Four Reasons to Switch to Loose Leaf Teas and My Favorite Brewing Equipment

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This article was originally published in October of 2010.

There is nothing better on a cold day than a hot cup of tea. Many cultures have used the steeping of various leaves, barks, and roots for both medicinal and social purposes for many years and with great benefits.

I drink at least two cups of tea on most cool days and have found it to be a warming, soothing way to get in some extra nutrients and to stay hydrated. Today we can purchase tea in easy-to-use bags which are quick and easy, but I’ve wanted to explore the use of "loose" teas for a while now.

Four reasons to switch to loose leafed teas

  1. It is much less expensive to buy herbs or teas by the ounce rather than the bag.
  2. Having a collection of dried teas and herbs allows you to mix and match for both flavor and specific medicinal need.
  3. There is a lot less packaging associated with "loose" teas.
  4. Tea bags don’t grow from a tree and I’d like to be able to grow a fair amount of herbs, flowers, and seeds for our tea making.

The biggest deterrent I saw when I started was finding the right equipment. After a couple of years of going (mostly) tea-bag free, I thought I’d share my experiences with different equipment and techniques in case you are intimidated like I was.

Infusing Equipment

The French Press. Some call it a tea or coffee press as well. It is great for both tea and coffee (and hot chocolate) and I use it at least a few times per week. It does a great job of straining out the leaves or roots and is one of the simplest ways to prepare tea. You can also make up to a quart of tea at a time with the french press.

Bamboo Tea Strainers. I have owned a few of these and what I like most about them is that they are made of bamboo are inexpensive. They can be difficult to clean and take a while to dry out so it is a good idea to have a few. The downside to these is that they do not sit very well in a larger cup since only one side has a handle.

Cotton Tea Net. This is one of my new favorites because of the larger size and the ease of use. It is a simple cotton cloth with a sturdy handle sewn in the top. It sits well on the top of the cup and comes in a larger size for my giant afternoon cup of tea. These also take a while to dry so having two is nice.

Mesh Teaspoon. This is one of the easiest to use. By squeezing the handle you open the teaspoon and you can simply scoop up your tea, close it and place it in your cup awaiting boiling water. The only downside I found to this one is that if the opening gets bent or a piece of tea gets stuck in between the crease, it can leak small bits of herbs into your water. They all fall to the bottom of the cup, however, so it isn’t a big issue.

Mesh Tea Ball Infuser. This is another one of my current favorite infusers. The stainless steel locking mechanism is very helpful for keeping in loose tea sediment. It is also very easy to use and clean. There are many designs with this name, but this one is by far my favorite.

Those are some of my favorite tools for brewing a great cup of tea. Next time I will share with you the teas and various herbs and roots I keep on hand for medicinal (and culinary) purposes.

Do you have a favorite piece of tea-brewing equipment?

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31 Comments

  1. Perfect timing! I’ve been looking into getting a different infuser for my husband and I. He wants to be able to brew a larger amount of tea at a time than most tea infusers allow (like up to half a gallon). We found a 48oz french press at mountain rose herbs that we might buy. Do you think there’s any other way to make more tea (he wants to bring 6 cups to work at a time)? Is it just as effective to brew the tea in a smaller amount of hot water and then add your cold/room-temp water after it’s done brewing, or do you think that would affect the amount of actual “tea” that you’re getting? I’m hoping your chemistry degree might help with this (or maybe some simple common sense that I’m lacking!)… Thanks! 🙂

    1. Carrie – I second Marie A’s advice about doing a whole pot. If you don’t have a tea pot you can simply use a sauce pan. Just dump your water in, bring it to a boil, pour in the tea and let it steep and strain it into a thermos or a quart jar.

  2. I love tea. And I’ve tried bunches of tea equipment. Some work great, some not so much. My favorite I think is my mesh strainers. I have them in several different diameters, so they fit in different teapots. I make looseleaf iced tea daily, steeping a strong brew in a quart ball jar with a handle, then pouring that in with cool water in a larger jar. My largest strainer fits right in the wide mouth perfectly. Second would be my electric kettle on my counter. That thing is FAST!

    @Carrie: other than using strainers to steep, many people just float the leaves in the teapot itself for steeping. You can strain them out when you pour them into your thermos with a basic handled mesh strainer.

  3. This is a great overview – I love loose tea! My number 1 reason for using it? It tastes soooo much better. I recently bought an infuser from Mountain Rose Herbs – it’s a larger mesh one with a handle. I really think the tea has more flavor when using a larger infuser, especially if you are brewing actual tea leaves (as opposed to roots, which don’t really expand).

    I also recently discovered Rishi tea – definitely the best I’ve come across. What company do you like to use?

