this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2025
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Or, buy loose leaf and use a strainer - steel if you think you can't tell the difference (like me), or ceramic if you think you can. It's more economical, too.
I find it way too frustrating to clean the strainer out, I personally just buy unbleached paper tea bags (i am 100% sure they don't have plastic) and put my loose leaf into that.
Huh. Ok! Whatever works!
I don't have easy access to loose-leaf tea, unfortunately.
Also, this is not specifically directed at you but it's on my mind lately: loose-leaf tea is more effort than tea bags. This is not a big deal for healthy people but please don't shame chronically ill people for using tea bags.
(This comment was eaten on my first attempt, sorry if it shows up twice)
For chronically ill tea lovers (myself included), there are also a variety of options! Cut open the tea bag and pour into a strainer, buy a teapot with integrated strainer (they're all over thrift stores if money is an issue), buy reusable tea bags and fill them on a free day, buy tea brands that use safe tea bags, or skip the strainer and enjoy your tea with the dregs in. I also have a twist open tea strainer which is easier on my hands than the ones with a spring in them. But if all else fails, continue to drink and enjoy whatever tea works for you!
The integrated tea cups are some of my favorites. I have a beautiful one where you dump in the tea and just lift the integrated strainer out when it's done.
As in, you can't easily buy it, or that it's literally hard for you to access?
My wife likes Earl Gray, but it's caffeine sensitive, and she's very picky about taste. So she gets hers via mail order; if the issue is sourcing, then the web is your friend.
This is interesting. Sincerely: how? I'm walking through the process in my head, and it seems to me it'd be harder getting the little bags out of their packaging and manipulating them.
Our process is:
I'm sincerely curious since I'm ignorant about the details of how tea bags would be easier, and I'd like to learn. Every person has different obstacles, and I know you don't speak for everyone; also, this is just curiosity on my part, so if you're not interested in explaining, no problem.
Wall of text incoming, sorry, I get anxious trying to explain myself and I ramble 😅
My specific situation is that I have serious trouble organising myself (planning and acting on plans) due to mental health and I am chronically exhausted. I'm on disability because of these and some other issues.
I can't find affordable loose-leaf tea in any store nearby. Ordering something I need regularly online is difficult because I need to remember that I need to do it and then also do it. I know it sounds weird to someone who doesn't have that problem but it's just far easier to just go to one supermarket, once a week, and get all the stuff that I'm going to need (and even that isn't easy when you're exhausted simply from existing). Add to that decision fatigue where I get thoroughly overwhelmed by the sheer number of options when online shopping - I actually like having just a handful of options because it makes deciding a lot less exhausting. (I also wouldn't know where to get affordable tea online that isn't amazon and I'm trying to avoid that but that's a different topic)
It's not the manipulation of tea bags that's difficult for me, I fortunately don't have problems using my hands other than being clumsy because I don't pay attention.
Tea bags:
I do actually own a tea infuser ball and a reusable tea bag and there's more steps involved, including having to clean them. I used each a couple of times and then I just couldn't do it anymore because the thought of going through these steps was overwhelming.
What ends up happening is that I just want to drink my tea and even the maybe 5 minutes it would take to clean the thing are too much. So I leave the used tea bag lying somewhere, I forget that I have to clean it, and it takes me days to remember - worst case scenario is the tea starts getting mouldy in the bag. Even if I remember, I can't work up the energy to clean the thing so I postpone it (and don't drink tea in the meantime).
Sidenote: I have a Huel subscription because if that package didn't arrive like magic on my doorstep every two months, I regularly wouldn't eat anything but toast for days because everything else is more than two steps and thus too much.
I know it's not like anyone is asking me to run a marathon and I feel silly just typing all this. I'm the first person in line to chastise myself because I just have to pull myself together a bit and stop being lazy and get over myself and I have the hardest time accepting that I am ill. If tea bags ceased to exist tomorrow, I suppose I could deal. As it is, they are a small thing making one small act a little easier, adding to a bunch of other small things that are inconsequential on their own but make small acts a little easier so I can feel like half a person.
I asked; no worries!
Ok, word of warning: I'm a guy, and an engineer, so I'm going to try to solve all of your problems whether you want me to or not. That's my burden.
I would definitely look for tea online. Unless you're in a big city, you'll have better options, and tea ships better than, say, coffee. If you can find a place that sells a tea you like, they may offer an auto-ship service so you don't have you worry about it.
You say you like having a handful of options to select from - many tea vendors offer samplers and this is an opportunity to go on a culinary voyage of discovery. Once you find a tea you like, from a vendor that has an auto-ship service, you're set!
As far as brewing, there's not much more to loose leaf than a tea bag, really. We get keep our tea in big jars, and keep a tea scoop in the jar. With one of those tea infusers I linked, it's just: one scoop into the infuser, fill with water, and 5 minutes later put the infuser on top of a cup and it dispenses itself. Dump the used leaves in the trash, rinse the infuser, and done. I used to wash the thing, but haven't in years.
But! Just keep doing what works for you! I just don't want you to think it's any more trouble using loose leaf because - in your case - it probably wouldn't be. And there's a whole extra world of tea open to you if you can use loose leaf.
Not sure if it helps, but i use frenchpress for this reason. The dipping spoon type is really easily spilled when putting tea leaf in it, while the french press one is just one big mug. Washing process is also pretty easy.