LOL or a little different anyway. Yes, I'm drinking tea today, Daydreamer from David's Tea, but I'll review that another day, today I've decided I'm going to review a different part of the tea-making process...
David's Tea's The Steeper
This is not your grandmother's teapot, that's for sure! It comes in two sizes, 36oz and 18oz, and I am reviewing the 36oz size because that is the one I have. I bought it at the beginning of the summer because of a special deal that was offered at the time, and I have not once regretted having it. I also do not regret buying the larger size although there are times when I wish I had a small one as well. Perhaps if I had more space in the cupboard that wasn't getting filled up with tea >.>
So, let's make this simple:
Pros:
Easy to use. Basically just measure in your loose tea (or pop in a few teabags), pour water over it, then sit it on top of an applicable container to empty it when you're done.
Easy to clean. Although I admit that there was a bit of a learning curve for me on how everything came apart to clean. It took me two uses or so to figure out that the mesh infuser/screen at the bottom did come out, and it took me about two months to figure out that I could put it in the dishwasher by removing the lid if I so desired.
Pretty! I love that this is clear and large enough to brew blooming teas in. I have another glass teapot, a bodum, but since its infuser is integral with its lid, you can't really brew stuff in it without the infuser, which makes me a sad panda sometimes. I love being able to watch my tea brewing, especially the aforementioned blooming teas and whole-leaf Oolong teas. So amazing that what start out as little crumpled spit-wad looking things can unfurl into a pot full of whole leaves that look like they were just picked off a tree yesterday!
Functional. Talk about easy to pour...just sit it on top of the desired final destination for your tea and off you go! The large size is especially useful for making iced tea or adding tea to other punch-style drinks that I like to make over the summer. The Steeper comes with a flat disc to sit on, which is a good thing as it does occasionally have the odd drip or two hanging around after you've emptied it, but you're certainly not going to splash tea over your hand if you pour too enthusiastically, and this never does that dribble-pour thing that you can get from a substandard teapot. The other really well-thought-out functional point to this item is that it has indicator lines on the side for one, two and three "cups", so that if you only want to make one cup's worth of tea, you can still use it.
Cons:
Hard to carry. Once this has been filled to the three-cup level, you're pretty much hooped if you suddenly decide you'd rather bring it upstairs so you don't have to go back down to the kitchen, or make any similar location change. Unlike a teapot with a fairly small opening at the top, covered with a stable (usually) lid, and a very small (relatively) opening at the spout, the entire top of this container is basically open. Yes, it has a lid, but that lid is hardly what I would call a solid seal, and it's very easy to accidentally slosh a large amount of very hot water over yourself if you don't have an extremely steady hand and try to carry it for more than a couple of feet.
Empty in one go. Unlike a teapot where you can easily take out the tea bags or mesh infuser, there is no way to stop the steeping process other than to empty this. When you have a large Steeper, as I do, this often means pulling out three cups and filling all of them and then leaving two tented under a teacosy or having to empty the Steeper into another tea pot to contain whatever amount of brewed tea will not fit into the mug you've chosen, which means extra dishes (ugh). This would, of course, be less of an issue with a smaller Steeper rather than the large one, so this is only a partial Con.
Overflow. Beware! If you are emptying this into a vessel which is not clear (and most of my mugs are not) you will need to know exactly how much liquid that vessel will hold, or you need to empty it a bit, pause, check the level in the mug/cup/bowl, then empty some more until the mug/cup/bowl is full. Do not assume, or you could end up with an unfortunate puddle of wasted tea surrounding your mug as it sits forlornly full to the brim on the counter. Unfortunately there is nothing that stops this from emptying once the liquid reaches any particular level, or even if the liquid touches the bottom of the valve, so you have to be alert while pouring!
Overall, I quite like this little contraption. I would say that it is both useful and functional, and for the amount of tea you can brew with it, the shape means that it takes up less space in the cupboard than a comperable traditional teapot would. As long as you're aware of some of its quirks, I would definitely say that I feel no compunction recommending this.
Rating out of Six Tails:
5/6
Buy/Don't Buy
I feel I should add that David's Tea is not the only place that carries this style of infuser. I know for sure that Teavana also have one, as does Murchies, and I'm sure other places do as well. DT's version is the only one I have, however, and the only one I've used, so of course it was the one I reviewed ^_~
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