room to expand and steep. These are also pretty handy as you can pre-measure and store your tea in the filters before your trip.
The paper tea filters seemed the most easiest to use with the set up the cruise ship had for tea, as if you simply had brought your own bagged tea and all you need was hot water. Disposal of leaves was a snap! Be sure to ask for the bag out or hot water only as every time I didn’t, they would put the tea bag in the hot water. Overall, paper tea filters are a great, on the go, but less flashy solution to loose leaf tea away from home.
2. Brew Basket – I took my DavidsTea perfect tea infuser. I deducted this was too messy to deal with without being near a kitchen. Since the metal tea infuser is not self contained, I’d have to take it to my room to rinse it after use or haul it in a plastic bag or tupperware. If I were to use one of these tea brew baskets for travelling, it would probably be for office, at someone’s house or hotel room with kitchen verses being on a cruise ship.
3. Travel Tea Tumbler – this method was my favorite mostly because I’m a flashy tea drinker! I used Mandala Tea’s Tea Thermos. I used the thermos two ways – as my own tea pot and as a travel mug. I was able to have gongfu style steepings without having a gaiwan or yixing pot. I simply filled the thermos half way and poured it into a mug when the tea was done steeping. I had a nice pu’er session one morning with 8 resteeps! I was also able to fill up the thermos on the go and walk around the ship or relax anywhere with tea to drink. I could see a good stainless steel tea thermos being really handy to keep tea hot all afternoon while bumming around on a sea day.
Also, the beauty of a glass tea travel thermos over a metal one was it attracted conversation. I got complimented about my tea many times in the stairwell. Every morning at the coffee/hot water station I had someone ask what I was drinking. I’m pretty sure I convinced a couple people to buy some good loose leaf. For my next cruise, I’ll be sure to pack a little extra tea to share with the people I meet!
The downfall with the tumbler was having to carry it everywhere (or have a purse to put it in and carry that) and oversteeping issues (with my tea tumbler, but may not be an issues with other designs). Depending on your needs, you may want to ensure you get a leakproof tea tumbler as well. I found getting a good cleaning of the tumbler was also slightly hairy, as it was restricted to simply rinsing it off with hot water from the tap or hot water for tea. There was also a slight mess in throwing out the leaves and I’m sure I scared my room stewart with my piles of soggy tea wrapped in tissue in the trash.
Overall Experience
I enjoyed filling up my tumbler and walking around the ship at 6 or 7am. I loved sitting on deck, snapping photos and sipping tea – so relaxing! I also had a favorite spot at a lounge to drink tea and knit. Bringing my own loose leaf tea was easy to deal with using paper tea filters and travelling tea tumblers.
