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I love loose-leaf tea, but it can be a lot harder to take with you than other drinks … until:

The Libre tea glass!

Libre Tea is offering my readers a giveaway of a Libre Glass 'n Poly tea glass — perfect for sipping your favorite loose-leaf tea on the go!

I live in Seattle, which is a coffee-loving city. I feel a little out of place without an ever-present cappuccino or latte to carry with me.

Fortunately, the tea culture has also grown stronger, and there are so many yummy, high-quality teas to sample and tea shops to visit, and loose-leaf varieties have become the astute drinker's tea of choice for many ecological, economical, and delectable reasons. I now have a full cupboard of delicious teas, but till now I had no way to take them with me like all those cool coffee drinkers.

That's why I was so excited to receive the Libre tea poly 'n glass to review. Now I can look like the cool kids, or even better, since my glass is so unique and aesthetically pleasing. And speaking of cool, this glass works perfectly for iced tea as well as hot, perfect for the summer months!





The first thing you need to know about the Libre is that it's pretty. Oh, so pretty.


These are all the parts. It's simple, which is good, and it all feels like very high quality. The box includes instructions for how to use the glass, which you can also read on Libre Tea's website and even watch a couple little videos they have. In the picture, you can see the two parts to the top: the filter at left and the cap at right. It's best to handwash the glass, but it's easy enough to do.


This is the poly 'n glass version. There's also a glass 'n glass version, if you prefer all-natural materials. All glasses are made in China. Both versions are double-walled and thermal to keep hot tea hot and cold tea cold. The poly 'n glass version is a little lighter and less breakable (good if you're going to be slinging it around in a bag, or are just clumsy like me!). The glass 'n glass keeps hot tea hot for slightly longer. The difference in price is only a dollar. The poly 'n glass model has two different ways to brew, and I prefer the method that the glass 'n glass does not allow (see below). For me, the poly 'n glass is the better choice.


So, there are two ways to brew tea with the Libre poly 'n glass. This is the way I prefer, which is to fill the glass with boiling (or near-boiling) water up to the bottom of the filter, screw the filter onto the top of the glass, put your loose-leaf tea into the filter, and then flip it upside down to brew. When it's done brewing, you can flip it back over, remove the filter and cap as one, and drink from the glass once the tea has cooled to the right temperature for you.

The other way works for the glass 'n glass as well, which is to put the tea into the glass, then screw on the filter, pour boiling water in, then drink. I prefer the upside-down brewing (which is not possible with the glass 'n glass) if I don't have a separate teacup to pour it into after brewing; otherwise, the tea steeps too long for my taste before it's cool enough to drink. When trying it out that way and trying not to oversteep my tea, I ended up burning my tongue (oh, poor me!).

Note that you can also use tea bags with the Libre tea glass; there's no law against it! So whatever you have or is easy for you, feel free to pop your tea into the filter, screw on the lid, and then tuck the glass into your bag to bring with you. Then when you're at work, on a hike, at a coffeeshop, or over at a friend's house, all you need is to bum some hot water and your tea will be ready in minutes!


This shows the tea brewing upside down. Please follow the directions, which I didn't do, to allow 2-3 minutes to pass after adding the boiling water for the water to cool slightly and steam to escape before screwing on the filter and cap and turning upside down. Otherwise, you will have some leaks of hot water, which could be a disaster if you put your glass near your laptop or day planner! Once I let the steam out and made sure the cap was absolutely secure, I had no problems with leaks, so just be obedient, unlike me.


I took this picture to demonstrate that the filter, though it looks like the holes are wide, will contain most types of loose-leaf teas. The first tea I chose, a black tea, did not drift at all through the filter. The second tea I chose specifically because it had smaller flakes, and only a few specks were left in the glass at the end, not even enough to do a tea-leaf reading! It might depend on your specific tea preferences, but the filter works effectively for me. I hear, though, that they're considering a finer mesh for the future for customers who prefer very small-leafed tea.


