OXO Good Grips Twisting Tea Ball

This tea ball is one of those kitchen items that doesn't seem like that exciting of a thing until you start using it. These came into my life randomly, after finding them on Amazon and figuring why not give it a try. My husband and I had just gotten into loose leaf tea and were already hating the basic spring loaded mesh tea balls. They were difficult to clean, as they don't stay open easily and the mesh always deformed. Plus all of the fun, unique tea balls had too large of holes, or not enough holes, for most tea.So when these Oxo Tea Balls came into our life we were skeptical about them. Boy were we wrong. They are easy to use. Twist the bottom portion of the handle and the ball spins open. Fill the open side with tea and then twist to bottom to close the ball. ... MoreThis tea ball is one of those kitchen items that doesn't seem like that exciting of a thing until you start using it. These came into my life randomly, after finding them on Amazon and figuring why not give it a try. My husband and I had just gotten into loose leaf tea and were already hating the basic spring loaded mesh tea balls. They were difficult to clean, as they don't stay open easily and the mesh always deformed. Plus all of the fun, unique tea balls had too large of holes, or not enough holes, for most tea.So when these Oxo Tea Balls came into our life we were skeptical about them. Boy were we wrong. They are easy to use. Twist the bottom portion of the handle and the ball spins open. Fill the open side with tea and then twist to bottom to close the ball. That's it. For the most part the mesh size is perfect, the only teas that we notice a lot of fallout from is rooibos teas. Though I don't know if we've ever found something that works well for rooibos. The tea balls are easy to empty, again with twisting the handle and then we just hand wash them.We currently have three Oxo Tea Balls that are still going strong after many years of use. We have only had one break, where the ball would no longer twist open, but it happened due to one of us accidentally bending the ball away from the stem. They are more pricey then the basic spring open mesh tea balls, but to us they are well worth the money. Especially with how long they have lasted us. We honestly need to get a few more with how much we drink tea.

By far my favorite infuser for loose teas. I love how it rotates open and closed so you don't have to get hands dirty. It makes scooping up a maximum amount of tea so simple. It is also easy to clean and heavy. It's a little pricey but it is very solidly made.

A True Must Have!

There are not words enough to describe how clever and well made this Oxo Tea Ball Infuser is, nor how much I like and use regularly. The twist mechanism is smooth and works like new with each use. The amount of tea that it holds is perfect for a quality brew. I like this tool so much, I bought more to give as gifts for my tea drinking family and friends!

Best tea strainer ever!

Such a good exapmle of how simple elegant desing is so great. It functions perfectly, no rubbing or stiffness in the mechanism, excellent scoop shape for scooping tea, and then so easy to tip out used tea, give it a rinse and it's ready again. Makes the loose leaf tea process much smoother.

Better than expected!

Amazingly simple design, super easy to fill AND empty. Has worked well with the variety of teas that I tested it with, only very fine leaves got through. Best part is that you only need to touch the end of the handle, which is not only more sanitary but means you don't have a hotess dangling off the end of a string or chain.

Can't see myself using anything else.

This thing works great! It's like an infuser spoon.I bought one in store a couple months ago and just got around to using it. I was a little suspicious that leaves might get free, but when it clicked closed there wasn't any gap and I didn't have any get loose into my glass. I'd suspect if anyone had that issue, they probably have one that is defective or that was bent. Mine rotates smoothly with the one half being very close to the other and overlapping a little on all sides when closed. I can even feel the metal lightly touching as it is turned.When I say "clicked", I don't mean it is suddenly locked in place. While it doesn't come open on its own, it doesn't take much to turn it.Cleanup is easy, just twist open (turn knob is at the end of the handle in the ... MoreThis thing works great! It's like an infuser spoon.I bought one in store a couple months ago and just got around to using it. I was a little suspicious that leaves might get free, but when it clicked closed there wasn't any gap and I didn't have any get loose into my glass. I'd suspect if anyone had that issue, they probably have one that is defective or that was bent. Mine rotates smoothly with the one half being very close to the other and overlapping a little on all sides when closed. I can even feel the metal lightly touching as it is turned.When I say "clicked", I don't mean it is suddenly locked in place. While it doesn't come open on its own, it doesn't take much to turn it.Cleanup is easy, just twist open (turn knob is at the end of the handle in the picture) and tap a couple times and it comes out. Twist shut, run under the water with the outer side up, twist open and run under water again and that should get any small bits that may have stayed (not entirely sure anything could get trapped behind it, but might as well be thorough) and you are done! Takes ~5 seconds. This plus the H2OPro I got for christmas make a wonderful pair. ^_^

Easy to clean

Great product - easy to use and very easy to clean. The mesh is not quite fine enough to keep very small tea leaves from getting into the tea, but this is mostly an issue with very fine tea. Would recommend.

Excellent product

This is an excellent product that does exactly what you need it to. The holes are fine enough for the loose leaf teas I use, and having the knob at the end of the handle to open/close the tea ball is very helpful too.

No more teabags!

I love it. :)No more teabags which means I can have higher quality tea for less money. Plus its easy to clean.

Perfect single tea

Bought this about 3 weeks ago and after using so many different ones over the years, this is the best one by far. Easy to fill the tea leaves, easy to clean. I mostly use finer grained tea leaves, would be interesting to see how it works with different size tea leaves.