It's 5 PM, and your morning cup of tea is sitting, half-sipped and ice cold where you left it this morning. Morning-you had the right intentions: brew a cup of tea with fresh, loose leaf tea leaves to set your day off on the right foot. But after a rushed morning routine and hours working, you've forgotten all about your tea, and now it's rendered un-drinkable.
It's a tale as old as time. The tea you took the time brewing with a tea infuser this morning never was finished, and now you've wasted perfectly good tea leaves and disappointed your morning self. No matter how fancy your tea brewing process is (think: stainless steel mesh brewing basket in a glass mug), if you don't get the chance to drink it, it's all for nothing.
Luckily, there are plenty of tea infuser bottles on the market that you can take on-the-go -- so you never sacrifice another sip. But with so many out there, how can you find the best option for your tea routine?
What to Consider When Buying a Tea Infuser Bottle
If you're on the market for a new portable tea infuser bottle, there are several factors you should be considering:
Design
This one is simple, but you're going to want to love the design of your portable tea infuser to make it part of your daily routine. You won't leave a sleek-looking, simple infuser behind by accident -- you'll be excited to bring it with you from work to yoga to the park and everywhere in between.
We recommend looking for a bottle that has an easy carrying method, like a loop on the lid to hold it easily while on the move. Many tea infuser bottles include travel sleeves to help with insulation, which many users find bulky or less aesthetically-pleasing than a clear bottle without a cover. To avoid needing a cover, make sure you're looking for a double walled design so your tea stays hot without a cover necessary.
Material
Perhaps the most important factor in choosing your next portable tea infuser is its material. This will determine the infuser's durability, insulation (temperature control), and could even impact the quality of your tea.
For starters, you should look for tea infuser bottles that are lead- and BPA-free to ensure that they are non-toxic. This is especially important for tea infusers, because hot liquid can allow some of these unfriendly chemicals to seep into your drink -- and make their way into your body.
Many tea infuser bottles are made out of stainless steel, bamboo or glass. Oftentimes, the body of the bottle (the part that holds the liquid) is made out of glass.
Glass Tea Infusers
While glass makes for a really clean aesthetic, and allows you to see the liquid in your bottle (and thus better control the strength of your tea), it comes with many challenges. Glass can break really easily, especially when a temperature change takes place quickly. Many glass tea infuser brands suggest heating up the bottle itself prior to adding your boiling hot tea. This extra step is time-consuming, and still doesn't solve for the slipperiness of glass which can make it easy to drop and shatter. Many public spaces, like beaches and parks, will not allow a glass bottle for this reason.
Glass also isn't the best material when it comes to heat retention. This is why many tea infuser bottles come with a fabric sleeve to aid the bottle in insulation. However, this sleeve makes for a bulky bottle.
Stainless Steel Tea Infusers
Many tea infusers also come in a stainless steel format, which is known to be much stronger and more durable than glass. A stainless steel tea infuser is also much lighter in weight, making it more easily portable. Stainless steel is better at keeping liquids hot than glass bottles, but only when they are vacuum-sealed.
While stainless steel may seem like a good option, it also is known to impact the taste of your tea. Many stainless steel infuser users feel that their tea can absorb a metallic taste from their bottle. Also, stainless steel tea infusers are usually not dishwasher safe.
Mosi Tea's All-in-One Tea Infuser
Mosi Tea's infuser is the first of its kind to be made out of Triton, a material typically used to make medical devices and baby products. Triton is clear like glass, but shatter resistant. It is better than stainless steel because it cannot be dented, and you can see through it to measure your tea strength. Mosi Tea's double-walled design maintains the temperature of the liquid inside of it. It also is dishwasher safe, BPA free and BPS free.
Sieve/Strainer
Your tea infuser bottle will generally come with a strainer or sieve to brew your tea on the go. Sieves are usually made out of silicone or stainless steel. Your best bet for a sieve comes down to the size -- for finer teas, a fine mesh strainer is best to filter out the small pieces. For coarser loose leaf tea, a slightly larger and deeper basket will give the tea the room it needs to expand as it brews.
Mosi's infuser comes with several infuser basket options, so you don't have to choose just one. The lid attaches to two different sieves for different sized teas, as well as a sieve specifically to brew cold brew coffee. It even includes a whisk attachment, so your bottle doubles as a matcha tea infuser. The filters are easily removable, making them exceptionally easy to clean as well.
You'll also want to easily be able to control steeping time, as loose leaf tea steeping time varies based on the kind of tea you are using. Mosi Tea's infuser makes it easy to control the steeping time by simply flipping the leak-proof bottle upside down while is steeping, and then flipping it back right side up when you're ready to enjoy.
Tea Infuser Lid
While you may not be paying much attention to the lid attachment of your infuser bottle, this is actually a crucial piece of information in making your decision. The lid of your infuser bottle may be the reason it leaks, and it also may impact how easy it is to drink your tea while on the go. A screw top lid requires that you remove the whole lid of the bottle and then drink from the entire mouth of the bottle, which requires two hands for use and can lead to spilling.
A flip-top lid does allow you to drink your tea with just one hand, but is also often associated with leakage as these lids don't seal as well as a screw top. This may also impact the bottle's ability to insulate the tea inside.
Mosi Infuser's flip-top lid is completely leak proof, sealed with a switch lock. This is the best of both worlds -- you can drink out of your Mosi tea infuser with one hand, but you don't risk leaking.
Beyond the easy one-handed design of the Mosi Infuser lid, the spout itself is actually a tool to enhance the flavor of your tea.
Conclusion
While there are many different kinds of tea infuser bottles on the market, it's important to remember that each one comes with unique pros and cons. To take your tea on the go, we recommend focusing on a leak proof, well-insulated infuser bottle like Mosi's.
