Rooibos tea pot
Hi,
Couple of questions. What is, in your opinion, the best tea pot to make rooibos? Are there teapots specifically made to make rooibos?
Please let me know and if you can, post some links. I’ve tried running searches but no luck :(
Are you having a problem with the tea particles leaking out of the mesh infuser? If so, just use t-sacs.
I use the Smart Tea maker from Enjoying Tea to brew my rooibos. You can find it here:
http://www.enjoyingtea.com/smartteamaker.html
It does an excellent job at keeping the thin needle-ish rooibos out of my teacup.
Adagio’s ingenuiTEA is basically the same design as the one LiberTEAS recommended, and has worked well for my rooibos. It costs a little more, but you can get 4 of their samples with it for $19 http://www.adagio.com/gifts/holiday_ingenuiTEA.html?SID=316ffd21bd5f4e413413540daf436eb4
I haven’t seen anything marketing specifically for rooibos, so you’re probably just looking for a very fine mesh infuser or strainer. The Finium infusers are supposed to be very good also, but I haven’t personally tried one with rooibos. http://www.teafrog.com/teas/finum-tea-brewing-basket.html
the difference between the ingenuiTEA and the smart tea maker from Enjoying Tea is that I have read various notes on this board that the ingenuiTEA’s filter pops up occasionally – this is not the case with the smart tea maker. It is firmly in place. It can be removed (although it does require a little effort) for cleaning, but, I like that it doesn’t pop up when you don’t want it to.
Good to know, though I think that the filter-popping-out issue is a matter of manufacturing variation; the filter mine came with has never caused problems, but the replacement filter I bought fits more loosely. It’s possible that Enjoying Tea’s really doesn’t have that issue, but it seems more likely to me that more people have problems with Adagio’s because more people have Adagio’s.
I used the ingenuiTEA the one and only time I made loose roobios and it worked just fine. But talk about a MESS way more icky than dragonwell leaves after 20+ steeps (not an exaggeration, I actually do that lol)… so slimy and messy- but it’d be that messy no matter what you use. Do yourself a favor and use tea sacs to save the messy clean up.
I’ve had the problem with the ingenuiTEA filter popping up until I scratched up the sides of the filter with a pair of scissors. Since the edges are rough now, it always stays in place.
I had my IngenutiTEA for years, and the filter popping up was only an issue maybe once or twice. It did, however, have a problem keeping it properly clean.
It really is the best for rooibos, though. At least in my experience. I have a micro-fine strainer from Teavana that works pretty well, but it leaves the tiniest bit of dust in the cup. Totally manageable, but the IngenuiTEA is better.
A Chatsford teapot with its filter system is the best IMO. I use it when I make rooibos and nothing is in my teacup except tea.
For roobios or other fine leaves, I like using a cotton filter. I have a very fine meshed filter that works well at keeping the fine leaves out but sometimes the leaves do get stuck in the holes and it’s annoying to have to clean out. The cotton filter helps me avoid that problem.
I like the Universal filter Infuser & Tea Hat from Finum. It fits in a variety of teapots, and the mesh is micro. It is ideal for Rooibos and other tisans.
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