Once your tea is steeped, drink up! 
If you want your tea chilled, simply prepare it in advance, adding sweeteners like honey when it's still hot enough to mix in as desired, and then store the glass in the fridge or add ice cubes for an iced version. Ah! Sweet summery goodness, and it will stay cold for quite awhile. 
I found it was also possible to rebrew the leaves that were left in the filter, so you can save on tea in that way. In fact, I liked one of my brews better the second time around! I poured the hot water directly through the filled filter on that occasion, and it brewed it almost instantaneously and was really rich without being overdone.

You can also use the Libre tea glass for any beverage that you think would benefit from being shown off in an elegant, see-through glass, so if you run out of tea while you're out, you could always refill the glass with water or some other beverage. The poly 'n glass holds about 9 ounces of liquid, which is the same size as one of our teacups at home. I did a quick search, and it seems like traditional teacups are about 6 ounces, whereas oversized mugs can be much bigger. At any rate, 9 ounces felt like a good tea amount for me!

Here is a completely pointless video to demonstrate what happens when you let your 3-year-old help you do product reviews:



But, as you can see, he loves the tea glass, too!

By the way, after watching Wendy of Libre Tea's videos, I realize Mikko and I are (mis)pronouncing Libre more the Spanish way, but she's doing more of a French version — my high-school Spanish kicked in by accident, but now you'll know better.


So now tea lovers can be as hip as coffee lovers — if not more so! Enjoy your tea on the go with the Libre tea glass.

BUY IT!

You can purchase the Libre tea glass at LibreTea.com at $24 for a glass 'n poly model (the one I reviewed) or $25 for a glass 'n glass model (at left). You can also shop on Amazon.

Libre Tea ships glasses readily to the U.S. and Canada from warehouses located in each country, and you can contact by email for other international shipping quotes. If you are in British Columbia, Alberta, or Ontario, Canada, you can also find the Libre at several retail locations. There is a distributing company within the U.S. and Canada as well, so you could check likely retail locations near you (natural food stores, tea shops) to see if it's stocked there yet, and recommend it if not.

WIN IT!

For your own chance to win a Libre Tea Glass, enter in the comments below! Contest is open to U.S. & Canada.

MAIN ENTRY: Visit Libre Tea and tell me how you would use your tea glass!

Leave an email address in at least one of your comments if it's not clearly visible on your profile or linked web page so I can contact you if you win. (You can write it like this to foil spambots: mail (at) hobomama (dot) com or similar.)


BONUS ENTRIES, to increase your chance of winning (leave a separate comment for each so I can count them all):

• Leave a comment on Libre Tea's blog, and tell me what post you commented on.
• Tell me your favorite loose-leaf tea! (I love recommendations.)
• Have a look around Libre's site, and tell me something you learned.
• Follow www.HoboMamaReviews.com publicly through Google Friend Connect, or subscribe to the Hobo Mama Reviews RSS feed in a reader or by email.
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• Follow @libretea on Twitter and leave your Twitter name in the comment.
• Follow @Hobo_Mama on Twitter and leave your Twitter name in the comment.
• Like Libre Tea on Facebook.
• Like Hobo Mama on Facebook.
• Follow Hobo Mama on Networked Blogs on Facebook.
• Enter another of my current giveaways (1 extra entry per giveaway — check back for more).
• Put my Hobo Mama button on your website or add www.HoboMama.com to your text blogroll for 2 extra entries each. The HTML code is in the sidebar. Leave your site URL in the comment.

RULES:

• Contest open to United States & Canadian mailing addresses only.
• Leave each entry as a separate comment so I can count them all.
• For actions like following and subscribing, if you already follow or subscribe, just let me know in your comment.
• For tasks that garner you multiple entries, you can copy and paste the comment with a #1, #2, etc.
• You don't have to do any of the bonus entries, but you do have to complete the first mandatory one.
• I will pick the winner through Random.org after the contest closes and send an email notification. Leave an email address in your comment if it's not clearly visible on your profile or linked web page so I can contact you if you win. If I can't reach a winner or don't hear back within a couple days, I'll draw a new name.
• Any questions, let me know: mail {at} HoboMama.com