Mountain Tea Tumbler, photo courtesy of The Tea Spot
The Mountain Tea Tumbler, made by Boulder, Colorado-based The Tea Spot won the World Tea Award for Best Brewing Device (Non-Electric) at the World Tea Expo in June. Its sleek, functional and durable design makes it the perfect tumbler to accompany any outdoor enthusiast on adventures.
“We are more in the business of bringing tea to the hydration market than we are being in the pure tea market, I feel,” said Maria Uspenski, owner of The Tea Spot.
Mountain Tea Tumbler, photo courtesy of The Tea Spot
The Tea Spot’s original glass and cork Urban Tea Tumbler marked the company’s first foray into the tea tumbler market. This year, it was paired with ITO EN’s Brooklyn Breakfast Blend as a gift set, which won the New Product Award in the Tea Gifting/Special Promotions category at the World Tea Expo.
Uspenski designs all of the steepware for The Tea Spot. An avid cyclist, Uspenski said the inspiration for designing the Mountain Tea Tumbler came from the need for a portable tea brewing device that possessed outdoor resilience, functionality and versatility. “We wanted to use our tea on the go, outdoors.”
The Mountain Tea Tumbler is a 16 ounce bottle made of double-walled stainless steel, so it can withstand the accidental drop on a rocky trail. It also has a stainless steel tea infuser that can hot and cold brew all blends of loose leaf tea. The tumbler retains the heat of hot teas for 10 hours and keeps cold teas chilled for 20 hours.
Its pressure-fit vacuum sealed lid has a loop onto which a carabiner can be clipped and attached to a backpack or other gear.
Mountain Tea Tumbler, photo courtesy of The Tea Spot
“We made what we felt was a basic, but all-around all-purpose tea tumbler for the outdoors for hot and cold brewing,” Uspenski said. “It immediately became the go-to bottle for everyone in our company.”
“[Winning the World Tea Award] shows that even the tea industry is responding to innovative ways to get our tea in during the day,” Uspenski said. She also feels the recognition for this type of tumbler stands to further legitimize the cold brew movement.
Customers have also shown a strong positive response to the Mountain Tea Tumbler as its sales are growing rapidly.
The Mountain Tea Tumbler has national distribution at independent natural foods stores. The Tea Spot also does custom designs of the tumbler for Kind Nutrition and Garden of the Gods National Natural Landmark in Colorado Springs, as well as for about two dozen tea and outdoor retailers across the country and health and nutrition collectives.
At the end of this month, The Tea Spot will debut a 22 ounce version of the Mountain Tea Tumbler called, the Everest, which has a screw down lid. Another innovative tumbler called the Voyager will debut this fall.
