Teaware

HA. YES.
Because I’m a nerd and I love Doctor Who.
A mug is a mug! This one is very special because… DISAPPEARING TARDIS OKAY.

I’m still learning how to use steepster and I FOUND OUT THAT THERE’S TEAWARE HERE AND NOT JUST TEA!?
Well. This is a thing that I have.
Being a lazy college student, it’s soooo hard drinking loose leaf tea. Having all these different equipment to make the perfect cuppa. I would boil water in my kettle, put leaves into a big mug and let it brew (since my daddy broke my teapot.. oops), then pour all that through a strainer into another mug. I’m lazy and that’s just too much work, too many things to wash so I kinda just gave up on loose leaf for a while and went with sachets.
THEN a while ago, I asked my mom to buy me some tea and she surprised me with this little beauty! Granted, it’s a bit too small for my liking, but it really does a great job. The tea hat keeps my tea warm as I study, the double-walls doesn’t burn my hands when I grab it, the infuser is big enough to let my leaves expand, and the best part? IT IS SO EASY TO USE AND CLEAN UP IS NOTHING.

So I mostly use a teapot with a removable filter whenever I make tea since I like to make at least two cups, then drink it over a period of time. Unfortunately this isn’t a good practice if you’re wanting to go through multiple teas in relatively short period of time. Mostly ‘cause my teapot’s filter doesn’t reach all the way down to the bottom so the leaves expand out of the water while brewing. And I wasn’t about to just dump the leaves in the pot and brew it that way since it defeated the purpose of being able to have a pot of tea sitting there since it would continue to brew and get bitter.

Enter this little gadget. I had wanted one since seeing it on Adagio’s website and after seeing it used in one of their stores, but it had always been out of stock and really I never saw the need since my teapot worked so well. To me it was just a gimmick that looked like fun to have. It was by chance that I was finally able to pick up a used one a few months ago. It had to be heavy duty cleaned ‘cause it smelled like Chai and the plastic was all stained. But it was surprisingly easy to clean. Everything comes apart pretty easily, though you have to be careful not to lose anything or it’ll all be pretty useless. Lol.
I used straight baking soda made into a thick paste and a paper towel to scrub all the discoloration on the plastic away. The little filter was a bit harder to clean, but after a soak in baking soda water and more scrubbing, that finally came clean too. Washed everything in soapy water and let it dry completely before putting it all back together. Then it got stuck in with my tea stuff to sit in lonely disuse for awhile.

When I finally had a Saturday to myself, I wanted to give this Saturday/Sunday Sipdown thing I keep seeing people doing a shot. This little gadget was perfect for it. I used a rubber band around the outside to mark off one cup since I’m horrible at eyeing a measurement. Then I just put one cup’s worth of tea into it, poured the water in and let it brew. Then I just drain into my chosen mug and voila! I have one cup of tea. Afterward it’s very easy to scoop out the old leaves, rinse briefly (I let the water run through the valve at the bottom as well) and then reload with a new tea. I was able to quickly go through 3 or 4 teas before I got tea-ed out and went to bed. Lol. I made sure to pop the filter out and give the whole thing a quick scrub and rinse before letting it dry since I’m afraid of the plastic absorbing the smell if I let the tea sit in it for too long.

I haven’t used the full 2 cup capacity since I barely have a mug big enough for that much tea or else I’d have to let it drain into a teapot, which I then should’ve just made the tea in in the first place. Lol.

One warning when using it. The bottom release is very sensitive to being touched (at least mine is). I managed to scald my hand awfully and spill tea all over the place the first time I used it. I made the mistake of touching the bottom slightly on one edge before I had it over my cup (I think I wanted to watch the tea drain into the cup or something stupid. Lol!) instead of just picking it up and setting it on the cup. Definitely learned from that experience.

Overall I’d definitely recommend this as something to have around. I only wish I could find where to buy replacement filters if I ever need them.

Works just fine for large pots of tea, but doesn’t work particularly well for smaller steepings. In my view, this is a pretty major disadvantage. On the other hand, if large pots of tea are your primary application, you may well be very satisfied with this tea maker.

I don’t actually own this, so I’m not reviewing it, but I’d just like to say this is very cool, as you get perfect tea every time. However, this isn’t… Traditional. Where’s the tradition, the culture, the past time of hand brewing the perfect cup?

