OXO BREW Twisting Ball Tea Infuser

My wife has recently switched to loose leaf tea and this is by far her favorite tea infuser. It's easy to use, works well, and is very easy to clean. Highly recommend.

Love the setea infusers, they do their job exactly perfectly. And they’re brilliantly designed. They’re the perfect length and weight to sit on top of your tea cup while you fill it. The twist is smooth enough to easily turn to open. The ball itself is a good size - assuming you’re using the right amount of loose tea, there’s lots of room in there for the tea to move and swish about. The mesh is fine enough to allow for a good strong brew without any “bits” escaping and floating in your tea, and they stir the honey in too, saving a teaspoon a job. They don’t seem to drip too much if you give them a little shake on removing from the cup. They’re really easy to clean, the tea falls right into the compost and easily rinses free of bits. I also love that they’re really simple to store and don’t have bits that can fall off or go missing

Perfect for single serve cups of tea. No mess, no fuss. Well made and works great if you’re trying to make decisions about purchasing a teapot if you’re not hosting large parties for afternoon tea on a regular basis. Also good if you have a small kitchen without space to store tea pots, etc.

I honestly can't imagine why someone would not like (if not love) this tea ball infuser. It's easy to clean, easy to fill, and works great! I drink tea all the time and it is my favorite way to drink loose leaf tea. I'm a field hand and a dairy farmer who loves video games and the taste of a nice pinot noir. After working a long day at a Petaluma ranch, I need a hot and soothing drink to help me relax. This is where my new OXO BREW Twisting Tea Ball Infuser comes in and plays a vital role in my daily routine. I fill the ball with my favorite organic loose leaf tea, heat my filtered water to the optimal temperature (more on that below) and pour myself a delicious cup of organic hot tea. Perfection. I sometimes will brew caffeinated tea (like black or green tea) in the afternoons to give me that final boost to get through the rest of the Petaluma day, then brew non-caffeinated herbal tea in the evening to unwind right before I get in my comfy Petaluma bed. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that my love of wine is only rivaled by my love of a good organic loose leaf tea. And drinking loose leaf is key. “Loose-leaf tea” means tea that’s primarily made up of whole, unbroken leaves. Teabags are usually made from the opposite – low tea grades, such as dust and fannings. Dust and fannings are smaller pieces of tea, so they have a larger surface area than whole leaves. A larger surface area means more opportunities for the essential oils (what makes tea flavorful and aromatic) to evaporate, leaving the tea dull and stale. Freshness can be a major issue with typical teabags for this reason, especially if they are packed in a paper box with paper wrapping. When you steep loose-leaf tea, it has (or should have) room for tea leaves to absorb water and expand as they infuse. This allows the water to flow through the leaves and extract a wide range of vitamins, minerals, flavors, and aromas from the leaves. When you steep tea in a teabag, its infusion is limited by the size of the teabag. Not great. Also, temperature is crucial! Most of us in the western world are brought up thinking that all we need to do to make a cup of tea is heat water, add tea, wait a few minutes, then drink it. Although this is basically true, paying attention to the water temperature will help get the best flavor from your tea. Chances are you’ve wondered why your tea doesn’t always taste great or doesn't even taste the same from day to day. While this could be caused by several factors, water temperature is an important one to consider. Every type of tea has a “right” temperature. When tea is brewed, tannins, amino acids, aroma and flavor compounds are released from the leaves. Some kinds of tea require less heat, while others need more to maximize their distinctive attributes. Brewing at the optimal water temperature for each kind of tea allows the compounds to be released in a balanced way and leads to great tasting tea. Water temperatures that are too hot dissolve tannins and destroy the other desirable compounds in tea. Thermal shock from overly hot water can also burn sensitive tea leaves. The result will be a bitter, astringent, and unbalanced brew. At the opposite end of the spectrum, you also don’t want the water temperature for brewing tea to be too cool. The same compounds that are destroyed with over-heated water won't dissolve properly in under-heated water. The finished tea will definitely lack balance and simply won't have as much taste. A longer steeping time may compensate, but only a bit. Here are some general guidelines for the different categories of tea. White teas: 160–185°F (71–85°C) Yellow teas: 175°F (79°C) Green teas: 140–190°F (60–88°C) Oolong teas: 180–200°F (82–93°C) Black teas: 190–200°F (88–93°C) Pu'er teas: 200–212°F (93–100°C) Rolled oolongs and other teas in pearl form are notable exceptions to the guidelines. These not only withstand, but are best when brewed in water near boiling. For these, more heat is required to slowly unfurl the leaves and release their distinctive aroma and flavor compounds. You’ve probably heard the expression “a watched pot never boils.” Well, in order to judge the temperature of the water for tea using your ears and eyes, you have to watch the pot—and certainly remember to never boil the water. So maybe the adage should be changed to “watch the pot so it never boils.” When using your senses to gauge the temperature, you’ll need to pay attention to the bubbles and steam rising from the water while listening for different sounds. These change during three different stages of heating water. If using a saucepan you’ll be able to see as well as hear the changes. If you’re using a kettle then you’ll need to rely mostly on sound, although you might also see some steam escaping through the spout. But I digress. Whether you're a field hand and dairy farmer in Petaluma, or a big shot corporate suit from San Francisco, this tea ball infuser is a MUST for your tea drinking needs. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!

