I recently discovered that the cardboard boxes that Upton ships tea in
are just about the right size to fit a cheap heating coil, a tin of
tea (or several small ones), a mug in which to heat water, a guywan,
and a candy thermometer, possibly squeezing in a fragment of a beeng
cha. That's become my usual travel kit, and it can be used to prepare
tea wherever there's a wall socket. Packed with a dish cloth and paper
towels it's quite durable, and I only ever have to worry about the
heat of the car ruining the tea. I never trust the tea in non-Asian
restaurants, personally.

ZBL

Lewis Perin wrote in message ...
McLemore writes:

On a recent trip out west, I took a tin of tea, a measuring
spoon, the egg timer I mentioned in another post, and a couple of
tea balls along. I wanted to take my electric kettle, too, but
my husband convinced me to leave it home.

I was hoping at least one of the restaurants we stopped in would
work with me to see that I got a decent cup of tea with my meals.
(I get so damned aggravated with those thin metal "teapots"
brought to the table with the bag on the side. Not to mention
that it's a bag in the first place, or that the water usually
isn't even hot enough to brew coffee.) At only one restaurant
did the waitress agree to take my tea ball to the kitchen and
pour the heated water onto it. Within 45 seconds she placed a
heavy guage metal teapot on the table, my tea ball sitting at the
bottom, fully immersed in recently-boiled water. (I used my
egg-timer for marking time.) That potful was the best tea during
the entire 4-day trip.

Have you considered taking an oolong with you on trips when you don't
expect water anywhere near boiling?

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html