The Best Tea Infusers

Brewing a cup of tea is a simple ritual enjoyed by people around the world. While many turn to the convenience of a tea bag, some prefer loose-leaf tea, which is often fresher and has more diverse options. But what’s the best way to brew loose-leaf tea? Many use tea infusers, aka tea steepers, which contain the tea leaves while also allowing them to fully expand and steep in the hot water. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes (ball steepers, floating infusers, and even tea pincers), but in previous tests we found that basket-style tea infusers performed best; they were large enough to allow tea to fully expand while still containing small particles, and they were the simplest to use.

To use a tea steeper, place the infuser in a mug or teapot, spoon tea leaves into the infuser, add hot water, and steep for the suggested time. When the tea has finished brewing, remove the basket with the leaves inside. Ideally, the tea leaves will have expanded, and the infuser will have contained the tea leaves, letting no particulate escape. We set out to find an infuser that would give tea leaves enough space to fully steep while ensuring a clean, particle-free brew.

• Ultrafine-Mesh Baskets: The baskets of most of the infusers we tested were made of metal perforated with small holes, which often let small pieces of tea get through. Our favorite was lined with tightly woven mesh, so it did the best job of keeping tea leaves contained. It was also one of the easiest to clean by hand since no tea particles got stuck in the mesh.

• Longer Baskets: While the infusers we tested ranged in length, we had a preference for longer baskets because they proved to be more versatile; they sat lower in both taller and shorter mugs, ensuring that tea leaves moistened fully. Shorter baskets were better suited to smaller cups and mugs; when we used them in a 16-ounce mug, they sat too high and gave us weak tea.

Nice to Have

• Lids: We liked models equipped with lids because the lids also served as saucers for the baskets once the tea had steeped. 
• Plastic or Silicone-Lined Handles: The handles of our favorite infuser were made of plastic, so they didn’t get too hot to touch. As for the models with metal handles, we preferred those with longer handles that extended farther away from the basket because they stayed cooler than shorter metal handles. We also liked the models with silicone-lined handles—the silicone protected our fingers from the hot metal.

• Shorter Baskets: In the 16-ounce mugs we used for testing, shorter baskets often sat higher in the water, resulting in unmoistened tea leaves and weaker cups of tea.

• Perforated Metal Baskets: While metal baskets with perforated holes performed adequately, they also always let little bits of tea escape. Leaf particles also got stuck in their holes, making them harder to clean than mesh baskets.

Minor Flaws

• Shorter Metal Handles: The short metal handles on two of the models we tested were too hot to touch after steeping, making it a challenge to remove these infusers from mugs when our tea was ready.