This is the 2nd tea infuser that I have owned. My old roommate gave me my first, which is the stainless ball that has the little chain and hook connected to it. I've used that one for a couple of years now, but I wasn't using it on a consistent basis since I usually drink tea that comes in a tea bag. My complaint with the infuser that I already own is that it is difficult to not get the loose tea all over the place when loading the top or bottom half and screwing it back together. That was the main reason I purchased this one because it seemed easier to load. Once I tried it out, it was much easier to use. I don't think it could have been easier. The twisting knob at the bottom moves very freely and I don't see it causing any problems in the future, yet it still holds its position very firmly. I also felt like I was able to pack this tea ball with a greater amount of tea leaves than I was able to with my other infuser. The main issue I have with this is that it lets a lot of tea escape through the sides of the rotating ball. One half of the ball rotates into the other half, so there is this small gap between the two sides when it's closed. It's not a big deal if you don't jostle it around very much, but still a nuisance. The 2nd thing that I don't like about this, is that it is awkward if you try to drink your tea with it still in your cup. I use a little dish to set it in after a couple of minutes, which isn't a big deal. Overall I think this is a fine infuser. A tad expensive, if I had to do it again, I probably wouldn't have spent the $20 and I would have gone for something much cheaper. I'm also not thrilled to see it listed for $13, less than a week after I bought this.

I thought this wouldn't work as well as I had hoped because the holes are small and parts of the tea I purchased are relatively large, but it works perfectly! I had tried an old-fashioned tea ball first because the holes in that are larger than in this tea infuser but some of the tea came out of the old-fashioned tea ball even though it remained closed. I decided to try this one; even though the holes in it look too small to work with the tea I purchased, it works GREAT!! The twist-to-open-and-close feature also works great! I expected to have to do more than open it and turn it upside down over my garbage can, but it ALL came out of the infuser! I think this is the most perfect tea infuser I've ever tried!

Love this loose leaf tea infuser! The twisting mechanism is tight and sturdy, and turns the ball shut smoothly so as to not spill any precious tea. It perfectly holds a standard serving of tea, but should you like a stronger brew, I find it quite easy to twist the infuser half way shut and add additional tea. It has not rusted one bit and it’s been used at least 2 dozen times since purchase. It’s gone through the dishwasher, been hand washed, and even has sat in a sink with water on a busy day for a few hours. Honestly, I think tapping out the tea leaves and giving it a good rinse before placing it in the drying rack works plenty well.

PROs: If you want the item you see in the attached photo, great. It's a high quality build at a reasonable price, and you won't regret it. It cleans easily, the turning mechanism works great, and my father has been using his daily for a year without any problems in its function. If you want a small ball infuser, this is in fact a 5 star purchase. Maybe you're not really into teas, and for you it's just a caffeine delivery mechanism. That's cool, I'm like that about my coffee. If so, this infuser's probably pretty good for you. Stop reading here. CONs: This is a bad tea infuser. Like most ball infusers, it doesn't allow leaves room to expand. Outermost leaves are comparatively over-steeped the inner-most leaves, and a heat gradient is created as well. This one is, as far as I can tell, even /smaller/ than most ball infusers, which just makes this worse. Obviously some teas are more sensitive to this than others: oolongs /really/ tend to expand an enormous amount; black teas much less so. If you were steeping a very small quantity of black and/or this was a much bigger ball, this might be OK for black teas. I'm going to weight the CON more than the PRO here, because if you don't care about brewing your loose leaf tea, you're probably using bags and not buying infusers anyway. If you're shopping for infusers, you probably care to have an infuser that does the job well. I'm striking off two stars in light of the fact that, although this is wonderfully constructed, it's actually /bad/ for what it does. This item is like buying a machete that turns out to be made of very high quality steel, with a wonderful hand-carved mahogany grip, and a spoonhead instead of a blade. Fundamentally, everything is great, except that it doesn't do what you really want a machete to do. If they at least had a bigger ball, this could be OK for black teas. As it is, it's "meh" for black teas, and worse for everything else.

Muy buen producto, lo he comprado un par de veces, para mi y para regalar. El precio varia mucho de un día para otro

Excellent tool for no mess, easy cup of loose leaf tea. You just fill and put it in your mug and afterwards empty by turning the end of the handle.

Funciona genial. El hecho de que sea así te permite usarlo de cucharilla para remover. Calidad excelente

Funkar som den ska. Lätt att fylla på.

Bonjour, excellent produit de qualité et très fonctionnel. Merci