Office (Loose Leaf) Tea Solution

I've been drinking loose-leaf tea at work for many years now, and have gone through most of these.

• cup with a ceramic or glass strainer.

I've tried both the ceramic type with holes and the glass type with slots. The mesh is never fine enough for me. In addition the holes or slots invariably get packed with leaves and are a pain to clean.

• steel strainers.

If you mean the tea-ball type, I can't comment. But a steel mesh strainer is my absolute favorite. I've been using the same one (pictured below) for years now and have never noticed any off flavors. Easy to clean: just dump out the leaves and give a good rinse, picking or sponging out the occasional stuck leaf.

Not microwaveable, but you don't want to microwave the leaves, anyway. Microwave the cup with water in it (put a stirrer in to avoid superheating the water. Yes, it can happen, and has happened to me), then put the strainer in when it's the right temperature.

• cotton strainers.

I have never used one, so I can't comment authoritatively, but it seems like at the least they'd be harder to clean.

• fillable disposable tea bags.

I hate disposable anything. I tried the type of bag pictured below and they were a pain. They tend to wick tea out of the cup and onto your table.

As for the other gizmos, I think for tea, simpler is better. The above are the only methods I've used, and I find the mesh basket is far and away the most convenient and best solution.

I've been making lose tea at my office for a while, and this is how I do it:

I started using the microwave. But the microwave has problems. First, carrying a cup full of boiling liquid from the kitchen back to my office. Be careful, splashes hurt! Second, its hard to get a consistent temperature (other than boiling), because at least here the cold water temperature varies year-round a fair bit.

So, instead, I switched to a Pino Digital Kettle Pro electric kettle. Now I only have to carry a kettle full of cold water, and I get to select the temperature I want my water—great, because I'm not just making black tea.

I pour the kettle into a cup, and insert a Finum brewing basket with the tea. Then I start a tea timer on my computer. The mesh is very fine, no leaves escape, and the stainless steel doesn't impart an off flavor. The strainer can be rinsed out, and I have a couple so I can take them home and run them trough the dishwasher. I do the same with the cups—I take them home and run them through the dishwasher.

You really oughtn't wash dishes in the bathroom sink. At least not without scrubbing it down and sanitizing it first.

I know this answer doesn't literally answer the question with regards to making tea with loose tea leaves but seriously, you'd save yourself an awful lot of time, trouble and effort by making tea with tea bags. It's so simple and makes consistently good quality tea with the minimum of effort and fuss.

I do understand that if you're partial to a particular type of tea not easily available in tea bag form, which in fairness do tend to be a blend of various tea leaves, then tea bags probably isn't the answer you're looking for.

Then I'd suggest a tea ball/infuser as being the ideal solution -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infuser

And please, please, please don't make tea with microwaved hot water! Tea must have freshly drawn and freshly boiled water to be able to extract the best flavour from the tea leaves. Don't use pre-boiled water either, throw it away and draw fresh water and boil it. This is essential to good tea making.

I'd go for a ceramic cup with a steel strainer. The ceramic is microwavable and a good steel strainer/tea bell does a good job at tea.

The glass/plastic part of a french press is microwavable, the top won't be because of the metal. You can get single cup versions that would be easy to clean. Ether solution would work fine in your circumstances.

Search for 'infuser' at marketspice.com. Not affiliated, just a happy customer.

I use something like this. It allows for plenty of room with water warmed via any method. The plus side is that you could use two--one to heat the water without the filter, and another with the leaves and filter, and no spilling.

In terms of cost, I'd go for a tea ball (personally, I like them). Otherwise, you can purchase tea pots (I got someone a really pretty Japanese one from theteatable.com, which also has a great assortment of herbal and caffeinated loose tea) with built-in infusers, which are nicer than tea balls. You can also find microwaveable water heaters to use with traditional teapots at many major retailers.