FRED

This witty little creature sits on the edge of your cup and brews away. Definitely best for teas that don’t expand too much as he’s not the voluminous – especially if you’re like me and like to make large cups!

He’s also good for larger tea pots – just throw him in and he’ll float just like a real manatee.

Made out of silicone, he can be tricky to empty into a compost bin but is simple to clean out with water.

Pros:
This thing is adorable! Seriously, beyond cute. My cat likes it too. He tried to paw at the dangling tank while I was filling the actual infuser.

I like that this is silicone and dishwasher safe. It’s fairly easy to fill and clean, though it takes a little more effort than a basic steeper. I used this to brew some flavored green tea and had to stick my finger into the infuser to get the last few leaves out.

Cons:
The main disadvantage here is a really big one: the holes in the infuser are too small. The water doesn’t circulate very well. As a result, the leaves don’t expand fully. Also there’s not much room for expansion. I only filled it about a third of the way in an effort to adjust for the limited space, but the tea didn’t even fill up the entire space because of the poor circulation. The tea ended up tasting fine, but not as flavorful as usual under the same parameters.

This could be good for a fine tea that doesn’t expand much, like rooibos.