I drink tea every morning.
And, by morning, I mean pretty early, before sunrise, early.
Obviously, I am not going to be performing “gong fu” tea ceremonies at zero dark thirty, as the military folks say.
Over the years I have experimented with various brewing vessels and strainers, almost all of which have left me disappointed for one reason or another.
The one that I have recently settled on as the least sucky way to make a large single cup of tea comes from a company called “For Life”. They call it their, “FORLIFE Tea for One with Infuser 14 ounces”. (Well, technically, this is the mug from the “FORLIFE Curve Tall Tea Mug with Infuser and Lid 15 ounces”. I broke the original mug and this one fits.)
It’s a 3 part kettle/mug combo…
…with a fitted stainless steel strainer.
Obviously, I’ve been using this for a while. (Mrs Flannestad gives me a hard time about not putting the teapot and strainer into the dish washer, too. But it goes against my philosophy.)
Anyway, measure your tea into the top, pour in water, steep for a couple minutes, pour out tea into a cup that has been pre-heated as part of the brewing process.
Genius!
If you have appropriately flavorful tea, you can even re-steep. Not quite gong fu, but almost.
When you’re done, pull the basket out and tap the exhausted and mostly dry tea into the compost.
Easy-peasy.