Customer Reviews

Norpro Grip-EZ Tea Infuser with Cup

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This item is well made, and actually rather attractive. It looks better in real-life than in the picture. The handles are a nice silicon, and the spring loaded mechanism is rather clever.

I am not, however, convinced that the design is perfect. It's a bit peculiar to load with tea while holding it open with the other hand.

I found the Norpro Grip-EZ tea infuser difficult to use. The black material covering the handles is not firmly attached. It rolls around the handles as you attempt to grip them making them hard to hold on to as you load and unload the mesh basket. I will not purchase this product again.

I purchased this because even with tea in a BAG, I hate having to hold it down with a spoon to prevent it from floating. I now put my tea bag inside the infuser and it is always underwater when brewing. The downside is that for some reason, even with the infuser, I can still get bits of tea "dust" and such in my cup, which I really thought this might eliminate. But I am not really a tea guru, just a fan of a daily cup. I drink tea from the Republic of Tea, whose tea bags contain no strings or staples and are completely round and flat.

I do put this in the dishwasher and have had no issues. I was unsure if it was dishwasher safe but it comes out clean and has no melting or warping issues. Easy to use.

the infuser does certainly contain the tea leaves and cleans easily. you really can't just drop the whole thing in the cup while steeping, unless you don't mind having the hinges and the rubber part of the handle in your tea.

I originally bought this because my tea-loving husband bought some loose tea leaves. He quickly lost interest in that method of making tea, but I have found an even better purpose for this fabulous gadget: I sprinkle baked goods with cocoa powder, powdered sugar, and spices like cinnamon. Just squeeze it open, dip it in the powder and let it close, then sprinkle away. I pat my hand gently as I move it around the dessert to help it spread evenly, because shaking can lead to uneven dispersal. Makes everything look beautiful and professional!

Grips make this infuser easy to hold. The spring holds well, I've had no issues with leaves getting loose in my teacup (with a wide variety of teas). Only quibble, it is hard to load neatly, but this is true of any infuser of this type. Highly recommended.

The two halves don't come together to create a very good seal; it's as if one side were warped, leaving a gap just big enough to allow sizable pieces of maté out and into my cup. Works well for larger leaves like darjeling. I haven't tried any others. I'm tempted to bend one of the hemispheres so it seals flush with the other, but I wish it were manufactured better in the first place.

You will get a cup of tea through the use of this infuser. But it is not an optimal device. The following is the list of issues I had:

1)You have to have some dexterity to squeeze the device's handles with one hand and then fill the device with tea using your other hand. If you are not steady with this process, tea leaves will spill everywhere.

2)The device is small so forget about bulky teas.

3)Since the device is small and bulky teas cannot fit, you have to use teas of a finer composition. Unfortunately, little particles of fine tea can escape through the mesh.

4)The seal between the two halves of the device is not tight so if your fine teas do not escape through the mesh halves, a few pieces will likely find a way to escape via the space between the two mesh halves.

5)A lot of people prepare tea with hot water. The handles on this device have a plastic coating and these handles are immersed in the hot water. Who knows what is being discharged into your tea.

At the same time I bought this device, I purchased a Finum brewing basket. I think the device by Finum is far superior. It can hold larger teas and you don't have to do funky hand movements to fill the brewing basket. Even though largely composed of stainless steel mesh, the Finum brewing basket still has a little plastic that comes in contact with water (Finum classifies this plastic as heat resistant).

In short, pick something else.

It works fine. The mesh seems small enough that you wont have any leakage through the mesh. As a nice bonus mine came with a little metal cup that I can rest the unit in after using it, so it doesn't drip on my desk.

2 small problems

1 - the handles rotate making it slightly difficult to use. Not really a problem, just a minor annoyance. Its not like you need great strength to squeeze open the device. But I still deduct half a star, since it should be possible to design this better so the handles are static and don't roll. If you are very frail, you may have difficulty squuzing teh handles together.

2 - when loading it, by sticking it into a big bag of tea, some clippings will get caught near where it closes, preventing it from making a perfect seal. This will cause some of the tea leaves to slip into the cup when the infuser is imersed in water. Its not that big a deal for me as its just a tiny amount, but yes you do get some stray tiny tea leaves in your cup. Its not that big a deal to me, but I will knock off 1/2 a star because it doesn't warrent a 5.


As for cleaning - if you open the scoop (i.e. squeeze the handles) and dump out the wet tea leaves, you will still be left with some in the scoop you need to wash out with water (I place it under running cold water). I'm not sure how this could be improved as I think any device designed like this will have this problem. Maybe the lip sticks out 0.3 millimeters and that partially interferes with the dumping out?

Someone mentioned that the tea is held to tighly together and it takes longer to brew, I'm not sure about that, as the tea seems to have room (just stick it in the back and release the grip - there will be empty space in the ball.)

There are other stainless steel tea balls that may be better, for $25 or more.
So Overall - it works fine and I am satisfied with it.

PS - if you find a better comparable item, please post a comment under my review and I will check it out

This tea infuser is a good deal, but it wasn't until I received it that I realized I didn't want to allow the handles to steep in the tea, since they're made out of some kind of plastic. The plastic also sometimes rotates around the metal underneath, which can make the product difficult to use. I recommend this product if you don't mind holding the infuser while the tea steeps so that the handles don't sit in the water, too.