Tag: Teaware

Posted on

DavidsTea’s Perfect Pitcher

Perfect Pitcher by DavidsTea
BPA-Free Plastic / 2L (68oz)
$28.00

First Impressions

One of the reasons why I bought the Perfect Pitcher was because I needed another pitcher and the other reason is because it qualified me for DavidsTea’s annual Summer Tea Club. Basically how the club works is that you purchase a qualifying piece of teaware and then you get a percentage off of qualifying loose leaf tea purchases (20% off when you buy 100g or more of one particular tea). Since I buy a lot of fruity tisanes anyways for iced teas during the summer, it seemed like a good deal.

In order to make this purchase worth it, I’d have to spend $140 on qualifying loose leaf tea purchases to ‘save’ what I already spent on the pitcher but I had a lot of gift cards that had been given to me (from birthdays and Christmases) that I kept on forgetting to bring into the store, so it was a combination of cash and gift cards that made the pitcher worth it (and luckily mostly gift cards). So if you don’t spend a lot of money on tea, it might not be worth it to you if you’re not already in the market for a new pitcher (because, frankly, there are cheaper pitchers out there!).

I picked the Soft Blue colour because it best fit with what I had already in terms of teaware and I just liked this colour the best. The tag boasts that the Perfect Pitcher is designed to lay flat, fit inside of a fridge door, and is made of shatter-resistant Tritan plastic (which is BPA-free). The Perfect Pitcher holds 2L (2000mL), or 68oz of liquid. The Perfect Pitcher also has a removeable infuser, and an airtight lid (which is probably good, considering they say you can lay it flat…).

Preparation

Prior to using my Perfect Pitcher for the first time, I unassembled it and washed all the pieces in warm soapy water. The pitcher comes apart into six pieces, with the infuser portion being three pieces. Because it isn’t one continuous piece for the infuser, it makes for easier cleaning if you don’t have a bottle brush, which is nice. The mesh is white, which makes it seem like it might pick up colour easily if you have highly pigmented teas (more on that later). The lid and spout/handle pieces both have an o-ring-like seal layer inside for the air-tight/leak-proof seal.

First Use

The first time I used the Perfect Pitcher was to steep Mango Fruit Punch for a party. It was easy to use, I just scooped the tea into the infuser and then connected it to the lid. Hot water went into the pitcher and then I popped the lid on for it to steep. I found the infuser easy to clean and to remove the loose leaf tea after I was done infusing the fruity tisane. The white mesh of the strainer wasn’t as bright white as it was when I started – it had picked up a bit of a yellow tinge.

DavidsTea’s instructions are to use 4 to 8 Perfect Spoons of dry leaf, and then fill the pitcher half-full (32oz/1L) with hot water, and then allow the tea to infuse as per steeping instructions. After removing the infuser, you top it up with ice to cool down the tea for an iced tea. I actually use my Perfect Pitcher to make iced tea with all water, and then pop the pitcher into my fridge once it’s cooled down to room temperature, or I cold steep it directly in the pitcher with room temperature water (and popped into the fridge for anywhere from 8 to 10 hours).

My Overall Impression

I liked DavidsTea’s Perfect Pitcher. I quite like the design of the pitcher, it’s light-weight and use to use. I find that the handle is comfortable and I do enjoy the colour. I do, however, wish that the infuser’s mesh didn’t pick up colour as easily as it did because I found that it stained with the first use, which wasn’t very fun. I also would like if DavidsTea produced a glass pitcher instead – I actually own a glass pitcher that I purchased from DavidsTea several years ago (designed by another company) – as I just find glass products to be generally more durable.

Sure we’ve been told that BPA is bad for us now, but for a long time it was considered safe so who knows what’s in store for use for the future when it comes to plastic usage? For now, I’ll be using my Perfect Pitcher anyways, it’s super handy to have around and makes for some easy tea steeping. I think the price is a bit steep for what it is, so you’d have to be really wanting a new pitcher to make the price worth it (I thought it was great that I had gift cards to help cover the cost of the pitcher, and my subsequent loose leaf tea purchases!).

Posted on

Spice Boutique’s Unbleached Self Fill Tea Bags

Unbleached Self Fill Tea Bags by Spice Boutique
Paper, Cotton Drawstring
£3.95 for 50 Bags

Spice Boutique has provided me with Unbleached Self Fill Tea Bags for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

I was contacted by Spice Boutique to see if I wanted to try out their Unbleached Self Fill Tea Bags and, of course, I said yes. Spice Boutique offers a range of sizes of bags (one cup, one pot, or extra large) in a variety of materials (either unbleached or bleached paper bags, or bags made out of corn fibre). The ones that I was sent are the unbleached paper variety.

What I learned while browsing the Spice Boutique website is that these bags contain zero plastic, are made of an unbleached paper, and have a 100% cotton drawstring. These bags are also 100% biodegradable and can be composted in your own bin (so no heat is required). And if you’re from the UK and looking to shop relatively local, these tea bags are produced in Scotland. I’m always on the lookout for some new tea products to try out, which is why I wanted to give these ones a go. It has a soft feel to the outside, they were easy to fill. The string isn’t knotted, so you do have 2 ends to the drawstring. It does allow for some flexibility in terms of either tying it around the cup handle or teapot handle.

