True tea lovers usually prefer bulk tea to a cup of tea that has been made with a tea bag. They do not hesitate to pour steaming water on a couple spoonfuls of broken tea leaves. They have no objection to any bits of tea that might later appear in their tea cup.
However, a sizeable number of adult tea lovers have children. As a rule, small children will not drink any beverage that has something strange floating in it. Hence, they will refuse to drink a cup of tea that has even a tiny remnant of the bulk tea. Therefore, those adults often choose to purchase a tea strainer.
Unlike tea, which can be green, gray, brown or black, tea strainers do not come in a range of colors. The most popular strainers have been crafted from silver. Some tea strainers are meant to go in a pot of tea, while others are intended for use in a single cup.
When a tea strainer resembles the shape of a ball, and when it has a small metal chain attached to its top, then that strainer is meant to be used for making a pot of tea. Such a strainer normally comes apart, forming two half spheres. The tea preparer packs into those half spheres the appropriate amount of bulk tea leaves.
When a tea drinker wants to strain just enough tea for a single cup, then that tea drinker needs a spoon shaped strainer. The spoon has a hinged cover. A tea lover can open that cover and place tea leaves in that spoon. Like the ball shaped strainer, the spoon shaped strainer has a large number of tiny holes.
Since most strainers are made out of silver, their constant exposure to tea causes their eventual discoloration. The tea stains the silver. Now that stain can be removed by placing the strainer in a dilute solution of bleach. However, anyone who cleans a strainer in that way had better rinse it thoroughly.
Even the cleanest strainer does not make a decent pot of tea, if it contains a detectable amount of bleach. A true tea lover can often note a change in the tea’s taste, if that tea was poured from a pot with a poorly rinsed strainer.
Another note of caution regarding tea strainers: They do not prevent emergence from them of tiny bits of tea. Sometimes those tiny bits can annoy a young child. Even after using a tea strainer, a parent might be asked to remove from a child’s tea cup a tiny speck of a tea leaf.
