Timolino

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…

This is NOT the version available through DavidsTEA.

I got this one at a Fantasia Coffee & Tea store. For those unfamiliar, it’s a coffee/tea/milk tea cafe with several locations in the SF Bay Area. $19.95+TAX.

I have two types of tea steeping thermoses, this and one from Barnes & Noble (~$15). The B&N one is also a 18/8 stainless steel tumbler but it has a fine mesh basket tea infuser and it doesn’t have a sipping lid. The DavidsTEA timolino has a fine mesh basket tea infuser that is attached to a sipping lid that has larger holes, plus another lid.

THIS timolino has a fine mesh on the sipping lid, but it doesn’t have the basket infuser. I’m totally ok without the basket infuser, I usually use my thermoses for grandpa style infusing anyway. The reason why I went for this one over the David’s tea one is that there’s no plastic in contact with the water except on the sipping lid/strainer. (The B&N thermos’ infusing basket is also stainless steel, and removable.)

I’ve heard such good things about the timolino. I was pretty disappointed. It’s not even because of a bad design, it’s pretty good for what it is, it’s just ANNOYING.
The thermos functions OK as a thermos, it keeps tea warm for a few hours, but not nearly as much as I was expecting. I expect alot out of my thermoses. But the biggest problem would probably be that it’s really really hard to get a good stream of tea out of the sipping lid. _.

I admit it, I take pretty big, slurpy sips usually. And as soon as the tea is not scalding, I drink it down pretty fast. I have to keep my drinks outside of the lab, so when I want some tea, I’m outside for 1-2 min for my hydration and then I’m busy again. For better or for worse, this fine mesh sipping lid FORCES you to sip. For me that wants my tea NOW that means going slowly, and losing time and even enjoyment. The problem would be because the fine mesh interaction with the water makes a type of vacuum inside of the thermos because of the capillary forces of water on the mesh not letting air into the thermos at the same rate I want the liquid to be coming out. So even as a portable teapot this is not really working for me because I’ll be able to pour out an oz maybe, then the flow stops, I’ll blot the strainer to remove the excess and the cycle begins again. It is impossible to get a nice steady flow of tea from this thermos until you have no more liquid inside, unless the lid is completely dry. Why not just bypass the sipping lid? Well then, what’s the point? I don’t know if the DT timolinos have this problem or not, at least no one has mentioned it to my knowledge.

Where this would be a PRO: driving, I totally see how this slow flow model would be helpful when driving and sipping. BUT the cup is too slim to fit into at least my car’s cup holders, and have fallen from the cup holders onto the car floor more than once.

So PROS/CONS versus the DavidsTEA timolino: It doesn’t have an infuser basket, so once your tea leaves are in there, there isn’t a way to take them out unless you clean out your thermos. This is basically made for grandpa style brewing. This can be either a pro or con based on your preferred style of brewing. Pro for me because lack of plastic in contact with the water and I don’t mind this style of brewing.
The sipping lid holes are fine mesh. From what i’ve observed, the one on the original DT timolinos are pretty big holes comparatively. If you drink alot of small leaf teas or herbals like rooibos, this could be a pro. No tea bits in your mouth! But yeah, results in that awkward sipping enforcement. I’m told though that the new DT timolino Carry Mugs have fine mesh on the sipping lid as well, so it might be the same.

It’s an OK item for what it is. I’ll keep using it, mostly because I like the color. But I won’t be purchasing another. I have two B&N ones though- I really like them, and if they had more than two colors, I’d be on it.

i have various travel mugs, cheap and expensive, original Timolino I got fr Davids Tea, but i find I use this particular one daily. The main reason is slide-tab closure. i dont have to open it in order to drink. its especially useful in a car. It doesn’t retain flavors fr previous teas, i try not to forget and clean it every time. My cheap mugs tend to smell no matter what. i use baking soda or Efferdent, but they still smell.

Okay, so I’m doing this thing where I cut tea out of my diet on weekends because I feel like I drink waaaay too much and too much of one thing is actually bad for you, even if said thing is healthy!

Ahh well. I found myself on steepster and remembered that I never reviewed this.
I wanted to review it the second I got it, but I felt like I needed my time with my timolino first to actally give it a decent rating.

