Stainless Steel Basket Single Serving Tea Infuser (Friendly Swede) Review

Stainless Steel Basket Single Serving Tea Infuser (Friendly Swede) Review

Buy it at Amazon: Stainless Steel Basket Single Serving Tea Infuser (Friendly Swede) [Affiliate Link]

Takeaway: Perfect for loose, whole leaf tea. Easy to use and clean.

This is the first basket type infuser that I've used and I have to say, I'll never got back to the clamshell style tea balls. With the basket design, the lid screws on tight but opens with ease when you want to put tea in or clean it out. The best part is that with whole leaf teas, the expanded leaves won't escape the basket, unlike the seepage you typically experience with clamshell style infusers. You do, however, have to make sure your tea is of decent quality and doesn't have a lot of crushed leaves or tea "dust" as these particles may be small enough to fall through the holes of the infuser. However, I've had minimal debris end up in my final brew using these infusers, and I'm very happy about that. Personally, I like the taste of loose leaf tea better than machine crushed and processed tea bags anyway, and you get the added bonus of keeping disposable teabags out of landfills.

Just be careful with the hook end of the chain because I found that it bends easily and as with any thin rigid piece of metal, if you bend it too frequently in the same spot, it could break off. The basket is big enough for 1-2 teaspoons of tea leaves, but I wouldn't use more than that to prevent the expanded tea leaves from clogging the basket and over-concentrating your brew. After all, it's designed for single servings, not full teapots. This infuser works great with loose, whole leaf teas and is perfect for a single serving or two. It cleans up well and hasn't rusted a bit, even when sitting in a forgotten teacup overnight a few times.

Buy it at Amazon: Stainless Steel Basket Single Serving Tea Infuser (Friendly Swede) [Affiliate Link]