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A tea infuser is a device in which loose, dried tea leaves are placed for steeping or brewing, in a mug or a teapot full of hot water; it is often called a teaball (alternatively tea maker or tea egg). [1] The tea infuser gained popularity in the first half of the 19th century. Tea infusers enable one to easily steep tea from fannings and broken leaf teas. [2]
A tea infuser performs a similar function as a tea bag, a later American invention. The infuser is generally a small mesh or perforated metal container or covered spoon that holds tea leaves, in varying sizes to steep single or multiple servings at once. Common shapes for infusers include spherical, conical and cylindrical. One style of infuser is a split sphere with tong-like handles to open its mesh container. [3]
The infuser is placed in a cup or pot of hot or boiling water, allowing the tea to brew without loose tea leaves spilling into the pot or cup. A rod or chain is commonly attached to the container of the infuser to simplify retrieval from the pot or cup. Infusers with large holes may not catch all the leaves, requiring the use of a tea strainer to remove the remaining pieces. [4]
Water imbibition takes half the time for material that floats with half its area above the water surface when they are submerged with an infuser.
Seeds are often pre-treated before sowing in order to verify that they will sprout. Imbibition of water through the membrane of the seed shell is the first step in the germination process in most seeds. Seeds can be submerged with an infuser, including hot water scarification treatment for tolerant species. Seeds can be weighed with a milligram scale before and after they have been submerged to find out when they don't need to be exposed to more water imbibition. Floating seeds can be inspected when they have to sink inside mesh infusers submerged in transparent containers by shaking them. Seeds who don't absorb water will not germinate and must be modified with further scarification.
Also, hot water treatment at 90 degrees C for 90 seconds followed by dip in cold water for 30 seconds can be an effective seed decontamination method against escherichia coli O157:H7 and salmonella. [5]
Ball infusers are removed along with the tea leaves from the pot.
Snap ball tea strainers are automatically sealed with the force of the end of the handle that is circulated like a spring. The spring handle requires more metal to manufacture, thus they are usually a bit more expensive than regular infuser balls.
The handle in snap ball tea strainers make them more practical:
Shut-off infusers [6] are left in the pot after the brewing process is complete.
While not common, a French press may be used as a tea infuser. However, most teas are infused only for a limited time and then removed from the water so that the drink does not become bitter. [4]
In gōngfu chá (功夫茶), a modern method to infused tea in China, tea can be infused through a gàiwǎn (盖碗), a tea pot (茶壶) or a gōngdào bēi (公道杯). [7]
A tea bag or teabag is a small, porous, sealed bag or packet, typically containing tea leaves or the leaves of other herbs, which is immersed in water to steep and make an infusion. Originally used only for tea, they are now made with other tisanes as well.
A teapot is a vessel used for steeping tea leaves or a herbal mix in boiling or near-boiling water, and for serving the resulting infusion which is called tea. It is one of the core components of teaware.
Chinese tea culture includes all facets of tea found in Chinese culture throughout history. Physically, it consists of tea cultivation, brewing, serving, consumption, arts, and ceremonial aspects. Tea culture is an integral part of traditional Chinese material culture and spiritual culture. Tea culture emerged in the Tang dynasty, and flourished in the succeeding eras as a major cultural practice and as a major export good.
A French press, also known as a cafetière, cafetière à piston, caffettiera a stantuffo, press pot, coffee press, or coffee plunger, is a coffee brewing device, although it can also be used for other tasks. The earliest known device was patented in 1852 in France by Jacques-Victor Delforge and Henri-Otto Mayer.
Drip coffee is made by pouring hot water onto ground coffee beans, allowing it to brew while seeping through. There are several methods for doing this, including using a filter. Terms used for the resulting coffee often reflect the method used, such as drip-brewed coffee, or, somewhat inaccurately, filtered coffee in general. Manually brewed drip coffee is typically referred to as pour-over coffee. Water seeps through the ground coffee, absorbing its constituent chemical compounds, and then passes through a filter. The used coffee grounds are retained in the filter, while the brewed coffee is collected in a vessel such as a carafe or pot.
