I’ve always wondered why camping stores sell a lot of stuff to brew great coffee in the backcountry, but ignore tea fanatics. Stale bags of orange pekoe fished out of (often) grotty camping mugs do not make a good start to the day.
Enter the David’s Tea Carry Travel Mug, with built-in infuser. It’s slim and easy to shove into a corner of your pack (or clip on with a carabiner), plus top-notch insulation means you can savour flavours such as Blueberry Muffin, Nutty Granola Crunch or Pom Cider for hours as the mist evaporates off the lake. In fact, it’s so well insulated you may burn your lips like I did. Like any good camping tool, it’s multipurpose: the Carry Travel Mug also works as a soup thermos for a hot lunch after a long hike.
Car camping? This is where you’ll want to steep your Bear Trap tea in the sturdy (made from porcelain enamel) and super cute Rustic Mug. True to its name, brewing this heavenly scented tea – with its chunks of dried blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and more – had me a little worried in bear country. Carry Travel Mug, $32; Rustic Mug, $15; found at David’s Tea stores or davidstea.com