Steel tea ball strainers

I don’t personally, but a good friend of mine does.

What is your opinion and experience with them Kasumi?

No! Had one and disliked it very much. I use Asian pots that have a built in strainer for really full leaves or I use a fine mesh infuser basket, but I won’t even give a tea ball as a gift. I give people the Finum or some other such device. I like my leaves free free free! LOL!

Not on purpose… Most of the time they don’t allow enough room for the tea leaves to expand and the holes are too small for the tea to infuse properly.

I prefer to use a strainer.

I use one when I’m a rush to get to work and at work. I like the fact it allows me to make a single cup quickly without wasting water and the precious tea ha.

Not if I can help it. Those things are like putting the leaves in prison, with no room to expand and unfurl properly. I put the leaves in the pot as they are and pour through a small sieve after steeping. It gives by far the better result.

I havn’t used one in years either. If I were to again, it would depend on the tea, like if the bits were small enough to fit….though alot would probably escape anyways which would drive me buggy, so bah. Would rather use a teabag, like maybe a reusable one.

Never used one nor plan to.

What angrboda said – no space for the agony of the leaf. If I am doing a teapot and need to remove all tea at the same time I prefer a larg-ish M size teabag and put the clip way on top so there is plenty of space. For my own I really prefer a normal teapot (or magic filter! so in love with mine) and a sieve.

Using the magic tea filter is letting me see visually how much tea leaves expand! if you got to use a tea ball strainer use a very large one, volume several times larger than the tea leaves.

try to stay away if you can… gravity infuser style strainer that vendors have is the best bet. You can find them at different vendors, all price around $20. We have 15% off discount for steepster going if you are interested – code: “steepsterdeal”

http://www.steepcityteas.com/products/gravity-infuser