Teaware

The Brew-in-Mug Extra-fine Tea Infuser with Lid is made for one. Its stainless steel basket is about 3.6 inches across and 3.25 inches tall, so it sits inside an American-standard mug, and the silicone-rimmed lid flips over to hold the wet basket once the tea is brewed. The mesh is fine enough for rooibos and roomy enough for whole-leaf oolongs. If you would rather have the mug and the infuser as one piece, the ForLife Curve Mug with Infuser 15 oz (Multiple colors) comes with its own extra-fine infuser and a lid that holds it, and the Harney & Sons Mug with Permanent Tea Filter Bundle pairs our logo mug with the Harney & Sons Permanent Tea Filter.

All three hold loose tea while it steeps, so the leaves stay out of your cup. The Brew-in-Mug Extra-fine Tea Infuser with Lid is a mug-sized stainless steel basket with a lid that doubles as a drip tray. The Harney & Sons Permanent Tea Filter is a stainless steel mesh basket that fits most mugs and small teapots, and the Harney Permanent Tea Filter – Large is sized for teapots of four cups or more; both rinse clean after each pot. Finum Paper Filters – Large and Finum Paper Filters – Extra Large are single-use: fill one with a spoonful or two of tea, set it in the pot or mug, pour, and throw it away afterward. They are chlorine-free and biodegradable, and they suit travel or a teapot without its own infuser. If you would rather skip the infuser altogether, our sachets put whole-leaf tea in a mesh pyramid with the measuring already done.

Keep it away from light, heat, moisture, air, and strong smells. An airtight, opaque container in a cupboard does all five jobs, which is why our tea comes in tins. The Harney & Sons Hinged Storage Canister holds a pound of loose tea or 50 sachets, with brewing suggestions printed inside the lid, and the Harney & Sons Black Empty Tea Tin - 4 oz, Harney & Sons Black Empty Tea Tin - 8 oz, and Harney & Sons Black Empty Tea Tin – 3 lb hold the rest of your collection. Skip the refrigerator and clear glass jars, and refill a tin with the same tea it held before, since tea picks up the aromas around it. Our post Does Tea Go Stale? has the longer version.

The Harney & Sons Travette Tea Maker is a vacuum-insulated stainless steel pot with a removable basket infuser, so you can brew 27 ounces of loose tea and keep it hot at your desk or at home. The wide mouth takes ice cubes for iced tea, the cap comes apart for cleaning, and the stainless steel liner does not hold on to the flavor of the last pot. It is not meant for the stovetop.

It does, and it pairs naturally with tea. A mug and an infuser suit someone new to loose leaf, a teapot with a tin of their favorite tea suits someone who already has a routine, and the Harney & Sons Travette Tea Maker suits anyone who drinks tea away from home. Our tea gifts collection has gift sets and samplers if you would rather start with the tea, and an empty tin makes the wrapping for a tea gift of your own.

An infuser holds the leaves while they steep, in the mug or the pot, and comes out when the tea is ready. A strainer catches the leaves after the fact: the tea steeps loose in the pot, and the strainer sits over the rim of the cup to catch the leaves as you pour. Our silver-plated strainers, the Tea Strainer – Silver Plated, Long Handle and the Tea Strainer – Silver Plated, Short Handle, each come with a nest to rest in between cups. If you brew in a teapot without an infuser basket, a strainer is the piece you need; if you brew in a mug, an infuser is.

Count eight ounces for a teacup and twelve to sixteen for a mug, then size the pot to the company. The ForLife Stump Teapot with Infuser 18 oz (Multiple colors) brews two cups, enough for one person and a refill. The ForLife Curve Teapot with Infuser, 24 oz (Multiple Colors) and the Cristel Glass Teapot (Assorted Styles), at 27 ounces, pour three. The ForLife Curve Teapot with Infuser, 45 oz (Multiple Colors) pours five or six, enough for a table. Each of these comes with its own infuser basket, so loose tea goes straight in. Our teapots collection has the full range.

Not in the cup. Water temperature, the amount of leaf, and steeping time set the flavor, and a glass pot follows the same chart as a ceramic one. What changes is what you see: in the Cristel Glass Teapot (Assorted Styles) you can watch the leaves open and the color deepen, which makes it easier to judge when a tea is ready, and its large removable filter takes any leaf. Glass does lose heat faster than an insulated pot, so pour soon after steeping, or choose the Harney & Sons Travette Tea Maker when the pot needs to stay hot. For iced tea, the ForLife Mist Glass Iced Tea Jug, 50 oz (Assorted Colors) is glass for the same reason, with a fine filter that lets you cold brew loose leaf in the refrigerator.