# Tea (the drink) in America - should I bring my own? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 26, 2017, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-the-drink-in-america-should-i-bring-my-own/789896 "2017-06-26T09:18:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-the-drink-in-america-should-i-bring-my-own/789896/1 "2017-06-26T09:18:17Z")
I’m going to be spending 3 weeks in America. You’re all coffee drinkers; I don’t drink coffee - doctor’s orders. Should I bring a stock of tea bags or do hotels stock decent teas? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-the-drink-in-america-should-i-bring-my-own/789896/2 "2017-06-26T09:25:01Z")
Any place that serves food will have tea. It’s not like you’re talking about shit like vegemite. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-the-drink-in-america-should-i-bring-my-own/789896/3 "2017-06-26T09:31:37Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Any place that serves food will have tea. It’s not like you’re talking about shit like vegemite. Yeah, but if the bring him out a hot cup of water with a Lipton tea bag, I’m not sure **Quartz** is going to be very happy. At least, that’s the impression I get from other Brits. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-the-drink-in-america-should-i-bring-my-own/789896/4 "2017-06-26T09:33:52Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Yeah, but if the bring him out a hot cup of water with a Lipton tea bag, I’m not sure **Quartz** is going to be very happy. Too bloody right! ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-the-drink-in-america-should-i-bring-my-own/789896/5 "2017-06-26T09:37:30Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Should I bring a stock of tea bags or do hotels stock decent teas? Depends entirely on a.) the hotel and b.) what you consider decent tea. Lower rent places might just have Lipton ( swill, IMHO ). Twinings, [Bigelow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigelow_Tea_Company) and on the herbal side [Celestial Seasonings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_Seasonings) are all very common brands. Taylors of Harrogate is reasonably common. Stuff like [Harney and Sons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harney_%26_Sons) will be uncommon, findable in upscale supermarkets. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-the-drink-in-america-should-i-bring-my-own/789896/6 "2017-06-26T09:42:15Z")
Rather than bring tea bags, any decent sized grocery store will have a tea selection. Buy it when you get to your destination. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-the-drink-in-america-should-i-bring-my-own/789896/7 "2017-06-26T09:51:42Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Rather than bring tea bags, any decent sized grocery store will have a tea selection. Buy it when you get to your destination. That tea selection can be pretty narrow, though. If you like Earl Grey you’re OK; if you like Irish Breakfast, not so much. And I haven’t even named anything fancy. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-the-drink-in-america-should-i-bring-my-own/789896/8 "2017-06-26T09:51:54Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Any place that serves food will have tea. It’s not like you’re talking about shit like vegemite. If you’re travelling to the US, you’ll definitely need to bring your own tube/jar of vegemite/marmite. 😃 As far as tea goes, I haven’t had a problem the last few trips in getting ready access to some passable tea. Admittedly my experience is that you’re unlikely to get a nice Twinings or Yorkshire, but I never had an issue finding a passable facsimile of English Breakfast or Earl Grey in hotels and restaurants. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-the-drink-in-america-should-i-bring-my-own/789896/9 "2017-06-26T09:56:33Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > I’m going to be spending 3 weeks in America. You’re all coffee drinkers; I don’t drink coffee - doctor’s orders. Should I bring a stock of tea bags or do hotels stock decent teas? > [@Tamerlane](#): > > Lower rent places might just have Lipton ( swill, IMHO ). Twinings, [Bigelow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigelow_Tea_Company) and on the herbal side [Celestial Seasonings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_Seasonings) are all very common brands. > [@madmonk28](#): > > Rather than bring tea bags, any decent sized grocery store will have a tea selection. Buy it when you get to your destination. Compared to England (which I’ve only been to once so it may be anomalous), hotel _rooms_ don’t stock tea as often. But as **madmonk** says, most supermarkets will have most of the brands listed above. (I don’t like Lipton myself, either, although I do like their Iced Tea version and would buy it if it came in smaller bags, but I _do_ like Red Rose tea which is just as cheap or cheaper than Lipton.) ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-the-drink-in-america-should-i-bring-my-own/789896/10 "2017-06-26T10:06:47Z")
Bring a few bags of the tea you fancy. They’re small, lightweight and easy to slip into a pocket. And a pleasing cup of tea you adore, is so much better than some nasty cheap hotel tea, when you really need a relaxing cup. A few bags of your preferred tea on hand, could indeed improve your trip. I say do it! ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-the-drink-in-america-should-i-bring-my-own/789896/11 "2017-06-26T10:18:24Z")
Clearly, the OP just needs to learn how to drink tea in the American fashion - [ice-cold and with twice as much sugar as an equivalent volume of Coca-Cola.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_tea) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-the-drink-in-america-should-i-bring-my-own/789896/12 "2017-06-26T10:31:42Z")
Yes, at the risk of causing offence, you need to bring your own tea. Thing is, Brits take tea differently from most of the rest of the world - we drink it strong, with milk. Most of the world drinks much lighter tea, without milk. Which means even British brand like Twinings, which you can find anywhere, tailor what they call ‘English Breakfast Tea’ to local markets. My wife, who drinks tea religiously, says any tea outside the UK, as a result, tastes like ash. So, she always packs a stash of Yorkshire Gold in her luggage, and at hotel breakfast will ask for a cup of hot water, so she can dunk her own tea. You will need to ask for cold milk, and they will think you are mad, but hey ho. It’s also worth considering taking a travel kettle - US hotel rooms tend to have coffee machines, but not kettles, in the rooms. You can run hot water through the coffee machine as an alternative, but you risk some aroma of stale coffee with your tea if you do. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-the-drink-in-america-should-i-bring-my-own/789896/13 "2017-06-26T11:16:03Z")
