I have a confession to make: I’m addicted to tea.

I haven’t always been a tea drinker though. When I started having troubles with acid reflux I had to cut out most of my caffeine intake, so I had to give up coffee. This killed me. Coffee was the center of my universe (not sure what that says about my life in general, but you get my point). In order to still drink something with some flavor (and bonus antioxidants), I started drinking tea.

At first it was just green tea in the mornings, but soon I branched out to black teas, white teas, and everything in between (though a good cup of peppermint tea remains my #1 favorite thing in the whole world). Not only did I start drinking 3-5 cups of tea a day, I started to find myself becoming a tea snob. I started drinking lots of loose leaf tea, brewing it in my mom’s old teapot with a $.97 tea ball. That teapot has been my beacon of happiness for the last year or so, but the one thing that always bummed me out was that I couldn’t take it on the road with me. Enter: Libre Tea.

Libre Tea is a small company based out of British Columbia, Canada that specializes in making loose leaf tea portable. What an ingenious idea! A way to take my beloved loose leaf tea with me anywhere – hiking, the office, shopping, the gym – you name it and it can go there!

They have four different varieties of tea glasses: Glass ‘n Poly Original, Glass ‘n Poly Large, Glass ‘n Polly Mug, and Glass ‘n Glass. The Glass ‘n Poly models are the most portable because they have a durable poly outer shell that protects the interior glass mug. The glass interior allows for the most pure brew of your tea.

The secret to this amazing device is the filter lid. Once you remove the top lid you have the filter insert which allows you to brew the tea two ways: 1) Remove both the lid and filter, insert tea and pour in boiling water, replace the filter insert and let it steep – drink through the filter or 2) Remove the top lid, pour in boiling water and add the tea to the filter, replace the lid and turn over to steep – remove both lids to drink.

The initial directions sounded a bit tricky to me and I was less than optimistic that it would be easy and actually work, but I was blown away by how simple it was to brew the tea and how awesomely it actually worked. My tea had a full, clean flavor that wasn’t tainted by metal (like many of my travel mugs tend to do) and it was super quick and easy to make.

The kind folks at Libre Tea sent me the Glass ‘n Poly Original to test and it held just the right amount of tea for one sitting and the sleek design allows it to fit nicely in my car’s cup holders. The Mug has a nifty handle, but I’d suggest using that one for the office or at home since the handle would make it a bit bulky for travel.

Overall this is a spectacular product and I would definitely recommend buying this for anyone on your gift list that loves tea. The product is very well priced, ranging from $24 – $32.50, and they have fast shipping so you’re sure to get it in time for the holidays.

Now for the giveaway! The people at Libre Tea are so amazing that they wanted to share the love with my readers, so they are going to giveaway one of their Glass ‘n Poly Originals to one of you!

Here’s how to enter:

• Post your favorite loose leaf tea in the comments section – that’s it! That’s all you need to do to be entered to win. 

For extra entries you can do the following, just be sure to leave a comment telling me what you did.

• Like Libre Tea on Facebook
• Follow me on Twitter @las_dos_ashleys
• Follow Libre Tea on Twitter

I will choose a winner on Monday, November 21st. Good luck to everyone and a big thank you to Libre Tea!

Me with my Libre