I walked into Davids Tea. I was going to buy a perfect glass mug, until I took a closer look and realized it seemed a bit… Delicate(I don’t want to say cheap). So I took a look at the other mugs. “I’ll just get a normal perfect mug”. Then, at the end of the display I see this beauty – something I haven’t seen on the Davids Tea site. White is my favorite color, so seeing this variation of the perfect mug in white was awesome. (Not to mention, I’m Nordic).

When I got home, I brewed a cup of my new Kokomo green. I over brewed it a bit, so it was a tad bitter. The strainer breaks into two pieces, as with any perfect mug, so you have to pour the water slowly over the tea leaves. Other than that however, this rare perfect mug variation really is perfect.

I love this! I had seen something similar at Teavana, but the pushy sales person there led me to look for other options. This is what I settled on and it is perfect and I don’t need to worry about my toddler getting ahold of it and breaking it. In the last week he’s managed to drop it several times on our tile floor and it bounces rather well.

The 16oz cup size is good for me and I like that there is also a 32oz option as well. I don’t have any serious complaints about it, but it doesn’t work with my 18oz stoneware mugs that I prefer to use for tea. Not a serious problem in my book, I’ve got a ton of other mugs that work just fine with it, they just don’t look as pretty.

It does drip a little on the counter after use, but I’ve solved this problem by setting the ingenuiTEA on top of a plastic lid from a 32oz gas station cup. It is the perfect size to fit down in the groves of the lid and it doesn’t depress the bottom and let tea go everywhere. I think I’m seriously channeling McGyver here :)

I love how easy clean up is and running a little vinegar water through it eliminates any lasting smell or taste from my stronger teas. I find that sometimes when I steep something with spices it tends to linger a bit and transfer to my next cup.

I love it. It’s eye-catching. It’s so cool. It’s gorgeous.

Now, on to practicalities:

Pros:
- I love drinking from this. The other day someone came into my office and said, “I love that you’re drinking from a jar!” I loved the feeling of drinking from a jar. You should try it. It’s so much better than those spouts they put in travel mugs left and right.
- Double glass is where it’s at. It’s warm but not too warm.
- I like that it looks like a test tube, and I like seeing my tea.
- Did I say that it’s gorgeous? That too.

Cons:
- I have the one with the bamboo lid, and as a previous reviewer stated, it came with splinters, and it splintered more with use. This bothered me. Eventually, I went to my guy, who is an artist, for help. He pulled out his artist tools and painted the lid all over with this clear stuff (resin?), which made the lid look less fancy and natural but prevented any future bits of bamboo from impaling my hands. I’ve had no problems since. And my hands are splinter-free.
- The cap is hard to clean, though.
- I don’t often use the strainer. I think I might have lost it. Does losing something count as a con?

Because I don’t have a few hundred to drop on a kettle, I had to settle for Breville’s variable temperature model, instead of the magic brewing basket model I wanted (and even then, this had to come to me as a gift). However, it is worth the price: this is a durable, quality kettle that is straightforward to use and simplifies tea making tremendously. It allows you to brew a pot at the perfect temperature for white, green, oolong, french press (loose) tea, and also includes a straightforward boil setting. It also has a “hold temperature” function. No more holding a candy thermometer into the spout of a boiling kettle, trying not to get a steam burn, when you want a cup of oolong! If you drink anything more complicated than bagged tea, I recommend this model.

As far as portable infusers go, this is by far the most superior one in my humble opinion. The sole reason for this is not the aesthetic, nor the BPA-free plastic and what have you. It is for the sole reason that the little strainer can, with the switch of a lever, be taken out of the water at will and thus you have nearly full control over the steeping time.

This is key to any tea epicurean, not so? Even the finest Yi-xing clay tumbler has nothing on this piece of plastic for this one reason. None of the portable glass presses that I’ve seen, or any other tea traveler, mug or tumbler has this option. All except this one, will leave the leaves in the water until you empty the tumbler – this is a fatal shortcoming.

All other qualities are touched on in the other review. I’ve had mine for 6 months and have had no problems with it. Water stays very warm, never spilled in my bag etc. I’ve dropped it x times to many though, far too many, and it’s not as pretty as it used to be – but it steeps as well as ever.

Simply awesome.

