Birthday Blessing Infuser Mug

East meets West in this artful adaptation of the traditional gaiwan, or Chinese tea cup, to European "coffee cup" style drinking. The beauty of this type of tea cup is that it captures the scent of the tea under the brewing lid. When you lift the cap after steeping, inhale the steam and enjoy the aroma of your tea before sipping.The ceramic "basket" is genious. The holes allow the water to pass through, keeping the whole tea leaves inside and allowing for easy removal and re-steeping. Enjoy the second, third, and fourth steep of your leaves! Also, there is little impact on the environment since there are no tea bags, strings, or tags associated with brewing your loose leaf. If you are using CutTearCurl style tea, you can expect some pass through, but not much. (HINT: upgrade your quality of tea!)The white color is perfect, allowing for the proper assessment of color. This makes it easy to ensure that the brew is at the proper strength.This mug is for people who know their tea and seek to enjoy it with all the senses!

Got this as a gift and while it is beautiful to look at and quite nice to drink from; it doesn't do a good job of brewing loose tea leaves. The holes in the strainer are too large and allow a lot of the tea to get out into the cup. So you end up with lots of bits of tea leaves in your cup. I prefer to brew my tea in a teapot and then pour it into this cup.