Different Tea Bag Options

The cheapest option would be to invest in something like a brew basket. No need for a bag and it is reusable.

Whenever possible, I prefer to brew in a pot and pour the tea through a colander-type sieve. The bags and baskets seem too constricting to the leaves. They need to expand to reach their full potential. ;-)

There are small cast-iron Japanese tetsubin-type pots so that the entire volume of liquid can be poured through a sieve into a cup and then the leaves can be re-infused (if green, white, or oolong—does not work for black).