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If you're gonna spend all day working, you might as well have something awesome to drink. Something to power you through. The taste matters, the caffeine type and dosage matters... and it's good to stay hydrated.
If you're looking for alternatives to coffee and interested in the tea world, start here. Let's get you set up.
Step One: Get the Kettle Right
Everything starts here. A good kettle with temperature control changes the game because different teas need different temperatures. Black tea wants boiling water. Green tea and yerba mate don't. Get a kettle that lets you dial it in.
Fellow Corvo EKG Electric Gooseneck Kettle
The Corvo EKG is the one I keep coming back to recommending. Precise temperature control to the degree, a hold mode that keeps your water at temp while you're in a meeting, and it looks genuinely good sitting on a desk.
The spout gives you control whether you're pouring into a mug or a gong fu setup. It's a premium buy that feels like one.
The Breville is the practical workhorse. Five preset temperatures for different tea types, a 20-minute keep warm function, and a 7-cup capacity that matters when you're making multiple brews through a workday. It's a little more affordable than the Fellow and handles more volume. Great if you're sharing with a coworker or just drink a lot.
Step Two: A Strainer Worth Keeping on Your Desk
If you're brewing loose leaf at your desk, you need a strainer that doesn't make a mess of things. The FORLIFE Brew-in-Mug Infuser is the one. Extra-fine stainless steel mesh, fits in most mugs, and the lid doubles as a drip tray when you pull it out. No puddles on your desk. No fuss.
Grab the FORLIFE Infuser on Amazon →
Step Three: Pick Your Work Drink
Here's where it gets interesting. Depending on what kind of focus you need and how long your day is, different drinks serve different purposes.
Yerba Mate: the best drink for deep work
I switched from coffee to yerba mate years ago and wrote about what happened. The short version: cleaner energy, no crash, and it lasts longer than coffee without making you wired and anxious.
For work specifically, yerba mate is hard to beat. The combination of caffeine and theobromine gives you a kind of alert calm that's different from coffee's spike. It's what I reach for when I need to write, think, or focus for a long stretch.
Two ways to brew it at your desk:
The traditional way: gourd and bombilla.
Get a stainless steel gourd, not a calabash. Wood and gourd material rots if you're not meticulous about drying it between uses, and a stainless steel one is basically indestructible. Fill it about two-thirds with mate, insert your bombilla, add hot water around 75-80°C, and sip. Refill with water throughout the morning. One load of leaves can last you hours.
Stainless Steel Gourd and Bombilla Set on Amazon →
The AeroPress way: cleaner, less fuss.
If the gourd feels like too much for a work environment, the AeroPress makes an excellent cup of yerba mate with no loose herb mess and no learning curve. I wrote a full breakdown of how to do it.
Blog: Yerba Mate AeroPress: The Cleanest Brew You're Not Making Yet
Classic Black Tea with Milk: the underrated all-day drink
Here's something coffee drinkers don't realize: you can drink four or five cups of black tea through a workday and never feel the way you'd feel after four or five coffees.
My two recommendations are PG Tips and Yorkshire Gold. Both are British-style black teas built for milk. They're bold without being bitter, and they're genuinely affordable. You're not rationing these.
Brew strong, add a splash (or a lot, like I do) of milk, maybe a little sugar/honey if that's your thing. Make it a ritual. It's the kind of drink that makes a long afternoon feel manageable.
Thermos Recommendation: Miir Tumbler (get the 16oz, trust me.)
Gong Fu Cha: for the 'zealous for tea' desk setup
Learn about the most badass form of tea making.
If you have desk space and you're ready to commit to something a little different, a small gong fu tea setup is one of the best things you can do for a workday.
Gong fu brewing uses small cups and short steeps, which means you're always drinking tea at the right temperature, and you get multiple rounds out of the same leaves. One small setup can keep you in excellent tea for hours.
It's not complicated once you learn it, and it turns the act of making tea into a 90-second break that actually resets your focus.
Blog: The Best Gong Fu Cha Tea Ceremony Set for Beginners
Enjoy your tea at work setup!