Fascinating post. Why did the author steep the tea at home?
"It was at this point I realized I needed a sterile-ish way to transport the steeped tea and tea bags from my house to the lab."
Was steeping the tea at home somehow relevant to the experiment?
If I had to guess, it would be because that's exactly the environment and process that consumers will use, so it would capture variables such as "what if the probiotic was out-competed by a bacteria living on your mug?"
And then I would assume the sterile transfer was to preserve this state of the tea as-made without changing it on the way to the lab.
So bring mugs to the lab? Make the tea in a kitchen at the lab?
Probably frowned on to bring in food stuff and make it in a bio lab.
This makes sense. Even if you're not going to drink the tea in the office, even the appearance of making food in a lab space might well be enough hassle that it's easier to just bring sampling equipment home.
Most workplaces have a space to make tea or coffee.