Need a certain tea infuser i can't seem to find

[johnny66]

I recently heard that tea bags are made from plastic and that they release plastic into the tea which is obviously not a good thing. I decided i want to find a way around that and a stainless steel infuser seems the likely choice. I make a gallon of tea for iced tea at a time so i need one that has no plastic and i can submerge in the pot as it heats up. The problem is, i have these huge gallon size tea bags which i want to tear open and put them in the infuser rather then use the bafgs due to the plastic. But the tea is almost a paower it is so fine. The infusers i have found mostly on ebay, even the ones that say extra fine or ultra fine are obviously from the pics not fine enough. I need something like the material you see in those reusable coffee filters with the gold color mesh. Does anyone know of anything like that thats all metal? Thanks.

 

[Morning Glory]

The problem is, i have these huge gallon size tea bags which i want to tear open and put them in the infuser rather then use the bafgs due to the plastic.

Gallon sized teabags? They must be enormous! I've never come across anything like that.

I can only suggest using squares of muslin and making little bags by putting in the tea and tying them up - you need something very fine. To be honest - any tea which is 'dust' is probably not worth drinking. It should be tea leaves.

 

[TastyReuben]

First, it's not all tea bags that release plastic (as far as I know, anyway), just the ones that are made with plastic to begin with. You should be able to tell just by looking at it. I have some that are plastic mesh, and they're very obviously plastic mesh.

Second, I would never recommend opening a teabag to use the contents to make tea. Tea for teabags is specially "formulated" for teabag use, meaning its ground to a near-powder state, and anything short of putting them back in another teabag won't work very well. In the old days, when tea bags were first becoming commonplace, the old-timers dismissed them as tea made from dust.

They do make empty teabags for people to roll their own, so to speak, but I've never seen them in gallon size. I'd recommend making your own, with cheesecloth, and using tea leaves. There's a very entertaining video from British Pathe showing women making gallons and gallons of tea for the troops during the war, and that's what they did. Their "teabags" were the size of a hobo's bindle!

 

[johnny66]

Not sure if they are plastic but from what i read they made it sound like all teabags have some plastic in them. Anyways, this is what i use. (seems the link must be approved b4 they will allow it)

 

[Morning Glory]

Not sure if they are plastic but from what i read they made it sound like all teabags have some plastic in them. Anyways, this is what i use. (seems the link must be approved b4 they will allow it)

The link doesn't lead to any teabags in any case - so I removed link.

 

[TastyReuben]

You could also go the no-bag route and just put enough tea leaves in a glass container, pour in the water, let it steep, then just strain the leaves out.

 

[medtran49]

If it's the Lipton family size tea bags the OP is writing about, pretty sure they aren't plastic. It's the pyramid shaped bags that have plastic in them.

 

[johnny66]

Well, i don't know why the link wouldn't work and don't know whats allowed. So anyone who wants to see what i'm talking about just google "Lipton, Iced Tea, One Gallon Tea Bags". Or go to smart and finals site and search tea bags. Guess i'll call lipton and if they are plastic to any degree i'll be back asking again, tho i guess if no one could point me to a metal infuser thats fine enough by now maybe it doesn't exist. I don't want to with other tea products for longwinded reason so thats not an option.

 

[Morning Glory]

Mod. comment: The link was a general link to a shopping site - we are careful about links in new members' posts to avoid spammers. If the link had led directly to the teabags I'd have let it through.

Anyway johnny66 , I'm Sorry we couldn't help more - I hope you find a solution. Good luck!