Neat set. Thanks for the info. My wife is also the big tea drinker in our hose. She’s mainly a fan of guanyin, darjeeling, and has been drinking genmaichas lately as well. We came across the Olive & Pitts Loose Tea Infuser Stick Filter and find it to be the friendliest, easiest to clean, infuser we’ve used so far. If you find it on sale, give it a shot.
Only in America, do they make tea in a mug…
I’ve been using a similar “stick” for almost 10 years now… Seems to work better than any ball/etc that I have tried.
Amazon doesn’t document that mug as double-walled (by contrast with, eg, http://www.amazon.com/Bodum-12-Ounce-Double-Glass-Strainer/dp/B003D3NC1A). Is Amazon missing something there? Or might you have linked the wrong product?
I’m certainly intrigued but more than a bit confused.
Damned if I do, damned if I don’t…
(perhaps it is my serving technique?)
I know! My first thought was: why wouldn’t you use a teapot like any reasonable tea drinker? 
On the other side of the coin, a lovely friend who meant well gave me a tea-strainer-in-a-commuter-cup thingie when I was going through chemo, and while I so appreciate her kindness, I have to pass on my opinion that this is NOT the right solution:
It’s the perfect mix of something that is very fiddly to work with, difficult to fit in a dishwasher for cleaning, with a drinking spout that is virtually impossible to open without two hands and a lot of pressure, and a number of weak spots in construction where breakage is a matter of when, not if.
So, if you must make only one cup of tea at a time, Mark’s choice seems much better!
The ForLife models are pretty slick, and cheap. I had a Mist jug for a while, but the handle predictably cracked. So, now I use the Mist infuser basket propped on 2 chopsticks in a 2000mL chemistry beaker, which is perfect for making iced tea.
I use various teapots at home and this bad boy at work: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FONTXNS. LOVE IT.
By the way, if you’re into tea even a tiny bit, the series of tea-related posts on Serious Eats by Max Falkowitz is a must-read: http://www.seriouseats.com/tags/tea.
On the contrary, serious tea-drinking countries where tea is consumed outside of ritualistic settings often use mugs. Do you give the plumber your best china teacups? Of course not!
Frankly, when camping, you’re lucky if I take the bag out!
WHEN I WAS A KID WE MADE TEA OUT OF RUBBER BOOTS AND CRUSHED GLASS AND WE PREPARED IT IN AN OLD GAS CAN.
AND. WE. LIKED. IT. THAT. WAY.
and when we described it, it was valid!
How gauche. Civilized people serve tea the traditional way:
I second the value of FORLIFE tea products. I’ve fallen in love with this strainer and use it constantly http://www.amazon.com/FORLIFE-Stainless-Folding-Infuser-Carrying/dp/B00FOMKNSI/ref=sr_1_11?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1441831896&sr=1-11&keywords=tea+strainer
I have the metal version. The mug is great, the metal was a little thin so it bent easily.
For those of you who like, or would like to try Matcha, I recommend http://www.breakawaymatcha.com
Eric is committed to bringing the best Matcha into your life!
Rubber boots and crushed glass sounds more appealing than many brick teas. There’s a reason the Chinese abandoned this type thousands of years ago.
I’ve been known to brew my tea loose in a cup. Somewhat sadly, I just quit caffeine again so I can’t go home and savor some tonight.
I would heartily recommend metal strainers, soaking nylon in boiling water seems likely to leach random odd things into your cuppa. I have a no-name model much like this one http://amzn.com/B001JPA3Y8 which works well. It’s also worth noting that in China lots of people use tea jars where the leaves stew indefinitely, and have a strainer/screen in the mouth of the jar which keeps the leaves out of your mouth as you drink - you add hot water whenever you want to thin the brew. I drink some green and white teas that way, but black teas would be harder to enjoy this way.