I had a Chatsford infuser for my teapot and a ForLife infuser for brewing in a mug. The ForLife has been difficult to clean and a little hard to balance in a bigger mug, but nice otherwise. The teapot infuser is much easier to clean but not designed to rest in a mug at all. As the Finum looks a lot like my Chatsford, only mug-friendly, I thought I’d give it a shot.

It is great. Easy to use, easy to rest on the rim of bigger mugs, doesn’t leave behind a lot of flotsam and jetsam, and easy to clean.

100,000/100,000 stars!

I’ve been using this for about a month now and still use it everyday! Love it! I still wouldn’t tip it upside down to brew however…it leaks sometimes still. But as in a previous review by Hesper June I too have sometimes been brewing tea in it! Since I don’t have a gongfu teapot or a gaiwan, this seemed perfect (technically a bit big) for gongfu brewing but it does the job and I don’t spend more money:)

I love this infuser basket with a rooibos-dust-free, caffeinated passion.

Best infuser I’ve used – the very flat mesh is very easy to clean. My favorite way to use this is in the Curve Teapot (http://en.forlifedesign.eu/pour-le-service/curve-teapot-1-3l.html#color=15), which is designed to be exactly the right size with the infuser. Lid fits snugly on the top, tea is nicely infused in the pot, cleanup is easy, I’m happy. I’ve used the infuser in mugs and other teapots with success, but having it exactly fit the Curve pot is incredibly helpful.

The coolest tea travel mug around! Just make sure you screw the caps on tightly! I love using this tea tumbler for cold steeps and iced tea, but it also does well with hot green and white teas.

I got this travel tumbler from http://zentealife.com/

The bad? It advises not to use boiling water in the instructions. You wouldn’t want to use anything more than 200F anyways as the body also gets pretty hot. The filter is also on the small side and is a tight fit if you use whole leaf teas intended to make a full 16oz tumbler of tea.

I still love this tumbler though – no leaks and it looks really cool!

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.wordpress.com/2013/04/20/t-free-hourglass-travel-tea-tumbler-tea-ware-review/

This is the perfect accessory to brew iced tea. It’s very easy to use and to clean, I love it

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.

This is great for brewing tea on the go, except for the fact that it is made of glass. I don’t bring it everywhere because I’m afraid to break it, but it’s useful to keep in your office. I have the one with a bamboo lid and this part of the mug is poorly made. When I bought it, there were little cracks in the bamboo. I went back to the store and I found out that they were all like this. I could have got a refund, but I decided to keep it because it was useful. I just avoid to put the lid on when I have tea in the mug to keep the bamboo from cracking more. It defeats the purpose of a travel mug, but as I said I don’t really use it for this. It’s very expensive for the quality. I’va had mine for more than a year so maybe they fixed the issue.

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.

Love using this to make my teas. Especially if I’m making a pot of rooibos. I’ll keep adding water to the tea and let it continue steeping.

Also great for making multiple pots of your oolongs.

Really easy to clean too!

With this bottle, the mesh is not immersed in the boiling water as with other infusers.

If you watch the videos online, they point out so many ways to use this wrong, making it sooooo easy to use. I make my tea, let it stand 5 minutes to let steam escape, put the lid on, throw the bottle in my bag, and I’m on my way. It might leak if you bump the lid, but it’s only drops.

I like the idea of the see-through infuser but I’m always afraid of breaking the glass ones and my Bodum tea press leaks through the top.

The Libre Tea bottle is perfect… now if only I could find it in a bigger size for road trips, etc.

My mom and I love using this gadget. It is well designed and has much cleaner lines than the Teavana Infuser, which I find mechanical looking. Both are a hassle to clean, but it works. Someone online suggested cleaning the mesh with a toothbrush once in a while. I’m thinking of buying a single serving infuser for my office as well as my bf’s place.

I have this in both sizes: 16 oz and 32 oz. I love these and use them repeatedly throughout the day. Both of mine have been getting a thorough work out of over 3 months and are showing no signs of wear and tear. They work as well today as when I first bought them. This is what made tea workable again for me given the convenience of use and no more tea leaves in my cup (like I get with tea balls and other methods).

I got a used one as a gift from a friend and it is heavenly! I am no longer guessing on water temperatures. It heats water very quickly. It is such a luxury to have this in my kitchen. For as much as I drink tea, I can’t believe I’ve not had an electric kettle sooner.