HIC Kitchen Snap Spoon Tea Infuser, 18/8 Stainless Steel, For Loose Leaf Tea and Mulling Spices

Perfect for the tea given us

You just want one large mug of your favorite loose leaf tea. You don't want to make a big pot with your larger ball or egg shaped infuser and waste all that tea. OR you have a guest who wants a different tea than you're having at the same time. No problem... You squeeze, insert into the tea container. Scoop the tea into the spoon and once you get an amount that seems to fit the space you begin to close SLOWLY and you just pay careful attention to having it close completely without any tea sticking out that doesn't let it fully close. You take one last swipe around the infuser with your finger to break away any tea sticking out. Once it's smooth on the outside you add your hot / boiling water to your mug. You now have your tea brewing and you can stir it to help the water get in there and get all of your tea brewing. Or just let it sit - the tea will still brew. You can leave it in or take it out depending on the tea brewing directions. If you want to add sugar or milk no need for another spoon - you can stir it with this! Ready to enjoy. Once you're done, you squeeze open and the tea drops into the garbage disposal usually in one neat tea clump. You rinse it and it's ready for your next tea party. So easy. So perfectly designed. So cheap but good quality stainless steel. It's really a secret weapon in the tea world. I don't know why stores don't carry these more readily. Some reviewers complain about tea coming out. That is because you didn't take care to make sure it's fully shut by using your finger to smooth it out. You can't grab at the tea with it like a grizzly bear. OR you put too much inside and it was too full to close. OR the tea is powder-like and then you probably should be using a tea bag tea anyway. Take a little care to make it fit the space. Cup at it a little before you close it. Smooth it out. You will love this thing and want to get 8 of them for your tea guests. They will turn slightly orange over time simply due to the fact that tea stains metal (even though it's stainless steel) but it takes years of usage for this to happen and if it does - no biggie... it's still perfectly fine. Done and done.

Great product. Great gift too

Package says made in China.

In the past, I've used several mesh-type strainers/steepers. They worked well enough but were a nuisance to clean and would eventually become color died from the tea. Those issues aren't a concern for this perforated strainer. Cleaning is a breeze. I feel much safer using 18-8 stainless steel. Many other strainers use 304 stainless steel, a more utility-grade stainless. For quick dips and single-use-at-a-time steeping, both should be safe. But I like to keep my strainer in my bottle all day long. I feel the 18-8 will handle that use much better than my previous mesh 304 strainers. My only concern is the thin metal holding the strainer cups to the spring handle. When closed strainer head feels strong enough and sturdy. But when open each strainer cup feels like it could be easily bent or broken. I will just need to be careful when scooping tea.

These work very well, I drink loose herbal tea all the time and these have worked better for me than anything else I've tried for making herbal teas.

I had a similar model that had the mesh screen ( HIC Brands that Cook Snap Mesh Tea Ball Infuser ) instead of the perforated spoon like this model. But the mesh one eventually had one side snap off while shaking out the leaves. This model scoops the tea a little more easily because it does not have the wide edges like the mesh one that ALWAYS manage to have tea leaves sandwiched between them so it does not close tightly and bits leak out. But the tiny weld at the attachment point on this infuser is just as flimsy as on the mesh kind if not more so. I will try to be careful with it to see if I can get some longevity out of it, but when this one breaks I will probably buy another one or make my own. One other thing to note is that it would be handy if both of these tea infusers I am writing about had about 50 percent larger capacity as I like to make big mugs of tea and the small amount you can put in this infuser results in weaker tea than I like when trying to stretch it to 14 ounces or more in my jumbo sized mugs. I am seriously thinking about getting some stainless steel screen and making my own that will last a lot longer than these devices.

It is very good tea spoon. The tea stays inside not like the one I used before.

Lo uso diario

This is a very sturdy and well made infuser. There is a smaller "spoon" side and a larger side so the loose leaves can stay inside the infuser easier. Compared to the mesh ball infusers which can get loose and offset easily when using or cleaning, this spoon style is far and away superior. It doubles as a stirrer for milk, cream, or honey, too.

Me gusto el tamaño y la calidad del producto, pero no es hermético, si las hojas de te son muy pequeñas se salen. Te funcionara bien si tu te es de hojas grandes.

I really like these, I've bought 2 of them actually. I haven't had any problems with the tea being too small for the perforations in the spoon - I think it depends on the type of teas you're drinking. Finer and/or powdered teas would not work very well in this spoon. I use it for peppermint tea and yerba mate mainly. It has very good spring action, is easy to fill and easy to clean. Just open the spoon after using, dump out the tea and give it a quick rinse. I find it to be more user friendly than either tea balls or mesh spoons.

Cheap quality but does the trick. Affordable. Have a feeling it might break in a few months but can't complain for $5