The pros:
- Super compact
- Super gorgeous
- The seal is great! I haven’t had it leak yet (except once when I took the rubber bit out of the top and shook it and made a mess on my desk…)
- The compartment under the lid is great! I’m on the go/hurring to get to class a lot so sometimes I don’t have enough time to brew and add milk/sugar/lemon/whatever the heck I want to make the tea taste good to my taste. So if tea needs lemon, I just take a lemon slice and stick it under my lid! I haven’t tried sneaking milk under the lid, but it does look like a decent seal so I’ll probably try that next time :)
- It keeps my tea HOT. I was on my way to San Diego (about 2 hours away and it was freezing cold outside) and I legit didn’t have time to make tea. I boiled water and poured it into my timolino before hopping into the car. I fell asleep on the road, woke up in SD and brewed my tea and actually burned my tongue. Finished half the cup, went to the event, 2 hours later it was still hot! Not hot enough to burn my tongue, but hot enough to fog my glasses. So yes, very impressed with this wee little thing!

The cons:
- It’s a pain to wash. Handwash only and my hands don’t reach the bottom of it so I have to stick a wooden spoon into it and swish it around
- There’s a lot of parts to it. The actual thermos bit, the basket, the thing with the sip hole stuff, the lid and the cover of the compartment. Luckily I haven’t lost any parts of it yet :)
- The sip holes are nice, but they’re a bit big? I rarely brew with my basket anymore. I usually just brew 12oz of tea beforehand and pour that into my timolino. If I were to brew loose leaf, I’d use one of my disposable tea filters. If I did use the basket, I would have a sachet with me because that would make life easier instead of trying to dig the sachet out of freakin hot water with bare hands.
- THE TEA STAINS UGH. But that’s one thing you can’t escape! But that’s how you know the timolino is being loved :)

All in all, the pros most definitely outweigh the cons. I would definitely recommend this to anyone on the go, and especially to college students like me who need tea in class. And you sit at the front of the classroom, brew your tea during lecture, and have the professor stare at you and you can feel your classmates eyes just staring at you from behind. Oh it’s great :)

The best thing I’ve ever bought from DAVIDsTEA that wasn’t tea!
It is a little pricy, but for how long it keeps your tea hot during the day is worth the price tag. I can put this sucker in my purse and not worry about having it spill all over my Kindle and wallet.
I burned my tongue something fierce the first time (Chocolate Rocket I thought you loved me!), but was shocked to find that 4-5 hours later, it was still pretty hot.

Best thing I bring in with me when I’m headed in on a 8.5 hour morning shift at work.

I am so stoked to finally own one of these after a trip to the USA and Canada over the holidays. I was so hyped for one of these that my sister gave it to me for Christmas before I could get one myself.
I love the spare tea pocket in the lid. Tea stays hot for freakin’ hours in this thing. The only con for me is that there’s nowhere to rest the infuser if you have to bail it out so you don’t oversteep—though my solution to this is to take the whole lid off and leave it upside-down, which also helps to cool the tea down a little (I burned my mouth a few dang times before learning my lesson).

So, 8/10 times I’m extremely happy with my timolino(s) – both of which are 12 oz.

I find most things travel really well in it, and in my black timolino the heat is retained exceptionally well. However, for whatever reason my white timolino (which is the newer of the two) holds in the heat noticeably less and I can’t figure out why. The seal isn’t broken and the lid screws on the exact same. I’ve typically been able to make it work for me, though – I just make whichever tea I want to drink first in that timolino.

Ideally, I’d like for the brew basket to be a bit larger but it works for what I use it for and I’m normally pretty happy with it. I just sometimes have issues with, say, oolongs which can’t expand as well. Also, the first one I bought (the black one) came with a broken brew basket which would sink to the bottom and cause things to be steeped for an ungodly long time – but the DAVIDsTEA store I got it from provided me with a new brew basket, no questions asked and I haven’t had issues with it coming unattached during brewing since.

The only other thing I would maybe complain about is the fact that sometimes they pick up the scent/flavour of previously brewed teas (I had lots of issues with Currant Affair) even if very thoroughly cleaned in between use. Not really a huge deal, though.

Overall a satisfied customer – enough so I bought a second, right! ;)

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 am just about to head out to school but I thought I should let people know that this product is amazing! I made tea in it last night around 11 and forgot about it until this morning when I woke up and saw the timolino on my nightstand. I opened it up almost 12 hours later to find the tea had not gone cold yet. Granted it did cool some but nonetheless I got to wake up to a cup of tea ready to drink…YAY!! On a different note, my morning was also made better by the email from Teavana saying my order has been shipped!

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.

