Best Tea Infusers Picked by a Tea Sommelier

This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Finding a tea infuser that gives loose tea leaves the space to unfurl without letting any tea leaves into your teacup can be tricky. Get tea infuser picks from a tea sommelier!

3 tea infusers

Want to save this?
Enter your email and get it sent straight to your inbox. Plus, get recipes & tips from me every week!
Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

Tea Infusers

Tea infusers are superfine mesh baskets that hold loose tea leaves as they steep in a pot or a mug.

They’re great because you can just take the infuser out of the teapot when it’s finished steeping instead of pouring all the tea out of the pot immediately.

Tea Sommelier’s Tip: Using a tea infuser makes a huge impact on the flavor of your tea. It means you’re using loose tea leaves, which always makes a higher quality cup of tea than tea bags.

What to Look For When Buying a Tea Infuser

  • Bigger the better
    Look for an infuser that’s almost the size of your cup. You want as much room as possible to let the tea leaves unfurl all the way.
  • Extra fine mesh
    Loose tea leaves getting in your cup isn’t the worst thing that can happen to your tea, but if it’s a pet peeve of yours, look for infusers with extra fine mesh that won’t let any tea leaves escape into your cup.
  • Comes with a lid
    A lid keeps the tea covered so the water can stay hot for longer.
  • Easy to clean
    This is always a dealbreaker for me. Since there are usually lots of small broken tea leaves caught in tea infusers after use, finding one that’s easy to clean is really important. Otherwise, you’ll never want to use it.

My Pick for Best Tea Infuser:

OXO BREW Tea Infuser

Photo Credit: amazon.com

This infuser checks off all the things I look for. It’s easy to clean and there’s plenty of room for the tea leaves to expand.
SHOP NOW
FORLIFE Brew-in-Mug Tea Infuser

Photo Credit: amazon.com

This is a great choice if you’re brewing in different sized mugs because of the design of the lip. The lid doubles as an infuser holder after you take it out of the cup.
SHOP NOW
Finum Stainless Steel Mesh Basket

Photo Credit: amazon.com

Mesh is made from a stainless steel fabric so it’s great if you really don’t like debris or sediment of any kind in your tea.
SHOP NOW
Yoassi Stainless Steel Tea Infuser

Photo Credit: amazon.com

This is a slightly lower cost option since it’s a bare bones but does the same job.
SHOP NOW

Questions You May Have

How do you clean a tea infuser?

After throwing out the tea leaves, rinse the infuser to get all the little bits out. Some infusers are dishwasher-friendly for a deeper clean, but otherwise washing it with mild dish soap should do the trick.

Is there any way to measure how big the holes are?

No. Usually you can tell roughly how fine the mesh is by the picture, but there are no measurements for it.

Will the tea infuser rust?

It depends. Most infusers are made of food-grade stainless steel, so if you’re using filtered water and cleaning it regularly, this shouldn’t happen. But if you’re using tap water with a high salt content, the tea infuser may begin to rust.

Will the infuser fit in my mug?

For the most part, yes. These infusers are made to fit into a variety of mugs and teacups, so if your mug is more or less normally sized, the infuser should fit fine. If you’re concerned, most of them include the dimensions in the description.

About Jee Choe

Welcome! I'm a certified Tea Sommelier and a self-proclaimed bubble tea and iced tea master. I'm all about making tea EASY and DELICIOUS.

You May Also Like:

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

3 Comments

  1. How do you feel about those single use loose tea bags that you can buy? They are big so the tea would be able to unfurl, but they’d fit in an antique pot.

  2. What kind of infuser would you recommend for the vintage antique teapots that have these unique shaped neck and top/lid?

    Thank you.

    Ramon