IngenuiTEA

On this blog I often complain about products that don’t work, or about whole segements of consumer products that I think are technologically impaired. Today however, I will take the opposite approach and recommend a product that I have come across that I think is really well designed and explain why.

The item is a tea infuser. For those unfamiliar with the term, it allows you to make one or two cups of tea using loose leaf tea without resorting to making an entire pot. Infusers come in many forms, often just a small perforated metal capsule either on a chain or built into a sort of spoon contraption. These have limitations though in that they keep the tea contained in a small space, not unlike a tea bag. The better infusers allow the tea to expand or unfold and release all the flavor.

Speaking of tea bags, you should know that tea processors commonly sort out the best tea for loose leaf packaging leaving the poorer quality tea for use in tea bags. Tea bags have their place but loose leaf tea is generally better.

So if you appreciate good tea, you may be interested in this little tea infuser. It is simple to use but very ingenious. It’s called the IngenuiTea infuser sold by Adagio.com.

You simply put the loose leaf tea inside, pour in the water for one or two cups, and let it steep for a couple of minutes. I stir it once or twice to get the full flavor of the tea.

Then comes the cool part. You place the whole thing on top of your mug and it depresses a valve in the bottom of the infuser and releases the tea through a strainer into your cup. When you lift it up, the flow stops. In case you’re wondering, the bottom of the infuser is designed to keep the valve from opening when you set it on a flat counter.

Then you simply dump the tea leaves into a trash can and rinse it out. I suspect that a lot more people would use loose leaf tea if they knew about this simple little device. To me it represents a class of products that eliminate an inconvenience and thereby open up the market to people who wouldn’t normally get involved.

The IngenuiTea is made from polycarbonate, not cheap styrene so it is built to last. Plus it comes with a removable filter that you can clean or replace. This one goes on my short list of elegant designs.