What is a tea sieve
Datetime:2016-03-16 Hits:
A tea sieve is a type of strainer that is placed over or in a teacup to catch loose tea leaves. When tea is brewed in the traditional manner in a teapot, the tea leaves are not contained in teabags, but rather are freely suspended in the water. As the leaves themselves may be distasteful, it is usual to filter them out with a tea sieve. Strainers usually fit into the top of the cup to catch the leaves as the tea is poured.
Some deeper tea sieves can also be used to brew single cups of tea, much as teabags or brewing baskets are used the strainer full of leaves is set in a cup to brew the tea, and then removed, along with the spent tea leaves, when the tea is ready to drink. By using a tea sieve in this way, the same leaves can be used to brew multiple cups. Tea sieve use declined in the 20th century with mass production of the tea bag, but is still preferred among connoisseurs who claim that keeping the leaves packed in a bag, rather than freely circulating, inhibits diffusion. Many assert that inferior ingredients, namely dust quality tea, are often used in tea bags.
Tea sieves are usually either sterling silver, stainless steel, or china. Strainers often come in a set, with the strainer part and a small saucer for it to sit in between cups. Tea sieves in themselves have often been turned into artistic masterpieces of the silver- and goldsmith's craft, as well as rarer specimens of fine porcelain.