As an American who likes strong black tea with milk (and a smidge of sugar) I suggest you bring your own. When I travel, even just one state over, I bring my own. Hotel tea is god-knows-how old, and generally pretty flavorless. Restaurant tea often is too, but at least now you stand a pretty good chance of getting it with near-boiling water instead of “hot”. Better than no tea, sometimes, but definitely a different sort of drink. My go-to here is PG Tips that I can get at Publix and some Food Lion stores. I’m in the southeast, so YMMV, depending on where you’re traveling. I’ve seen Yorkshire Gold here too, but I don’t know how fast it sells and so how old the box on the shelf might be. ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-the-drink-in-america-should-i-bring-my-own/789896/14 "2017-06-26T11:40:40Z")
In hotels, you’ll have a problem getting really hot water, especially later in the day. It sits in thermoses cooling away. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-the-drink-in-america-should-i-bring-my-own/789896/15 "2017-06-26T11:41:52Z")
I loathe Lipton and it always annoys me that whenever I’m on the continent the tea of hoteliers’ choice always seems to be Lipton (although maybe I need to upgrade my choice of hotels). In the US I suspect you will encounter that odd beast of the tea family, [Constant Comment by Bigelow](https://www.bigelowtea.com/Shop-Teas/By-Type/Constant-Comment/Constant-Comment#.WVDyJFI2zcs). It’s kind of like Earl Grey’s uglier brother - rather than bergamot, it’s got orange rind in it. And it’s not subtle. I’ll admit that, despite myself, I don’t mind it at all but the wife considers it vile. Tea in general is easy enough to find but why not pack a few bags of your preferred blend - it’s not like they’re bulky or heavy. Then you just have to find decent hot water… ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-the-drink-in-america-should-i-bring-my-own/789896/16 "2017-06-26T11:50:47Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > You’re all coffee drinkers; _\>cough\<_ No, we’re NOT all coffee drinkers. Speaking as an America tea drinker, when I travel in this country I take a small stock of my own tea along because what you’ll get in a hotel is a complete roll of the dice. Most supermarkets in urban areas do stock decent teas, including British imports, but it’s not 100% reliable. So bring at a least a small stash of your own tea. Do NOT attempt to heat water in the little coffee makers in the room - it will be hot enough, but I guarantee that at some point in the past someone poured cold coffee into it to reheat it, thereby imparting an ineradicable odor of old, stale, nasty, awful coffee to any water subsequently run through it. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-the-drink-in-america-should-i-bring-my-own/789896/17 "2017-06-26T11:54:36Z")
As an American, I often take some tea bags when I’m going to stay in a hotel. As others have said, most hotels will offer in-room coffee makers with a few tea bags but there’s no way of knowing what kind of tea they will have. Any major supermarket will have a good variety of tea—even British imports (I always keep a box of Make Mine a Builders)—but have a few with you in case you don’t get the chance to go grocery shopping. The real problem might be finding boiling water when you need it. Any place that has coffee machines—like a 7-Eleven—will have super hot water taps. Look for those. ---
**Author:** ![Koldanar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@Koldanar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koldanar)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-the-drink-in-america-should-i-bring-my-own/789896/18 "2017-06-26T12:12:14Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > I’m going to be spending 3 weeks in America. You’re all coffee drinkers; I don’t drink coffee - doctor’s orders. Should I bring a stock of tea bags or do hotels stock decent teas? Where are you headed? Many decent sized cities have specialty tea stores around. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-the-drink-in-america-should-i-bring-my-own/789896/19 "2017-06-26T12:12:27Z")
If tea is important enough to you that you are genuinely worried, sure, bring your own. Do you typically bring your own when you travel internationally to other parts of the world? If so absolutely bring your own. I am an American tea drinker. Loose when I have it Barry’s usually. I get it from my local grocery store and it’s easy to find as is PG Tips and Yorkshire Gold. I live in the NE near one of the larger cities in the States though so your experience may vary. Tea in a restaurant will likely suck, unless it’s an upscale restaurant in which case they will likely go overboard to make sure it doesn’t. Hotel anything is useless. The coffee is terrible too The best advice I have seen is the travel kettle. You will find tea, freshly boiled water is tougher. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2017, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-the-drink-in-america-should-i-bring-my-own/789896/20 "2017-06-26T12:49:23Z")
Not only is tea drinking more common in the U.S. than you think (and there are lots of places selling specialty teas), tea drinking is less common in the U.K. than you think: > **[We drink twice as much coffee as tea](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3538880/We-drink-twice-coffee-tea-nation-s-favourite-drink-threat-tea-consumption-fallen-19-cent-2010.html)** > > Outside the home, Britons are now drinking almost two and a half cups of coffee for every one of tea – 2.1billion versus 874million annually. > **[British/American Differences: Why is the USA a coffee-drinking culture while...](https://www.quora.com/British-American-Differences-Why-is-the-USA-a-coffee-drinking-culture-while-Britain-is-a-tea-drinking-culture)** > > Answer (1 of 17): The reason for Americans being so fanatic about coffee is connected with the American Revolution, which took place around 250 years back. > > Tea was originated in China and it became widely popular among the British Colonies during... [http://worldteanews.com/insights/greatest-tea-retail-expansion-era-begun](http://worldteanews.com/insights/greatest-tea-retail-expansion-era-begun) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tea-the-drink-in-america-should-i-bring-my-own/789896.md?page=2)