  4. Another reason is flavor. Bigger pieces of leaves get put in loose leaf tea while smaller pieces (even similar to dust) get put into bags. This makes it more bitter. Also, in order to get the best flavor dried tea should have plenty of room to expand (something that doesn’t happen in ball strainers or tea bags).

  5. Great timing on this post! I’m very interested in trying the cotton tea net to replace my current plastic mesh strainer.

  6. I LOVE tea! Several years ago for Christmas I found one of those round tea infusers and went to the co-op for a nice selection of different loose leaf teas. The result was a beautiful little gift set for my mom! Unfortunately I have not been able to find a local (to me) store with bulk tea so that I can have my own. Is there somewhere in particular that you get it from? Any good online shops that you trust? I’ve just discovered your blog and I am loving it!

  7. My husband and I have recently decided to switch from drinking coffee to drinking more tea. I would love to know the kinds of teas you are using, too. I never thought of using my French press for tea. It’s a great idea!

  8. I hadn’t thought of using my french press for tea either, but I’m definitely going to try it. It would make brewing a larger amount of loose tea much easier.

    Currently, my favorite loose-leaf tea accoutrement is the Ingenuitea from Adagio Teas. It keeps all the little tea bits from getting into your cup.

  9. Good post. I’ve tried Zhena’s Gypsy teas, they are great~fair trade organic and just flavorful. It’s my favorite but I generally don’t buy it because of its price. I’ll have to try loose teas.

  10. Nice article!

    My favorite inexpensive tea-brewing equipment, after 20 years of trying all kinds of different contraptions, is a large glass pyrex measuring cup with a spout, and a small-sized kitchen strainer with a handle. I brew in the pyrex and pour through the strainer. Voila!

    I like that with this method, you have several cups left for refills or for companions, and you can easily refrigerate the strained tea if it won’t be used within a day or so.

    1. @Meg, that’s totally my system now, except I brew then strain into a plastic strainer. but I want to get one of the cotton ones Shannon mentioned.

    2. Meg – Good one. I also sometimes just throw herbs in a pot of boiling water and strain it out.

  11. I bought a tea steeper which has a filter at the bottom. when the tea is ready, the steeper is placed on the cup and the water pours through the bottom. The great thing about it is that the water flows through the leaves, rather than the leaves being lifted out. I have seen them for sale at
    Adagio Teas called the IngenuiTEA
    tavalon.com called Gravity Tea Pot
    Teavana called Perfect Tea Maker

    I bought one from Adagio and another from TeaGschwendner. One has a permanent filter and the other has a filter that snaps in. One is hard to clean and other other has tea brewing accidents. When they work they are amazing.

  12. I’m inspired Shannon. I usually order boxed tea from our buying club but just today I had to go buy some at the health food store because we needed some for our backpacking trip this weekend (have to take teabags for that kind of thing, can’t mess around with loose leaf).

    But reading this post and seeing all those boxes in my cupboard (wrapped in plastic) has me rethinking my “tea ceremony”. I grew up drinking loose teas but got out of the habit years ago. I think I’d like to get back to it as I agree with your reasons listed in this post.

    Thanks for this great information.

    1. Renee – You’re welcome! I would have thought for sure that you were a loose tea family, though I guess I only saw you mention coffee on your blog.

  13. Here is one more reason!!! I was amazed that Celestial Seasonings actually has SOY!! I guess not so much amazed, but discussed!!

  14. Thanks for sharing! My Mom got me a Tea Tiger. I love it! It’s like a travel mug but has a mesh screen built into the lid so I can use loose teas on the go.

  15. My favorite is the stainless steel strainer spoon. I am into easy to use and easy to clean. The fiber alternatives etc. don’t appeal to me. I don’t like the unbleached tea bags that are sold either.

  16. I’m all for using loose tea. Right now we use mulitple types of tea bags from Celestial. But where would you buy it from? Especially bulk.

  19. I am looking for an easy way to make loose leaf teas at work. I drink mostly iced tea, and have access to a kettle to boil water as well as hot water (not quite as hot) from the coffee dispenser.

  20. Hello – just found this site searching for reviews of the Tea Tiger…

    But, just had to recommend Finum brewing baskets to everyone!
    I found them from all the great reviews on Amazon – they are GREAT, and now, also, my favorite way to make 1 cup of coffee.

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  24. thanks for sharing. the right equipment really helps make the bets tea. one of the brands i have bought a few items for my tea making has been Grosche ( http://www.grosche.ca ) which is also available on amazon or from ( http://www.shopgrosche.com ). I also tend ot buy from teavana’s website too, although I prefer the free shipping offer on shopgrosche.com and they have coffee stuff too.

  25. Thanks for sharing this list, Shannon. What are you thoughts on automated brewers such as the Tea Crete Matcha Maker or some of the automatic brewers you find on Amazon? I’m sure one would rebuked by the purists for making such suggestion 🙂

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