I actually purchased my timolino several weeks ago, (ok fine, I have two of them—white and purple!)but wanted to use it for a while before rating it. So far, it’s the best travel mug I’ve owned, and here’s why.
when they say it won’t leak, they really mean it. This has been upside-down and jostled quite a bit in my bag on my way to work and has not leaked a drop.
WARNING: If you remove the silicone tea storage compartment from the inside of the lid, the timolino will absolutely leak-not too too much, but definitely several drops. I learned this by accident yesterday, when I realized that my fiance had washed my timolino and had removed the silicone underside of the lid without putting it back. Not a problem, though—as soon as it was back in place, the lid twisted on nice and tight once again.
-both the lids screw on with a few satisfying turns, each one ensuring an even tighter seal, which you can feel. That goes a long way in satisfying me that it’s truly leak-proof.
-I love love love the fact that when I twist off the top lid, I can instantly inhale my tea, even before sipping. I’ll admit that in my chilly office, I’ll sometimes just let my freezing cold nose warm up just by leaning over and inhaling the steam from my tea! but honestly, being able to smell my tea as I drink it really completes the experience for me.
-It absolutely keeps your tea hot for hours. Despite adding cream to most of my tea, it’s often too hot for me to even sip for at least an hour. The good news, however, is that when you do start sipping it, it holds the temperature really well so that your sipping doesn’t automatically turn to chugging in five minutes.
Things I don’t like as much:
-I don’t use the brewing basket. I find it rather short, and would honestly prefer it to have perforations in the bottom, which it doesn’t (only the sides do). I worry that the basket won’t necessarily “reach” the water, but I’m fine with either brewing my tea elsewhere (like in the perfectea teamaker) or just using one of David’s tea’s disposable tea filters.
-The mouth of the mug is a bit narrow,, and despite having narrow wrists and slim hands, I can’t actually get in all the way to really be satisfied that I’ve reached the bottom of the mug to clean it. Having said that, the sponge/whatever I’m using to wash dishes will always reach the bottom, and I haven’t had any problem with lingering tastes from previous types of tea at all.

I’m just waiting to get the bonavida gooseneck one liter kettle, and then I think I’ll be bringing both my timolinos to work. I’m so excited at all the different possibilities for timolino use—waiting for the bus in the freezing cold winter months, relaxing on the couch in front of the TV or with a good book, bringing it with me to appointments I’d rather not keep as a way to motivate myself to go, etc.! I’m honestly tempted to like, get these in every colour because I love mine so much.

Everything a travel mug should be. Very functional. My only reserve about it is that unless you let it cool before screwing it together, it is REALLY hot.

First time using my new Timolino this morning and I am officially on Team Timolino! I had to drop my car off to be inspected and decided to bring my new little friend to try out. I actually steeped the tea in my IngenuiTea and then drained it into my Timolino so that it would be the perfect temperature to drink right away, and it was! It didn’t burn my tongue and actually stayed the most perfect temperature the whole time. It is still just perfect, over 2 hours later! I haven’t used the infuser basket, so I don’t know about that yet, but it seems just fine. I love the little secret space in the lid to hide more tea or even a teabag. I’m glad that I ended up keeping the 12 oz one, even though I really wanted to exchange it for one of the 16 oz ones. I like my tea with milk and sugar, so I think that I will probably just end up making all my tea in the morning at home and just keeping it in my Timolino all day. So I can see the beauty in having a couple of Timolinos full of hot wonderful tea to have throughout the day. I will definitely be purchasing a 16 oz, if not even another 12 oz once I see how many mugs I go through during my school day. Yayyyyy Timolino. I’ve been looking at these since forever, and so far am completely satisfied!

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.

It’s great for keeping your tea warm. I’ve forgotten mine on the counter at the beginning of the day and it’s still warm by the end. I like the sleek look and that I’ve never had any leaking issues with it. I can throw it into my purse and go without having that worry.

One thing that I don’t like that I can’t drink my tea while it’s steeping or else I get tea in my mouth cause the drinking hole are large enough that tea can get out.

The Best Tea Thing I Own.
hands down.

i love it so much i own multiples!
and they are the most beautiful things ever. http://instagram.com/p/WurPoDIc1x/

i am a sipper. and i am easily distracted. and with a timolino my tea doesn’t go to waste.
also now i can make tea for my friend when we meet at the movies.
or i can have multiple teas with me for an all night hangout with friends.
it’s just perfect.

This is perfection.
I’m actually enjoying taking tea with me again, when drinking tea has become a chore when it gets cold and gross. If I want iced tea, I drink it cold, not tepid!

PERFECTION. I will be buying more.

Perfect ! The only one little thing that bothers me with this mug is that sometimes, when you leave the infuser in the mug, a little bit of tea go trought the top. Really love it, I almost only use this mug, even trought i have 4 differents mugs for differents occasions.

Hated it… bought it and was so excited to try it, unfortunately it took me forever to take a sip without burning my tongue. Additionally the tea steeped for a really long time as I could not drink it at the right steep time. I replaced this with the Aladdin Travel mug and I am much happier with it. At least with the Aladdin you can lift the basket once the tea has reached the correct steep time.

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.