Timolino (12 oz)

I decided to splurge on this a few months back with some birthday money – otherwise I don’t know that I would have dropped $30 on a tumbler! For me the biggest selling point was the sleek narrow design – it’ll actually fit in the cup-holder on my stroller! The other one I have barely fits, and if you go over any kind of bump it’ll fall out, so…. not practical.

I bought the green one – my favourite colour – and I’ve been impressed with it! It is amazing at keeping the heat in, and I haven’t had any issues with it leaking. It’s really sturdy and stylish too. I like simple designs.

The only downside: it’s amazing at keeping the heat in. I brew my tea and then it takes FOREVER to cool so that I can actually drink it. I’ve started to brew it in a mug and then pour it in the Timolino instead.

Oh, there’s also a little storage compartment in the lid. I imagine this would be useful once I’m off maternity leave, and I stash extra leaves for my afternoon tea break.

I bought this thermos to brew tea on the go because of the convenient infuser and tea container. I find myself almost never using it for this purpose because it keeps tea way too hot to be able to drink it in a reasonable amount of time after brewing. It’s very useful as a straight thermos though. If I brew my tea in my Davidstea perfect mug and then tranfer it to my Timolino, I can keep it for several hours before it becomes cold.

Okay. Here are my problems. I was given another Davids Tea teaware thing that I didn’t need, so I returned it, and paid 15 more dollars to buy this. You see, I had been lusting after the Travel Press, the big one, for a while. But at the store the guy convinced me not to buy it for some reason. Regrets, regrets.

Pros:
-It’s a mug. I like mugs. I can carry around tea.
-It has a place to store tea. (but so does the other one i wanted)

Cons:
-I’ve burned my mouth SEVERAL times. I have to wait an hour even with the lid off for it to be drinkable. Why would I want to carry around tea that I can’t drink?

-I guess i decided on this one because it was apparently leakproof. IT’S NOT LEAKPROOF. IT LEAKED ALL OVER MY BAG. Gaaaah. fail.

-When I steep rooibos, or teas that have very small leaves, I get a mouthful of tea. What. No. The little holes in the top that separate the steeper from your mouth are waayy too big.

Conclusion: I’m returning this and buying the travel press, and then spending the money I got back on more tea. The End.

Seriously? I’m pretty sure some sort of sorcerer made this thing. I made a cup of tea yesterday at 9 AM.. put it in here.. forgot about it. At 3 PM, I remember it.. take it out and take a sip.. still HOT. Like, almost just as hot as it was at 9 AM. Incredible.

The only thing I took points off for is the basket. I almost never use it.. it’s just not big enough, and I wish the bottom was mesh as well instead of solid plastic.

I have the 16 oz one and OMFG game changer. This is the best tea traveller I own. The extra spot in the lid to store your spare tea, the fact that this morning I poured hot tea in at 9am, forgot about it, and at 6pm it was still PIPING hot has made this my absolute FAVOURITE ever. EVER. Love this bloody thing. LOVE it.

Since I lost my precious sparkly burgundy one, I bought a new one for my birthday!

Yay!

It’s a golden/orange sparkly colour, with this kind of mesh screen lid: http://www.timolino.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=VMB-38TMTR

I love it. So glad I went back to this kind. The DavidsTea timolino lid with the horrible strainer just… sucks. I was not happy with it.

Let me explain something. I am really clumsy. I have two delicate tumblers for when I want to feel elegant, and two stainless tumblers because I’m also a realist. This is my favourite of the two. Why?

I’ve dropped this sucker a number of times and not had to worry about it shattering or denting: it has one scratch on it roughly the size of a pinhead and I take this everywhere.

Like a lot of silicone seals, mine will try to leak if I’ve overfilled the bottle past the ring. It has kept hot tea hot for around 4-6 hours and ice tea iced for around the same time (sometimes there are even little bits of ice clinking around later).

This travel mug is brilliant. The only thing I wish was different about this one was that it was bigger. It keeps everything nice and hot for hours. I actually burnt my tongue on the tea not realizing it was going to stay that hot for that long. It’s been awesome to have when I know I’m going to be outside in the cold. It keeps it nice and hot even though the outside of the container doesn’t feel hot.

I definitely recommend this travel mug.

I want to give this 100 so badly! This thermos is incredibly well made and amazingly designed. Steep basket attachment in the cup, compartment in the lid to store dry loose tea (either so you can steep it later for time-sensitive teas that need to be babysat, or if you plan to make your initial cup or a second serving later), rubber bottom to keep it from clanking on surfaces, and damn, does this thermos keep your tea hot! However…I really wonder at the price point. ($30) I have a large and extremely well-insulated Thermos-brand travel mug that does everything this does, minus the basket attachment and tea compartment, and it was half the price; I feel as though those two aspects, while important, aren’t themselves worth half the price? (Steep basket or not, I wouldn’t buy the mug unless it was sturdy, vacuum sealed, and well insulated — all way more important for keeping the tea satisfying.) I’m in fact fairly sure my Thermos is 4oz bigger. The loose tea compartment was something I discovered after the fact, too. I was just mainly sold on the fact that I could finally steep tea into a thermos (my other one has too narrow of a neck or any of my steepers to fit through.) Kind of just wish it was a tad more affordable — like, five bucks cheaper — given the small size and the fact that the tea compartment is something I doubt I’ll utilize all the time.

That and, I just wish…that I could drink out of this thermos with tea leaves still in the steeper. The attachment nestles underneath this mouthpiece to drink from and if your tea leaves are small enough, you HAVE to remove/empty the steep basket out before you drink. I’m sure it just wasn’t functional to make the holes any smaller to keep tea leaves from draining out (they would probably clog up the thermos too, it would likely be impossible to drink out of) but for an on-the-go thermos, I dream of being able to throw everything in and be able to enjoy the tea immediately without having to open the thermos, unlock the basket, and deal with that before being able to enjoy my tea. (I usually have to set aside ten minutes before going out to make my tea and prep it for drinkability before leaving…which is what I had already been doing with my tea-unfriendly Thermos before I bought the Timolino.) I figure the idea is that it’s all prepared for being able to make tea out of the house, and not so much “you threw your tea together on your way out the door!” which is still incredibly convenient. Maybe I’ll experiment throwing my tea leaves into a teabag into the thermos and see how well that works. Believe me, this part is my personal wish, not a reason why I knocked five points off of my score!

But enough of my complaining. Overall, I’d say it’s worth the purchase! Trust me, your tea will NOT go cold unless you remove both “lids” and keep it completely open (yeah, even the mouthpiece manages to keep my tea from growing cold!) Also I’m pretty sure they roll out with new colors every season or every-other, so these will be addictive for collecting if you’re like me and love color options.

When reading other reviews for this mug, I was quite surprised that everyone loved it! Perhaps I have been spoiled by my Zojirushi without even knowing it. The Timolino has the convenience of the tea basket, but there are no holes in the bottom, which makes no sense…it is difficult to remove when the tea is hot, as your fingers get burned when removing the basket when the steeping time has been reached. I also found that the tea cooled to lukewarm within 4 hours…even with boiling water used as a prep to heat up the Timolino. My Zojirushi has burned my mouth at 2pm when I’ve made the tea at 5:30am…. there is no lock to make sure the lid doesn’t unscrew either…. Now is it attractive? Heck yeah! Especially in the David’s Tea teal. Is is functional? Absolutely. Does it work? Yup! Is having the tea basket better for the environment than the wee little throw-away filters I use in my Zojirushi? Yes. Will I use the Timolino? Yes…for the days when my tea is drunk before 9am. I will review the Zojirushi soon…. no tea enthusiast should be without one…