Different Ways to Infuse Tea

If you enjoy settling down in the evening with a cup of tea you may wish to explore more expensive loose-leaf teas. There are many online sources that carry oustanding loose-leaf teas along with local coffee shops. Not only can you enjoy black and green tea, but you can explore the world of oolong, white, flavored, and herbal teas.  How do you steep these teas?

There are a number of ways to steep teas. You can easily purchase paper tea filters. These are simple to use.  You just open them up, and dump in the desired amount of loose-leaves and steep. A second advantage to paper filters is you don’t have to clean out any tea leaves. These filters are inexpensive though you may have to go to a coffee shop or order them online. Paper filters sometimes do give a distinct flavor to the tea unfortunately. It is up to you if you can stand the flavor difference or not.

Metal mesh infuser baskets are a great option for loose-leaf teas. These can be found in forms that can sit in a cup or that are part of an entire teapot. Your choice will be dictated by how much tea you wish to drink. Clearly if you drink a lot of tea you could consider getting something like a heavy duity cast iron tea pot that will steep a lot of tea and stay warm for a very long time. Teapots and baskets can also be found in pyrex glass and ceramic. The only down side to these metal infusers is you have to clean the baskets very soon after use to easily remove the leaves.

The third type of infuser uses gravity to separate the tea from the tea leaves.  This infuser is a container that has a pressure button and a filter in the bottom.  The tea drains away from the tea leaves. The main complaints about these containers is sometimes the filters shift and you end up with a mix of tea and tea leaves.

If you are a tea lover you should really treat yourself to these rich loose teas. I would be suprised if you didnt’ notice a big difference when compared to pre bagged teas. Treat youself to a calming cup of tea this evening with a new infuser.