Finum Tea Brewing Basket

This cute little permanent brew basket is perfect for brewing loose tea in a cup or small teapot. German-made of durable stainless steel mesh and heat resistant plastic, it will likely outlive your favorite mug. It's even got a cool top to keep your tea hot while you wait for your tea to steep.

Size: Medium, for regular mugs and small pots

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Tea Brewing

Here's the story with tea: there are a couple of all-purpose guidelines, but ultimately each time you brew a cup or a pot different variables will have come into play: the size and shape of the tea leaves; the temperature and humidity of your kitchen; the freshness of the tea; your mood…in the end, you need to learn what works best for you, and what you like best.

Non-Variables: Heat clean, fresh, cold water in your kettle. Don't use hot water from the tap, as is contains more impurities than cold. When the water comes to the boil, swirl some around in your cup or tea pot and discard. Then measure in your tea, and top with boiling water (for black or herbal tea), or just under boiling water (for green or oolong tea). If you drink your tea with milk, wait until after the tea has steeped to add your milk.

Grey area: Measurement. A rule of thumb is a teaspoon of tea to 6 ounces of water. In England, where tea is brewed in a pot, they say a teaspoon per person "and one for the pot", meaning 3 teaspoons for 2 people, 4 for 3 people, etc. Remember, some tea is finer or denser than others, so you'll have to adjust accordingly. But basically, it is to your taste. I like my tea on the stronger side, so I tend to have a heavy hand with measurement, and a slow clock for timing.

Timing: Conventional tea wisdom says to steep black tea 3-5 minutes; oolong 3-5 minutes; green tea 2-3 minutes; and herbal tea for 5 minutes or more.

Some final advice: don't leave the brew basket in the tea pot or mug after the tea is done steeping (with bag tea, remove the bag). Otherwise the tea leaves "stew" in the water, giving a vegetal off-taste to the remaining tea. If you rescue your leaves early enough, you will be able to use them again for a second, lighter infusion in fresh hot water later. But don't keep already-used leaves for more than an hour or so as the flavor turns funny.