First Use

The Unbleached Self Fill Tea Bags opened easily and have a wide enough opening to accommodate my largest tea spoon, which was great when I was filling it. I poured a spoonful of loose leaf tea into the bag and then pulled the drawstrings to cinch it tight. Because I was in the process of testing it, I didn’t knot the string around the opening or knot the two ends together.

The bags aren’t very large, but they had enough room for the tea leaves to open and expand. I’d imagine that you would run into issues with a more expansive tea – like a blooming/flowering tea or oolong tea. Those would definitely require a bit more space, but for the tea I was using (Earl Grey), there was plenty of space.

I didn’t test if the bag would biodegrade. I fill in a city that collects green waste on a weekly basis, so I don’t have my own composting bin.

My Overall Impression

I loved Spice Boutique’s Unbleached Self Fill Tea Bags. Overall, I found that they did a great job. After cinching the bag tight, the string did not loosen and I did not wind up with tea leaves floating in my tea, which is always a nice bonus. I found that the drawstring was a bit damp when I went to pull it out of my tea, but that’s just the moisture of the tea wicking up the bag and string, and it would have done that with any tea bag. I really like the idea of a fully compostable tea bag – it’s amazing how many tea products out there come in plastic tea bags still!

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

Posted on

T2’s Under The Sea Jade Tea For One

Under The Sea Jade Tea For One by T2
Porcelain & Stainless Steel
$59.00 USD

First Impressions

I first stumbled across T2 online, and then in-person when I was on a trip to New York City last October. Unfortunately, I had found the T2 store on my last day and my luggage was already woefully over stuffed so I couldn’t justify buying anything else. Fast forward a few months and I wound up buying some things off of T2’s website! I picked out the Under The Sea Jade Tea For One set because I love cup & saucer sets, and I’m a sucker for a cute teapot. The Under The Sea Jade Tea For One set came to me with each piece individually wrapped in a lot bubble wrap, in a black box and that was in a shipping carton. There was a lot of packaging material to the point that I felt kind of bad about my order because of all the waste involved. However, with all the packaging material, each piece to this tea for one set arrived intact and perfect. Under The Sea Jade consists of five pieces: tea pot, lid, infuser, cup, and saucer.

I love the design on this tea for one set. I spent a good portion of my undergraduate degree studying invertebrates and the oceans, so I was quite smitten with the artwork when I first saw it on the T2 website. Under The Sea Jade consists of illustrations of jellyfish, coral, anemone, and fish. There is gold detailing throughout the design and it really just pulls it all in together. The teapot has a 300ml capacity while the cup has a 200ml capacity.

Preparation

I hand washed of all the components of the Under The Sea Jade Tea For One set prior to use – using warm water and dish soap. T2 recommends doing a gentle hand wash and the product page states that it is not suitable for the dishwasher or the microwave.

First Use

The first time I used this set, I was steeping Lemon Lily’s Rose Petal Chai. The stainless steel infuser isn’t very large, but neither is the teapot so I didn’t mind that too much. Both the teapot and the teacup get pretty warm when it’s in use, so watch your fingers/hands. The mesh of the stainless steel infuser did a fairly good job of keeping all of the tea leaves together, which I appreciated. The pour from the teapot to the cup was good, there was no dripping. I found that the handle of the teapot is almost too small for my hand to lift comfortably, depending on how I hold it – I usually wear a size small in adult gloves, so if you’ve got larger hands, you might find the teapot to be uncomfortable to use.

The teapot is roomy and is wide so it makes for a nice shape to use both of your hands to cup if you’re looking to warm your hands. I love the saucer – for both the size and the design, it’s just cheery to see the gold fish. I found when I poured the tea from pot to cup, the remaining tea is out of the way of the infuser, so there wasn’t any risk of my tea over steeping. One potential downside, there’s no little tab on the infuser to make it easier on you to remove the infuser if you wanted to after the tea has steeped without potentially burning your fingers on the stainless steel infuser.

Despite the teacup having the capacity for 200ml versus the 300ml of the teapot, I didn’t find myself filling up the cup to the brim, so I found that the teapot holds about two teacups worth of tea, which is nice as its a personal-sized teapot. I found that the teapot sits well into the cup when it’s stacked for display in my cupboards.

Overall Impression

I loved T2’s Under The Sea Jade Tea For One. I love the illustrated design, I think it’s really pretty and love the gold accents. I had no concerns regarding the usage of the teaset, aside from the handle. My hands aren’t the largest, so if I’m feeling like the handle might be a little small, I’m thinking others might have an issue with it as well. That said, it performs its function well, has a beautiful marine-themed design, and was packaged well for shipment. I wish there was something somewhere to say that the bubble wrap was biodegradable though, because there was a lot of plastic bubble wrap involved in getting this teaset safely from T2 to me.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.