Tea strainers are a very big part of the tea drinking tradition. Before the days of teabags, the strainer was an essential item in woman's kitchen. You could not make a cup of tea without this nifty little item to keep those pesky leaves out of your cup.
The only people who would possibly not have used tea-strainers are fortune tellers who read the leaf pattern at the bottom of the empty cup to tell the drinker's fortune.
There are the standard tea-strainers that everyone knows, the rounded sliver ring with the mesh wire inner and a handle. These are the plainly functional items. Then there is the mesh ball on a chain. This piece of equipment is used differently. You place the tea leaves inside the ball, close it and then put it into the cup. Then pour the boiling water over the strainer and allow your beverage to brew for while, before removing the mesh ball strainer with the used tea leaves. You then add your milk and sugar and stir. Viola, no leaves!
From this purely functional item of tea strainers a whole industry has developed, with designer strainers in every shape and form. They could become quite a collector's item.
There are as endless a variety of strainers on the market as there are people who still prefer their tea made from real tea leaves. Somehow the teabag is just not the same as a pot of tea made from tea leaves you can see, even if you do have to remove them with tea strainers.
There is nothing more satisfying than making yourself a cup of your favorite drink, made from proper leaves and using one of the tea strainers available today, to sit and relax and ponder the complexities and wonders of life and count your blessings.
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