Swissgold TF500 - Other Infusing Advice.

[Woots]

I am attempting to build up a nice set of tools for brewing quality tea (as I am new to the tea culture).

Last week I ordered the Swissgold TF500 off amazon.com. It should be here by tomorrow, so I guess the damage is done.

Link Here: http://www.amazon.com/swissgold%C2%AE-5 ... 428&sr=8-1




Anyone have any experience with this particular model? Are they any good?

The mesh seems ultra fine and the size seems very big (2 things I would imagine are highly important for steeping loose teas... up to this point I have been using tea bags my whole life so I am new to this.)

Right at the moment until I develop my palate I will only be making tea for myself. I figured a personal infuser for my mug was the best way to go (i am sure this is novice ultimately).

I am looking into Yixing teapots and gaiwan as methods of brewing my tea next.

Also, I bought that adagio ultitea as well since you can heat water with it so quickly and to temperatures exacting to the type of tea you are making. It was the ultitea or a nice tetsubin (not sure I made the right choice yet.. im sure it comes down to technology vs tradition)

Can anyone give me advice on whats the prefered methods of infusing my tea? The infuser like I purchased? A Gaiwan? Yixing teapot? Other? I am feeling a tad overwhelmed with all the options I have researched in the last week. With the tea culture being over 5000 years old I have a lot of catching up to do!

[Victoria]

Just to address the basket question -
A nice basket infuser is good to have on hand - in two sizes

The Swiss Gold just doesn't appeal to me as much as the Finum
but I suppose it's just aesthetics. Finum is less expensive, more open and less plastic.
http://teasource.com/merchant2/merchant ... ct_Count=2 (for some reason it is looking gold, but it is really stainless steel)

As to other brewing methods - take it slow. You have time. Tell us what types of teas do you primarily brew? Many people rush into buying all those brewing vessels at once and find many are the wrong size or poor quality. It is easier if you first define your needs.

[edkrueger]

Google "Bodum Yoyo." If I were still making tea this way, that is what I'd get.

[Woots]

As to other brewing methods - take it slow. You have time. Tell us what types of teas do you primarily brew? Many people rush into buying all those brewing vessels at once and find many are the wrong size or poor quality. It is easier if you first define your needs.

Thanks for the input and I suppose your right taking time to decide which tools are best is what I need to do before I jump in.

-I primarily drink green teas (easily my favorite). Most of my brewing will be these kinds of teas.
-I like (very few) white teas but I do like white teas blended with green teas... they compliment each other.
-I only drink black tea when its iced tea.. I need to develop my palate more to appreciate hot black tea varieties.

Those are my 3 favorites... these below I am not sure about yet (or not a fan of) but will try to experiment with them over time.

-Rooibos (to me tastes like clay, perhaps I haven't found the right blend or steeping method) So far this its the only tea I dislike and I have tried 2 different blends. I am willing to give it another chance, but I will need to learn more about how to make rooibos taste good.

-I have never tried oolong tea (but I ordered 6 sample varieties of it off of various sites including adagio) so I do not know what to expect. I have high hopes though. (maybe that's just because I want to try tea picked by a monkey!)

-I have not tried straight herbal teas (no teas just herbs) but I am sure I will give this a shot sooner or later. I will need to do a lot of research on these before I jump in. Being a vitamin/herb kinda person I know these herbs can have a lot of effects on the body so I want to research which is best in vast consumption.

Google "Bodum Yoyo." If I were still making tea this way, that is what I'd get.

Is this method of brewing in such a small vessel intended to make very richly flavored steeping?



In this picture the infuser looks like it barely has room between the walls of the jar. I would imagine the tea steeps extremely rapidly in just a few seconds.

I make iced tea in a similar way to this (high concentrations in a little jar then take the high concentration and water it down to smooth out the bitter flavor)
Do you do the same thing with this? water down the high concentration with pure hot water afterward?

[Chip]

-I primarily drink green teas (easily my favorite). Most of my brewing will be these kinds of teas.
-I like (very few) white teas but I do like white teas blended with green teas... they compliment each other.
-I only drink black tea when its iced tea.. I need to develop my palate more to appreciate hot black tea varieties.

