Preparing loose leaf tea without a strainer.

No strainer? No worries.

So, you’ve been gifted some loose-leaf tea.

But you don’t have a tea strainer, so it’s probably back to those plastic containing dusty tea bags and I’ll give this to someone I know likes tea, right?

Hold it there just one minute, Buster!

No need to throw in the towel just yet.

Here are some suggestions of how to brew exceedingly good loose-leaf tea without any “tea gear”.

1. Make tea using a sieve

That’s right, something as simple as a regular-old sieve will do the trick. If you have one of those small cocktail ones, even better, but a simple plastic or metal fine sieve that every house has will do it. Not a colander – your leaves will probably whizz away through the gaps – but a sieve like in the picture will be great.

Simply brew your tea in a teapot or a mug, place your sieve over the mug you’ll be drinking from and pour the tea through the sieve into the waiting mug! (Might be worth doing it over the sink if you’re pouring from one mug to another…

2. Make tea in a Cafetière/ French Press

Whilst people think of a tea strainer as “fancy tea gear”, many of those very same folks won’t consider a cafetiere “fancy coffee gear” and will likely have one.

If you do, you can use it for tea too!

Just use it in exactly the same way as you would coffee. Pop your leaves in the bottom, add hot water, let it steep then press the plunger down and pour.

Couldn’t be easier!

 

3. Make a tea strainer from a paper cup in seconds

We’re getting crafty now! Got a paper cup left over from Christmas / a kid’s birthday party / a grown up’s birthday party…?

Well now’s the time to pull it out of retirement and into use.

Simply punch some small holes in the bottom of the paper cup using a sharp knife-end or scissors and Bob is most definitely your father’s brother: you have a tea strainer.

To use, just pop your tea leaves into your homemade wonder and place this inside the mug you’ll be drinking from. Pour your hot water over until your mug is full and leave to steep. Once sufficiently steeped, slowly pull the paper cup strainer from the mug and enjoy your tea!

See gallery for some pics of this in action.

 

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Enjoy.