Do you filter your teas? What do you use?

[Alex]

Just interested in who filters their teas. What do you use?

I've tried a calabash material filter but found the tea oils build up very fast and ends up imparting their taste on brews. Anyone else found that?

I was thinking about getting a metal filter but part of me doesn't want to introduce one in to the mix (dont know why...maybe I should try one). I usually only drink oolong and find the natural shape of the glass pitcher I have holds back most of the little bits at the end which I just throw away. But a little bit of leaf gets in.....

So I was really just interested in what others thought of the pros and cons and general use of tea filters. Not the most interesting of threads but I'd like to hear opinions on the subject.

Thanks for reading

[TwoPynts]

I use a little metal tea strainer that came with the set I got from Victoria. Works very well for me and is holding up just fine, no rust. No effect on the taste of the tea that my palette can detect. I just take the bits of tea it catches and flick them back into the pot. This looks like the one here:

http://www.teacuppa.com/Metal-Tea-Strainer.asp

[debunix]

I have some that are much the same, and use them if for some reason I'm getting a lot of particles coming out into the tea. I do not use them for routine brewing, if the tea has mostly intact leaves that stay put in the teapot/gaiwan, mostly out of laziness rather than from any desire to avoid the touch of metal and tea. Haven't noticed any effect on tea flavor when I do use them.

[Proinsias]

I've got a few of the metal ones linked above lying around, I used to use them regularly but it's maybe once every few months at most now. I do have one sometimes sitting on the drain of one of my tea trays as the little drain was getting blocked.

I don't really mind some leaf in my cup.

[Victoria]

Yes, I have the same metal one as others have noted. I don't like to have any leaf in my cup, as sometimes I linger or the cup gets cold, and as time passes if there are particles it can make oolongs bitter. If you filer, it tastes fine to drink the last bit cold if you have been called away. Which happens at work frequently, unfortunately!

[Chip]

If I do, I also use a cheap metal Chinese version, have nicer ones, but always reach for the cheap one.

Depends on my mood and the tea as to whether I use one or not.

Edit: ... and am more apt to use one if using a gaiwan or similar unscreened brewing vessel.

[entropyembrace]

a few leaf bits don´t bother me...just the teapot is good enough to filter the leaves for me.

[Cyphre]

http://www.holymtn.com/catalog/tea-acce ... esh-p-2442

I use that when I am not using a pot to brew the tea in. It is wide and allows the leaves to expand just fine.

[rabbit]

I love my metal strainer, it doesn't add any flavors to the tea and it's great if you're steeping with a gaiwan and don't want little leaf particles in the cup after you pour.

[gingkoseto]

I use the same metal filter occasionally too, mainly for puerh. Most of the times I would just omit filtering.

[teaisme]

haven't used one in a while
Used to use them more, but recently I have just been leaving about 1/8 in cup/faircup and pouring the next infusion into that for oolongs, yes it clouds the distinct taste for each infusion but that's sometimes ok with me, esp during work

Japanese greens and quality Chinese greens I don't use filter

It's interesting to see how much stuff a filter stops. I kinda get the feeling the filter is taking something out of the tea, be it body, nutrients, chi whatever just a feeling

[hyakuraiju]

Most of my pots have a built in strainer, but sometimes I brew the leaves in a pyrex cup and pour it through a strainer, or make a tea bag out of plastic mesh netting material and tie it with dental floss, or pour cheaper teas like orange pekoe through a coffee filter. My glass kyusu has a strainer with slits instead of mesh and the leaves get clogged in them alot, so i'm thinking of taking a thick plastic mesh sheet I found near the knitting supplies at a craft store and heat forming it to fit into the glass strainer. In the future I might try drilling a bunch of holes through a glass cup with a carbide tipped or diamond drill bit.


Ps: churng, the term 'Jap' is considered offensive.

[Chip]

Filtered TGY brewed up today in a gaiwan. Cheap is where it is at when it comes to filters, IMHO.

[TwoPynts]

Ps: churng, the term 'Jap' is considered offensive.

I believe he meant it as an abbreviation, nothing more.

[Chip]

I agree that there was no intent to offend, but a better abbreviation exists.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jap

I actually naively posted this abbreviation when I first joined TC in the IM, it was pointed out to me and I was embarrassed at the time, but clearly did not want to offend in the future.