A coffee filter is a filter used for various coffee brewing methods including but not limited to drip coffee filtering. Filters made of paper (disposable), cloth (reusable), or plastic, metal or porcelain (permanent) are used. Paper and cloth filters require the use of some kind of filter holder, whereas filters made out of other materials may present an integral part of the holder or not, depending on construction. The filter allows the liquid coffee to flow through, but traps the coffee grounds.
A sieve, fine mesh strainer, or sift, is a tool used for separating wanted elements from unwanted material or for controlling the particle size distribution of a sample, using a screen such as a woven mesh or net or perforated sheet material. The word sift derives from sieve.
A tea strainer is a type of strainer that is placed over or in a teacup to catch loose tea leaves.
Steeping is the soaking of an organic solid, such as leaves, in a liquid to extract flavours or to soften it. The specific process of teas being prepared for drinking by leaving the leaves in heated water to release the flavour and nutrients is known as steeping. Herbal teas may be prepared by decoction, infusion, or maceration. Some solids are soaked to remove an ingredient, such as salt, where the solute is not the desired product.
ISO 3103 is a standard published by the International Organization for Standardization, specifying a standardized method for brewing tea, possibly sampled by the standardized methods described in ISO 1839. It was originally laid down in 1980 as BS 6008:1980 by the British Standards Institution, and a revision was published in December, 2019 as ISO/NP 3103. It was produced by ISO Technical Committee 34, Sub-Committee 8 (Tea).
Infusion is the process of extracting chemical compounds or flavors from plant material in a solvent such as water, oil or alcohol, by allowing the material to remain suspended in the solvent over time. An infusion is also the name for the resultant liquid. The process of infusion is distinct from both decoction—a method of extraction involving boiling the plant material—and percolation, in which water is passed through the material.
A tea set or tea service is a collection of matching teaware and related utensils used in the preparation and serving of tea. The traditional components of a tea set may vary between societies and cultures.
Gongfu tea or kung fu tea, literally "making tea with skill", is a traditional Chinese tea preparation method sometimes called a "tea ceremony". It is probably based on the tea preparation approaches originating in Fujian and the Chaoshan area of eastern Guangdong. The practice involves using smaller brewing vessels and a higher leaf-to-water ratio than in Western-style brewing. Today, the approach is used popularly by teashops carrying tea of Chinese or Taiwanese origin, and by aficionados and trained masters as a way to fully realize the taste of a tea selection, especially a finer one.
A gaiwan or zhong (盅) is a Chinese lidded bowl without a handle, used for the infusion of tea leaves and the consumption of tea. It was invented during the Ming dynasty. It consists of a bowl, a lid, and a saucer.
Coffee preparation is the process of turning coffee beans into liquid coffee. While the particular steps vary with the type of coffee and with the raw materials, the process includes four basic steps: raw coffee beans must be roasted, the roasted coffee beans must then be ground, and the ground coffee must then be mixed with hot or cold water for a specific time (brewed), the liquid coffee extraction must be separated from the used grounds, and finally, if desired, the extracted coffee is combined with other elements of the desired beverage, such as sweeteners, dairy products, dairy alternatives, or toppings.
A spider is a type of skimmer prevalent in East Asian cuisine in the form of a wide shallow wire-mesh basket with a long handle, used for removing hot food from a liquid or skimming foam off when making broths. The name is derived from the wire pattern, which looks like a spider's web. It has been widely adopted in Western cuisine by cooks who favour the open mesh over slotted spoons for faster and safer drainage.
Scarification in botany involves weakening, opening, or otherwise altering the coat of a seed to encourage germination. Scarification is often done mechanically, thermally, and chemically. The seeds of many plant species are often impervious to water and gases, thus preventing or delaying germination. Any process designed to make the testa more permeable to water and gases is known as scarification.
Raw meat generally refers to any type of uncooked muscle tissue of an animal used for food. In the meat production industry, the term ‘meat’ refers specifically to mammalian flesh, while the words ‘poultry’ and ‘seafood’ are used to differentiate between the tissue of birds and aquatic creatures.
Dong Ding, also spelled Tung-ting, is an oolong tea from Taiwan. A translation of Dong Ding is "Frozen Summit" or "Icy Peak", and is the name of the mountain in Taiwan where the tea is cultivated. Those plants were brought to Taiwan from the Wuyi Mountains in China's Fujian Province about 150 years ago.
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