Thursday, July 2, 2015

Starbucks, Teavana Loose-Leaf Tea Infuser

Starbucks Description:
Love loose-leaf? Brew your preferred tea easily in a favorite mug with this stainless steel infuser.

Simply scoop tea into this infuser, place in your mug and pour water directly over tea. Even the smallest tea leaves will steep perfectly through the tea infuser's fine mesh. Made of 18/8 stainless steel. "Teavana®" printed on handle. Dishwasher safe. Do not microwave.

My Review:
My wife bought this Teavana infuser basket for me at Starbucks, so I would stop stealing her Finum baskets. Now she wants one of her own. Since I have more teaware and gadgets than necessary (according to her), I don't see how I can complain. Besides, it is better than her stealing mine in retaliation.

OK,  besides our apparent sharing issues, what makes this one worthy of packing home?

First off, it is made entirely of stainless steel. There is no plastic housing, like on the Finum basket - that we have used for years and love.

Secondly, it has a wide flat steel lip around the top so that it rests nicely on top of a twelve ounce mug and still has space for water movement between the bottom and the mug.

The third selling point, for me, is the fine mesh of the infuser. I have not tried yet but fell absolutely confident that rooibos will present no issue preventing the leaf from making its way into the mug. On the other hand, and just as important, the water is able to flow freely around the mug.

And finally, the overall size of the basket is large enough to provide ample freedom for the leaf to expand. Leaving the leaf free in the pot would be preferred but there are times it just isn't convenient. This is an excellent compromise.

Clean up is no more difficult than with the Finum basket. Tapping the infuser over the spent leaf bowl takes care of most of it. A rinsing will finish the task..

The only complaint I can find is the lack of a lid to hold in the heat while steeping and serving as double duty as a stand after steeping.

Around $10 at Starbucks, Gets a thumbs up from me.

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