FORLIFE Capsule Infuser

This product is great. I do a lot of cooking and make homemade soups and stocks frequently. It has a large capacity (about 1 cup) and very tiny holes. It allows water to travel through but not much to travel out of the container. It is great for putting herbs in to flavor soups and stocks when you do not want the herbs in the final product. It reduces the amount of straining I need to do, and it never makes me wonder where the mystery bay leaf is going to show up. It is very easy to clean since nothing gets stuck in the holes. Also, the lid is very secure (twist on/off with notches) but comes off easily for cleaning, it does not stick at all. The chain that it comes on is long enough that if I hang it off the edge of my large stock pot it hangs about halfway down into the soup. It is thick enough that the lid wont close all the way with it on the edge but since I tend to use silicone covers instead of glass lids this isn't an issue for me.

This cost three or four times what one of those giant hinged tea balls cost, but it's already been worth it for me! I've had those hinged balls come apart erupting marc all over everything too many times. There are workarounds with clamps and twist ties, etc., but this is such a higher-quality solution. It holds just about a cup, although you want to leave some room for your teas to expand, so don't stuff it. But it's plenty for a gallon of tea for kombucha, or for a full ounce of some herbs for infusions. The mesh is really fine, so small pieces like rooibos, tulsi, pekoe, etc., stay in the infuser and don't sift out. I haven't yet tried powdered herbs, but I think especially non-mucilaginous powders (fo-ti, rhodiola) should work. The lid screws on just a half turn, which made me a little anxious at first, but I've pulled it out of the water and shaken it pretty good, and everything stayed together, so that's a good sign. The hook at the end of the chain is designed, I think, to rest on the lip of an iced-tea pitcher. When I use it on the lip of the stockpot while simmering an infusion, it's a little too thick for the lid to seal. But that's no big deal--if I need the lid to seal I just let the chain plus hook be down in the pot. Its size makes it easy to fish out with a spoon when I'm done.

Totally in love with this tea infuser - I am a huge fan of loose tea, (I drink it every morning instead of coffee, and then take it iced to work) and I spent a lot of time trying to find a tea ball that was large enough for my needs and that had a very fine mesh so no particles would get through, and unlike a lot of others, this definitely does the trick. I use this for making large quantities of tea, hot or iced, and it really holds A LOT of loose tea. You do need to have a pitcher or pot with a large opening - the dimensions say this is 3 inches across, but it is really more like 3.5 inches. I found a glass iced tea pitcher with a wide opening on Amazon that works perfectly (the Bormioli Rocco Rolly jug, I just unscrewed the optional ice container and use the lid without it), and I could not be happier with my new tea system, and have been using the infuser for a few months now with no issues. This infuser is a well made, high quality item and I think it will last a long time.

Purchased this for brewing large quantities of loose tea, and it works very well. The capsule is thick enough that it doesn't easily warp, and I've not yet seen any indications of rust. The lid screws on easily, but securely, and the attached chain is long enough for the hook to latch on to the lip of my 8-quart stock pot while the infuser sits on the bottom. The capsule is probably too big to put into a mug, so this is best used for brewing large amounts of tea, or infusing into a large quantity of liquid. I typically put about two tablespoons of loose tea into it, but it can probably hold at least three times that. Cleanup is also pretty easy. Tea leaves do tend to stick to the inside of the capsule, since it's made of flat, perforated metal, but it's easy enough to get everything out with minor effort.

I use this every day to make iced tea from loose tea. It does a very good job. The only concern is how the lid attaches, not really a screw top more of a twist and wedge system. You must be careful because it can be difficult to determine if the lid is secure. Overall a nice LARGE infuser that I continue to use almost daily.

Finally! I found an infuser big enough to make 3 quarts of tea without taking forever! I heat up my water, put this in it, and I can leave it to steep. I was really over repeating this process more than once a day and never being able to make enough tea to get through the day. The lid fits loosely. It's never come off. I move the infuser around the water to help the water move through it and get all the wonderful flavor out of my tea. The infuser will "burp" allowing air out through the lid. Sometimes some residue will come out, too. Not a problem. I make Rooibos and Guayusa teas that have a lot of powdery residue. I purchased a cone paperless coffee double mesh filter to take care of it. No more residue in my tea. It's just a wonderful little item. Between those 2 purchases, life is a little bit easier!

This is exactly what we were looking for! We are giant loose leaf iced tea fans! So we needed a giant size infuser for the job. We like to brew 2 gallons at a time and this can handle the job. I have to admit the price point was a bit daunting, but did some more research and decided to bite the bullet. We are blown away at the quality of this infuser, super small mesh openings so there is ZERO tea material that leaks out. This is easy to clean, easy to use and the true flavor and the true flavor of the tea is never compromised.

Updated: leaving 3 stars as before. But want to emphasise that cleaning out loose leaf tea out of it is chore enough that I am getting paper filters instead. I think that it may work for some people. Basically, one can place this filter into a bigger container with water and shake it until clean. Then take the whole water container with remaining loose tea, and dump it on say flowers to water them. And remaining grounds would probably make for a fertilizer, though I am not sure about that. But I try to drain water without loosing loose tea into the sink. Then collect remaining loose tea and squeey it dry, and dump it into my garbage. Some still escape into my synk. Anyway, too much work the way I do it. First off, I would give at least 4 stars to it, if I would get it for a better price. But when I needed it, it was at the highest price ever, and it is not as great as I thought, in addition to that. So, what I am saying, is that I am taking one star for emotional reasons only. Why I am taking the other star off: I have to say this star is half emotional as well, but half deserved, may be. Basically, here is what is bad about it, which I did not spend time to find out: 1. it still allows some fine particles through the mesh. Too much for my taste. Probably need to find a different solution, like paper bags. 2. it is not as easy to get the used up tea leaves from the container. I feel I must also say what is good about it as well: 1. I have placed 4 dry table spoons of tea into it, (from my research, enough for 2 gallons of tea), and it was fine, may have been able to accept 1 or 2 more and still work fine. 2. It is stainless steel, and seems to be well made, and it looks nice, and it functions as one would expect, no issues. 3. the only option I was able to find for such big size, and with such small mesh.