I shall be buried, incinerated, cast into the sea or whatever, but my cold dead hands won't ever willfully release my titanium SnowPeak mug. Even if I don't need fluids in the afterlife, I'll keep it filled with space, or anything I can stuff in it. Perhaps I'll live in it, but I do adore the cup. Fit enough to traverse the universe in, by my standards.
Works great on tea, plain H20 and anything I've put in it. Non reactive as far as I can tell and rugged too.
What kind of tea? I did some (controlled but not blind) experiments a few years ago, and a titanium Snow Peak mug won the contest for rapid conversion of tasty green tea into a flavorless but similar colored substance hands down.
I do not actually believe that titanium is non-reactive to food, although it’s not aggressively reactive with tomatoes the way that aluminum or cast iron is.
Oolong, loongching, typical blacks, a red I can't pronounce (tsin hong?), herbals...
Long ago when I had a reliable source for organic dragonwell, my favorite tea, I found it did perfectly. I admittedly may have compromised sensory, though I'm sincerely surprised (not skeptical) of your results.
It is probably me, as my benchmark for the best greens are, that left to steep, the leaves sink and do not float. And yes, I'm aware that it's said to increase heavy metal content of the brew. And yes, I'm also aware that this violates the tealitist convention.
However, imposter cups and imitations, which brands I won't name, I'd hesitate to use as bed pans.
Edit: it's worth adding that I almost never scrub it or use soap. The interior is stained, presumably with tannins
I would believe that the patina of organic stuff protects the tea from the metal. I tested on a thoroughly cleaned Snow Peak mug, and I even tried to passivate it with citric acid to no effect.
I definitely hit my cheap stainless containers with passivation, but hadn't thought to with titanium. Glad you mentioned it though, as someone is bound to pass by and learn of the concept and hopefully benefit from it, which I think can be pretty important with cheap stainless, for health purposes.
I’m not convinced that passivating a titanium cup would have much if any effect. Chemicals like citric acid remove iron, and there shouldn’t by any appreciable amount of iron on the surface to begin with. I also don’t know whether the undesired (to me) green tea reaction is with titanium metal or with titanium dioxide.
It could be interesting to experiment with anodized titanium. Apparently, one can fairly easily build up moderately thick oxide layers with various properties.
My attempts to anodize have been exclusively with aluminum, using primitive if not directly stupid methodology. The results were trivial, with a formidable mess.
Anodization is really awesome when done properly. At the risk of exposing my inner moron, I must admit I was not aware that titanium was a candidate.
It's so easy at home! You probably have a suitable acid in either your kitchen, medicine cabinet or garage. Lots of safe materials that can go down the drain, and they give slightly different results. Just degrease well for an even finish.
(I suppose the biggest expense is 9volts or a power supply but I am a guitar player so I just use my mostly spent pedal ones)
I used a few 9v batts and PhDown. I didn't tweak the voltage for any specific colors, but just aimed for a protective coating. The results were disappointing and probably produced more value in hydrogen than anodization. I might try again if I ever craft something else of aluminum that requires protection.
If you want something way bigger but still ultralight and single-walled, Vargo Bot HD or Vargo BOT XL are like a larger version with a screw top threaded titanium lid (uses a silicone o-ring to seal).
Works great on tea, plain H20 and anything I've put in it. Non reactive as far as I can tell and rugged too.