Reusable loose leaf tea glasses from Libre

August 24th, 2010

The recession has cooled the coffee shop craze considerably (Starbucks has closed 900 locations since 2008), but Americans are still wasting nearly 10 billion disposable paper coffee cups each year. These cups aren’t even recyclable (minus the plastic lid), since the insides are coated with polyethylene to prevent leakage.

If you’re a coffee drinker, the solution is simple: bring your own mug. But what if you’re an eco-minded tea drinker, and shudder at the thought of a tea bag in a paper cup?

A couple years back, my brother-in-law brought me a reusable loose leaf tea diffuser from China, where tea is the national drink and even cabbies chug from delicate glass mugs with built-in mesh strainers. I adored it until I broke it (glass mug + ceramic sink = oops), and then spent the next year searching in vain for a similar model.

Until now — thanks to my recent discovery of Libre on-the-go tea glasses. The version I chose is virtually klutz-proof, thanks to a durable polycarbonate exterior and a glass interior; though the company also makes a glass-in-glass model for those blessed without butterfingers. Both are BPA-free.