chemist said

Filters that remove tea dust?

I’ve found a couple of Japanese Gyokuros I particularly enjoy, and that represent excellent values, but one of their downsides is they contain a fair amount of dust. The problem with the dust is that it passes through my ultra-fine metal mesh strainer, and thus ends up sitting in my prepared tea. As the dust particles sit there, the compounds they contain continue to be extracted into the hot tea, turning it somewhat bitter.

I would thus like to find a filter that can remove the dust. Any suggestions? One obvious option is to use disposable coffee filters, since they are designed to filter hot beverages without introducing anything themselves. But I’m wondering if there is a non-disposable option that is rinse-able, wouldn’t clog, and is independently-certified as food-safe. I know there are ceramic water filters but I suspect, with their sub-micron pore sizes, they would be too fine (I don’t need to filter that finely to remove the dust, and the very small pores means the process would take too long; I want something that would allow me to pore the tea through at close to a normal rate).

Alternately, I suppose a fine fabric cloth would work (cheesecloth, from the pics I’ve seen, isn’t sufficiently fine to remove dust), but it would need to be independently certified as untreated and food-safe, since many fabrics are treated with compounds that could be extracted (even in small quantities) by the hot water, and these aren’t compounds you would want to ingest (e.g., flame retardants).

Thanks for your time!

11 Replies
mrmopar said
chemist said

Thanks, but that’s mainly a fancy porcelain filter holder with a small piece of cloth (which may or may not have a sufficiently fine weave to capture tea dust) attached as a filter. I don’t need the holder, just the filter itself. I’m also leery of any colored ceramic, because of the lead often used in glazes (http://www.environment.gov.au/protection/chemicals-management/lead/lead-in-ceramic-crockery-pottery-making). Plus I don’t think it’s a good idea to use a cracked porcelain (pretty as it may be) in any food application, even for hot beverages, since the cracks can harbor bacteria (https://www.irishtimes.com/news/throw-away-that-cracked-cup-and-drink-up-your-seaweed-1.443194)

mrmopar said

That filter is superfine. You may be able to find a similar one on eBay. I had one like I listed and it clogged up after about a year. Pretty much took everything out.

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Teasenz said

You could try our re-usable cotton bags: https://www.teasenz.com/reusable-tea-bags-for-loose-tea

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TeaJuggler said

Can you just rinse the tea in a strainer/infuser before adding the hot water?

Dustin said

That’s what I’d do. Sift the tea in the strainer ahead of steeping.

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Brian said

chemist seems to want to make things overly complicated, so why dont you pour the tea liquor into a centrifuge, spin the tea dust to the bottom, and then siphon the clean tea liquor out into your cup? :-P

Not gonna lie, that sounds fantastic.

Now where did I put my completely-unnecessary-but-awesome tea chemistry set?

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teevogel said

After following a link in the pyramid teabag thread, I found this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XKMLQG3/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B06XKMLQG3 on amazon. The size might be impractical, but it probably would be fine enough.

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DongBei said

I recommend any filter you can find with the superfine cloth strainer. They are widely available in China, but I don’t know about elsewhere. They also tend to be very cheap.

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something i’d like to add here is that tea has been drunk without access to ultra fine filters for hundreds and hundreds of years. maybe if your tea is too strong you should steep for less time or with cooler water.

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