Teaballs - Recommendations?

I use one. It is a large one from williams-Sonoma.

Use the biggest one that will fit in your tea-mug or pot. Don't just leave it steeping for 3-4 minutes .. raise/lower it periodically to get a good flow of the brewing tea through the leaves...

It can't be worse than the plastic mesh infusers that's so popular among the fancy tea-pot crowd...

I used to use them, but once I discovered mug infusers I switched to them exclusively. A mug infuser is a very fine mesh cup, just a bit smaller than a mug. It give the leaves maximum room to expand and swim around.

-- Randy (if replying by e-mail, remove SPAMFREE and DeLeTe from my address) Current book recommendation: BLUE LIKE JAZZ

They break so easily and don't infuse the tea well. Try various forms of fine mesh strainers.

No, they're just a bad design for the intended purpose. You can buy generic baskets. If you're making roobois, try the fill your own paper tea bags.

Try whole leaf teas and a settling container between the brewing container and your tea drinking instrument. Or a better small tea pot with a built in strainer between the spout and the body.

I started out using one but it got so corroded and cruddy (and possibly rusty) inside that I threw it away. It was awful. :P I have one of those bamboo (?) strainer things too, I don't like it much anymore though because it imparts a wood smell to the steeping.

If I were you I'd go with some sort of mesh mug infuser like I've heard people say on here...a gold mesh infuser or something. It's the same principle...you still need a plate or something to put the steeper on when you're done steeping and you still need to clean the leaves out. But it probably won't rust, AFAIK.

I have a plastic infuser inside my teapot and I DEFINITELY am not fancy, :D

Melinda

I have gold mesh infusers and now a small Chatsford. I'm not fancy, either; I just find they work well. That's all that matters, isn't it?

The design is reminiscent of the Jenaer all-glass teapots, the infuser being a solid glass piece with several slots cut into the base. That's usually a pretty poor design, except for the fact that in this case it encompasses nearly all the water in the mug.

My Jenaer glass infuser lets the small pieces out which sometimes get stuck in the slots, especially rooibos which needs a brushing out. How's your Bodum for that? I bought some coffee filters thinking to cut them down to barricade the slots.

Depends what I'm making.

Small fannings make their way through. The cup is never utterly free of leaf, but wouldn't be with most mesh infusers either.

If I'm steeping something that's nearly all fannings and dust, like PG Tips, I get more than I usually would floating in the bottom of the mug.

Enough to bother me, possibly to convince me that buying a box of PG Tips was a mistake . . . . I'll admit that the average british tea is better than the average american tea, but that doesn't make britons de-facto tea connoisseurs. Best i can say for the stuff is that, under the right conditions, it's not wretched.

If I'm steeping whole or even a good broken leaf, it's not much, and doesn't really bother me. CTC teas would probably be no problem but as 'brisk' is a factor i try to keep to a minimum, i doubt I'll ever get around to trying.

The oolong I've had in there lost almost nothing through the gaps, but although i can appreciate what a good oolong has to offer, it's not what I'm looking for.

The way i figure it, I'm steeping without a pot. I'm getting about the same amount of crud in the bottom of this mug as I'd be rinsing out of my pot at home, give the same number of cups. I've just got fewer individual items to clean.

A really fine mesh like those found in 'perminant' coffee filters would surely do a better job, but i doubt i could smear a paper towel around in it and call it clean. As it is, I'm comfortable rinsing out the Bodum glass infuser in the sink once a week. I'd be making two trips to the sink every day with a mesh infuser.

Small bits do end up in the gaps. If they're biggish small bits, they come out when i wipe the infuser with a a paper towel. If they're really small bits, they fall out while the infuser is air-drying between uses.

Speaking of rooibos, is there honestly such a thing as a flavorful rooibos? The first time i tried the stuff, it was a box of tea bags from a health food store, and i really liked it, at least I'm pretty sure i enjoyed the first couple cups.

I'm certain i was nonplussed by the 2nd box of the same brand, and a box of another brand of plain rooibos. I tried a blend of the Target store brand, which was noxious (rosemary, ugh), and a Celestial Seasonings blend, which was nauseating (vanilla, ugh).

Given my uniformly poor experience with rooibos that has been blended with other flavorful herbs, I'm wondering vaguely if there is possibly some high quality rooibos that can stand on it's own two feet and be worth drinking.

Y'all are aware that although rooibos lacks caffeine, it contains a mild amphetamine analog and a mild tranquilizer, right?

TBerk,

I'll second (actually by now I think it's more like fourth) the recommendations on the Chatsford pots. The infuser baskets are big, the pots themselves are good quality, and it's easy to get replacement baskets.

One thing to note is that the volume of the two cup pot is actually a bit more than 12 oz, if you fill it up to the top of the infuser's white mesh. Oddly, the 4 cup pot is exactly 24oz. I'm speaking here of the bone china line; I'm not sure whether the earthenware ones have the same volumes.

Tyler

T wrote in news:APCPd.4568$ZZ.4127 @newssvr23.news.prodigy.net:

True. Not all mesh infusers are as fine as the Teeli or Chatsford.

Err...I happen to like vanilla and often add 1/8 tsp. to a pot of plain rooibos or Upton's Green Rooibos Poire Creme. I tried Celestial Seasonings and I like mine a lot better although, IIRC, CS, which didn't impress me at all, has some other ingredients in addition to the vanilla and honey that I add.

There's also rooibos Earl Grey - good hot or cold.

I really like what I've got. Of course, YMMV.

Speed up and relax? No, I didn't know about the speed, but I usually drink it hot at night because it relaxes me more than does chamomile.

"Speed up and relax"...hmm, that reminds me of how to create a wide-awake drunk...

The Chatsford I have is so fine that the big leaves tend to get stuck in it.

I never find leaves in my cup with it any more.

That's probably true. I do like vanilla, but I've rarely cared for it added to a beverage.

CS has some other blends now but I'm not interested in trying them.

brand, url?

Yeah. Emphasis on *mild. And if i recall what my organic chemist friend was telling me correctly, it's also very slow acting, delta of a few hours.

About 2% of the alkaloid content in tea, but it's there.

I got samples of several offered by Upton, gave the rest of what I didn't like away, and ordered those that I liked: BA04 (adding vanilla makes the flavor match the aroma), BA10, and BA19:

or,

That makes sense. Because of illness, not mine, I got into the habit of getting up every 2-4 hours last Aug. and Oct. and 48 oz of rooibos helped me get back to the more usual 7-9. I was able to awaken feeling refreshed and ready to do things instead of dragging my sorry butt because of interrupted sleep like before.

Thanks for posting this because I wondered about them.

The lid of the Teeli basket works fine as a drip catcher so, no extra plate is necessary and a Chatsford mug basket kit has the holder.