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- Tea leaves are far superior to tea bags, but things get messy without a proper tea infuser.
- The Finum Brewing Basket is the best tea infuser for most mugs and teapots with its roomy fine mesh basket design.
Tea is serious business and real aficionados prefer loose leaf tea over the leftover leaves most companies stuff into tea bags. However, if you want to brew tea properly, you are going to need the right equipment. In addition to getting one of the best electric kettles to bring your water to just the right temperature for the leaves you're using, you'll also want a tea infuser to separate the leaves from your brew once it's ready.
Picking the best tea infuser sounds like a simple task, but it's actually quite complicated. Tea experts will even tell you not to get an infuser and truly let your tea leaves float in the hot water to maximize their flavor. If you're going to follow that approach, you'll still need a strainer to keep the leaves out of your drink. However, you can get the flavor or uninhibited tea leaves with the best tea infusers. The more space you give your tea leaves to move around inside the infuser, the better.
We've researched tea blogs, read expert reviews, and done our own personal testing to find the very best tea infusers you can buy. We also selected the best tea infuser travel mug and teapot to accommodate those who want to drink tea on the go or consume a whole pot's worth. Before we get into our picks, here are things to consider when choosing the best tea infuser for your needs and a few tips on how to make the most of your tea.
There are lots of different kinds of tea infusers, including brewing baskets, mesh metal balls, cute silicon infusers, as well as travel mugs and teapots with infusers built into the design.
- Brewing baskets: Brewing flavorful, rich tea requires the perfect temperature of water, quality tea leaves, and the right amount of space. Brewing baskets are deep and spacious, so they provide ample room for the tea to float about and brew properly. The bigger the basket, the better.
- Ball tea infusers: Mesh and metal tea balls are small, compact, and easy to use. Some have long handles and others have a ball-and-chain design. The mesh is good at keeping out fine tea particles, but tea balls are typically too small to properly infuse your tea with the full flavor of the leaves. Tea experts don't recommend ball-style infusers, but we've included our favorite long handle one.
- Silicone tea infusers: Silicone tea infusers are similar to mesh metal balls, so the smaller ones aren't great for getting the most flavor out of your tea. Some people complain about silicone leaving a taste to the tea, but most buyers love their fun silicone tea infusers. If you're a casual tea drinker, you may like one of the cute designs by Fred & Friends, which we recommend.
- Travel mugs with infusers: Travel mugs with infusers are great for tea lovers on the go. Many come in glass housings, but they're not terribly durable. We chose a travel mug with a more traditional thermos-style design that's durable, but you will need to buy the compatible metal tea infusing basket separately. Luckily, the pair cost about $25.
- Teapots with infusers: If you typically drink a pot of tea or want to share with others, you'll want a teapot with an infuser built in. There are lots of teapots in all kinds of materials from glass and ceramic, to clay and cast iron. The size of the infuser is the most important thing - it should be as big as possible to let the tea brew well. We've chosen a durable glass teapot with a giant metal mesh brewing basket.
Here are the best tea infusers you can buy:
- Best tea infuser overall: Finum Brewing Basket
- Best tea infuser with a long handle: OXO Good Grips Twisting Tea Ball
- Best quirky tea infusers: Fred & Friends
- Best tea infuser travel mug: Contigo West Loop Travel Mug
- Best teapot with an infuser: Hario Chacha Kyusu Maru Tea Pot
Updated on 10/28/2019 by Connie Chen: Updated links, prices, and formatting.
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