Tea Stick Makes Loose Leaf Brewing Simple
Ayn writes:My roommates and I are big-time tea drinkers, and this device looks amazing. It's a perforated cylinder that you can put loose tea into and then stir into your cup of hot water. $20 seems a little expensive, but the design is really appealing.It's called the "Tea Stick" and its by Chiasso. It's even spring-loaded to make it snappier to pop open the chamber.
Ayn's not the only one who wants one, it seems—they're backordered until the 5th of December.
It's sort of like the mate drinker's bombilla, except in reverse. For my loose leaf tea making, I use a simple bamboo tea strainer that I buy at local stores for less than a buck, slipping a toothpick into the outside weave so I can prop it on the edge of a big mug.
Product Page [Chiasso.com via Gizmodo]
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That's funny... the first thing I thought of for this was to use it for mate preparation. I found a place that does nice stemless, sustainable harvest mate and the leaves are pretty big, but it still seems that the holes in this might be a touch too big for mate fines that creep through...
But there's always loose tea for it!
TTFN
Looks pretty, but I can buy a tea-spoon-style infuser for $3-5.
Plus, tea leaves expand during the brewing process. This device may be easier to clean than it looks, but I wouldn't count on that.
I can also recommend Gamila's Teastick for (IMHO) a much better-looking product that does the same thing for a similar price:
http://www.gamilacompany.com/tea/features.html
I second the Teastick by Gamila, much nicer, and has been around for quite a while. Plus the designer lives in my home town of Raleigh NC. That just makes it that much nicer. The designer, Aly Khalifa, also has a multi-disciplinary design collective that is doing some really cool collaborative stuff http://designbox.us/
Not really affiliated with them, just like the ideas they espouse
Don't make your cuppa overly complicated. Here's all you need to make the best damn cup of loose leaf tea you've ever had. BTW, I have no relation to the product or company, other than using it for the past 10+ years.
The Teeli brewing basket.
www.teeli.com
Theses things are simplicity at its finest; no moving parts, they don't break. Order 3 at a time: one for home, one for the office, one for the backcountry or to keep in your car. They're $6.95 at specialteas.com. MRS & REI sell 'em for backcounty coffee drinkers at twice the price.
(grrr... system ATE my 1st attempt at this post)
I have one of the Gamila teasticks and it's not as great as it first seems.
Besides not having much room for the tea leaves to unfurl, if you're using it in a cube there's the problem of finding a place to put your damp teastick once you've finished steeping. [I've also got a tea strainer with dripcup that works better.]
But the biggest problem is that the edges of the teastick are sharp. And sometimes, particularly when filled with damp tealeaves, it gets stuck. So, I've cut myself a few times on it -- once, it even drew blood. I sent a letter to the company, even offering some suggestions for ways to make their product safer, but never got a reply.
should be all stainless and you need a way to dispose of the leaves if your going to do this properly
Second the rec above for the Teeli tea basket (www.teeli.com). This "tea stick" looks like an overly-complicated, hard-to-clean solution to a non-problem. It also looks too small to contain enough leaves for a properly full-flavored cup of tea!
In its defense, the (Gamila) tea stick isn't that hard to clean. Just open it and put it under the faucet and it all drains out.
My teastick has just arrived, and I am quite thrilled with it. It is about the size of a Tony Soprano cigar, the spring mechanism is easy, it will be easy to clean and I think it is perfect as a travelling infuser. I travel frequently and it is sturdy, will be easy to keep clean, I am thrilled. Might look a little funny at airport security checkpoint but... :) TommysTea loose leaf quality tea can finally join me on my journeys!