I don’t usually review travel tea sets on this website, but there’s a good reason for the exception. The wonderful people over at Umi Tea Sets reached out to let me know that they’re big fans of my work and asked if they could send me a complimentary travel tea set. I told them that my focus is predominantly soft drinks and French fries, but they insisted that it would work. Let this be a lesson to anyone else interested in sending me something…I’m easily flattered and easily persuaded.
Umi sells all kinds of fancy tea sets, and I wasn’t sure what I’d receive. Their website has a variety of large and elegant sets, but also an extensive selection of smaller more portable sets. The one that they selected for me is a travel tea set with a pot shaped like a happy waving cat with two small tea saucers packed into a form-fitted protective case. It’s adorable, but also very high quality. The kettle and saucers have a slightly orange peel texture and matte finish. The ceramic set also weighs more than I expected. It feels substantial.
I don’t drink a lot of tea, and I especially don’t drink a lot of tea while traveling, but I committed myself to finding a good use. While packing for a business trip to Denver I realized that I could take the tea set with me and really put it to use. Then, on the way to the airport, my mother-in-law suggested that I use it on the flight itself. I’ve never seen anyone use a fancy tea set on an airplane, but it sounded like a great idea.
As the flight attendants made their way down the airplane for the first beverage service I unpacked my little kitty tea kettle. I asked for a mint tea and quickly added the tea bag and hot water to the kettle. The kettle has a bit of heft to it. I wouldn’t call it heavy, but it’s certainly dense enough to retain the tea’s heat and keep it at a pleasant drinking temperature. I poured myself saucer after saucer of mint tea and fully embraced this little moment of zen. It was undoubtedly an elevated experience from the status quo of just drinking out of a paper cup, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the ritual.
Here a few other observations. The lid to the tea kettle has the cat’s face, and it also fits perfectly over the little saucers. That’s cute. Also, drinking from these little saucers really slows down your consumption of the tea. It’d be weird to keep slamming back saucer after saucer of tea every few seconds, so you naturally sip and appreciate it a bit more. I didn’t expect a big reaction, but the person sitting next to me took zero interest in what I was doing, even though I was recording myself from several angles. Given that disinterest, I decided that I would not share my second saucer with this stranger. However, it would be a lovely ice breaker if you had someone more friendly sitting next to you. “Excuse me, would you like to join my little kitty tea party?”
I also used the tea set at a restaurant during my trip. Given the heat retention of the kettle I thought that it might serve well as a french fry receptacle. The saucers are also perfectly sized for sauces or ketchup. This worked pretty well, and I was impressed with how elegant the presentation turned out. Tea kettle fries really might be something to invest in early before the idea saturates the restaurant market.
There could be many more uses for a travel tea set that I haven’t considered. I was able to use the set while flying on an airplane, while eating french fries at a restaurant, and while enjoying a bubble bath in my hotel. The possibilities appear to be endless. Here’s a link to the specific tea set that I received (also available in several other colors). What else would you recommend that I try?
Sodafry 