I had or have a few Swiss Golds somewhere and have or had several Finums as well over the last 9 years. Early on, I went infuser crazy, but for some reason I rarely reached for the Swiss Gold. I think it was because I also prefered greens and the SG did not permit much leaf opening. The Finum has more room as well.

[toastedtoads]

It's actually not that small. I believe that mug is about 10oz. I don't use grams yet, but generally you would use about a teaspoon of loose leaf tea per cup, I like my tea strong so I would use probably a rounded tsp or 1.5 tsp for that particular cup. You want the leaves to be able to interact freely with the water as much as possible, it doesn't really matter how close the infuser is to the sides of the vessel so much as the space the tea has inside.

You'll see (especially for the oolongs) once a teaspoon of tea has steeped and absorbed water and unfurled...it could take up a lot of room. That's why we don't use tea balls 'round these parts...the tea gets squished and doesn't come in contact with the water very well.

Unless you have very small tea leaves, a ctc assam or some such, it's not as instant as it may seem.

Enjoy the land of loose leaf tea and don't be afraid to ask more questions on your journey.

[eanglin]

I find I don't care for infusers with plastic parts as they are hard to get clean- they hold onto flavors more than metal.

I have a all stainless steel infuser I like to use for rooibos and flavored black teas that I like to brew directly in my mug.

For unflavored teas I like to use a pot or gaiwan- which one depends on how much tea I want to make. I do use some pots with infuser baskets (For black tea mostly.) the ones without infusers get pored directly into my cup or into a second pot or faircup to hold until drunk.

[tjkoko_off]

What is the term when tea leaves are close to one another in an infuser? Is it leaf crowding? I encountered the term earlier today but forgot what it is and where it was.

EDIT: Aaahhhhh, I found it. It's called agony of the leaves:

http://wikicha.com/index.php/Getting_Started[

[Woots]

Thx for feedback everyone.

Has anyone had experience with TF 500 from swissgold? Supposedly its the newer largest version in their lineup (bigger then the TF 300) Coffee Mug sized. This larger size was the reason I bought it. From what I read its monster sized (or is that info false?)

=====



The TF 500 also comes in a clear plastic version and you can see the inner workings of the infuser. It looks like its all gold sheet metal inside behind the plastic. So I am hoping it isnt to difficult to clean

I guess I will find out tomorrow how effective it is. If it fails I will try the Finum as a few of you suggest or the bodum perhaps.

[Woots]

Well after a lot of delay in the mail. This finally showed up last night and I had a chance to use it.

On the box it says infuser for "teapot" not for a cup. This thing is a very large infuser (the TF 500 model). It would not fit into a dainty teacup. I would only suggest using this in a taller tea bowl or a very large coffee mug (20 oz kinda mug). Even in a 20 oz mug it stands taller then the mug. Within the jumbo sized mug its about 1/2" gap on all sides of the infuser and the walls of the mug.

I tested it with Dragon Pearls Jasmine (figured this is definitely a true test to see if the size permits room for tea expansion.) Everything went perfect. The tea expanded nicely and tasted good with zero sediment at all.

Swissgold is definitely expensive but the thick foil mesh looks as if it will last a long time. (its not paper thin like I thought.) The holes are so micro sized it actually takes some time to drain out the infuser back into the cup when you remove it (couple seconds). The lid does not sit snugly into the top it just lays there. However, the lid doubles as a infuser resting tray when you get done. This saves you an extra trip to the sink or need of a tea tray if you don't have one handy. Also, the plastic used for the body and to hold the foil filter in place is a very hard high polish kind of plastic (not porous and matte finished). This should reduce the trapping of flavor and make it way easier to clean over time.

I know this doesn't compete against other traditional methods. However, if you are looking for something at the office or to keep it simple this seems to get the job done. I can tell the difference in flavor between this and gaiwan style. However, this infuser is handy to have. If you do decide to get one I recommend the TF500 not the TF300 (way more room for the buds to unfurl)

[teaseeker]

What is the bottom diameter of the TF500? I've been looking for this dimension everywhere, and can't seem to find it. This would be a great help!