Don't they make simple tea-pots anymore?

I usually don't use an infuser either. You are right about infusers inhibiting free movement and unfurling of the leaves. But I've seen pictures of some infuser/pot setups (can't remember name) where the infuser is almost as big as the inside of the pot, which cancels out that argument.

The benefits of infusers, I think, are ease of cleanup and avoidance of oversteeping. But attention to, and involvement with, your tea will accomplish the same. However, infusers, and filter bags, can come in handy when traveling.

But there are still plenty of standard teapots around, such as you describe.

So, in this case do you strain off your tea into a second pot so it doesn't oversteep (assuming you're not making tea for a group)?

Joe

Japanese kyuusu! Stick with proven technology.

--crymad

What I do is use a six-cup Bodum. I haven't had trouble with the leaves expanding so much that they fill the infuser basket. I give them a stir or two while they steep to make sure that they are contacting water as freely as possible. And then when the tea is ready I can just depress the plunger and drink at my leisure (which can be quite awhile...I have been known lately to have to reheat my tea in the microwave.) The thing for me is, if it's just regular tea (my assams or basic blacks...everyday) I don't want to have to go through a whole big production to get a cup of tea. And I usually don't want to use a teabag. But if I'm doing greens, I definitely don't use my Bodum. Lately for those I either gaiwan (if I can stay close to the kitchen to get more hot water or if I'm industrious enough to get a thermos of hot water ready for carrying around) or I've also been using the steep-in-a-mason-jar-and-decant method. Which I like a lot. With greens I don't mind as much that the tea cools down, but with the basic black tea I want it reasonably hot. Not scalding, but not tepid.

The thing is though that when I started (a whole six or seven months ago) I wanted something that would get me steeping loose leaf quickly and fairly easily. I didn't want to have it be very complicated at the start, because for me it was about getting to taste the tea and not all the fru fru that can go along with it (not that fru fru doesn't have its place). And I didn't want to do the "make it in one pot and decant into another" because that involves a) owning two teapots of roughly the same size that can both hold their heat rather well and b) heating both said pots. Meaning that I have to boil two pots of water here (or use hot tap water to heat the one to receive the decantings, which is an option I admit). Heating two pots is sort of a pain when all I want is a basic cup of tea..or many basic cups of tea. I'll do it (decant into a second heated pot) if I really want to experience using my other (nice handmade)ceramic pot. Otherwise...I don't want to fuss.

Something about using the holes in the teapot to filter out the leaves...I have been finding (at least with my greens..different fish there) that even tea "dust" getting in will turn them bitter if left in long enough. Even if I'm using the filter built into the inside of the teapot, unless I'm drinking quickly (gongfu) I use a second strainer to get out the little stuff.

I guess my main point here is that for me, the biggest thing that made it easy for me to get into brewing loose leaf in the first place (and thus opened up the whole world of teas to me...as well as tisanes I might add) was a filter pot. Soooo...I like em.

The British don't use infusers. Just external strainers. You can read my previous post on how to modify a french press essentially removing the plunger arm so the gill filter strainer is raised to surface level. My everyday liter glass pot was modified so. I like the agony of the leaves. With tea balls, spoons, infusers you conveniently can get rid of the leaf. In my case I know the volume of the pot to match any cup so I don't let the leaf stew. The occasional built in spout strainers might be good for large leaf but no good with BOP and smaller. With any pot if you pour slow enough you can skim the tea off leaf that has fell to the bottom especially from larger pots. However not all leaf RIP on the bottom.

Jim

Aloke Prasad wrote:

integral

...bad Santa...

Well Melinda, it sounds like the tea bug has bitten you well and truly....

Keep in mind that exploration is paramount in the tea experience, and that includes trying different vessels. Sometimes a new/different pot can open up whole new vistas. Me, I've lately been brewing greens in glass exclusively - even drinking them from a small, fluted glass cup. Greens like glass, I think. Oolong..? never. They need clay. When your teas start to seem blase' to you, I always try a different pot.

It's weird how tea reacts so viscerally to what it's being prepared in, but the phenomena is very real.......p*

After being so uppity about brewing, I have to confess that I use a huge tea-ball for my morning cup at work. Anything elaborate there is impractical.

I take reverse-osmosis filtered water from home, boil it in a gigantic coffee-mug and use a big tea-ball (it was sold as a ball for infusing spices in a stew). The leaves don't fill the entire ball when steeped, and the tea is quite good.

The higher (than boiling) temperature of the water boiled (just as it begins to bubble up, before it boils over violently ..) in the microwave helps.

I got a small one at my local Asian megamart for like $2.99 a year or two ago.

--Blair "There's always someone else willing to sell the right thing."

At work, I use t-sac brand bags. I put a coffee stirrer in with the loose tea to keep it from sealing itself when it gets wet.

The leaves aren't exactly swimming, but there's plenty of flow, especially if I agitate it a little while it's steeping.

--Blair "Bubble, bubble, and all that."