I love this thing it works so well only thing I have issues with is getting the tea i like to come out like it does in the store.

I love this! It's great for their blooming teas, 'cause you can see it bloom. I did have the problem of overfilling the mug, and ended up trying to put 12 oz of tea into a 10 oz mug. >.< Did not end well.

I own one of these! It's really great.

I contemplated buying one after using it in a tea shop I frequent but it seemed gimmicky and expensive. An entire new cup with a complicated mechanism to clean in addition to your own cup. I don't know if all of them are plastic, but the ones I was looking at and using were, making it an immediate disappointment because flavors and smells tend to cling to plastics, unlike glass or metal.

Honestly I prefer traditional metal screens or mesh tea balls. There are even fun silicon infusers that don't seem to absorb flavors/scents. The winning attribute on these are being able to watch loose leafs dance about while they steep, or for personal sized blooming teas (which typically make 3 or 4 cups). That's as far as the interest goes though. If you're like me, though, you already have a glass kettle to enjoy the visual effects, and you just pour the tea through a typical drink strainer that you can get from bar/mixology sections in many stores.

Another down soide is the size of cup has to be very specific. The straining mechanism won't sit on summer cups (or cups with wide, low bowls so the tea cools faster).

This infuser reminds me of a gimmicky piece of equipment we got for my store. It's a complex orange juicer(seen here ). The feed only accepts a small orange and it is not very thorough in juicing. It's interesting to watch. But it's a very complex machine (and thus expensive) to use for a single task that can be done much more efficiently and inexpensively.

My personal rating, considering all this, is 6/10. Yes, interesting to see, but very limited use.

I'm gonna go and agree with both the original review AND your review.

I have a 32 oz version (and the 16 oz ingenuiTEA) and love them to pieces. I used to use tea balls, but decided to go try these instead, since they do give the tea more room to expand and release flavor, and considering when I used to use teaballs, I only put in one tsp of tea per mug instead of cup (because I accidentally took "cup" to mean cup of tea, and not the actual measuring cup), the leaves from just one tsp filled up the entire ball once it had steeped.

As for the mug size thing, my 16 ounce doesn't fit on my wide mug, and the 32oz does but while it's emptying, you can't see how full your mug is. I never had a problem with either of these things, though, because I place them on one side of the mug rim. It's just a habit I got into when I realized that my mug was too big for the smaller one, and I do it even with the 32oz as well.

These pots do work fantastically, and they're not too hard to clean, nor do they absorb smells or stains if you don't let the wet leaves sit in them for days, and they're also nice to look at, watching the tea steep.

However, as you said, if you already have a glass teapot and straining implements, there's really not much reason to get one of these. I would recommend them for people who have limited space to store things in their kitchen.

Yes, I can definitely see how they could be space efficient if it's intended to replace straining and steeping devices. I already have such a collection myself. I have a whole cabinet for my teas x_x

Oh, I definitely know how that is. My kitchen is tiny, and the drawer I started putting tea in is now full, as is a large cardboard box in the cupboard underneath of it, and now I've even started keeping tea in the drawer where the extra lightbulbs are. No sirree, I do not have a tea problem :V

I've actually been trying to find a nice looking way to organize all me teas OnO Everything is so confusing up there; tins and boxes and bags and jars.

For me I think organizing would be futile. Lack of space, and all my tea is in resealable bags, so they don't sit upright :v I wanted to get a tall pantry cupboard but I'm so cheap :V

Just yesterday I started using VOSA glass water bottles. They work hella good and look really nice, compared to all my boxes and baggies of loose leaf xD The water is like, $3 though, so you have to get over buying water FOR THREE FRIGGIN DOLLARS

I think what I need is a bunch of little jars or tins that hold about 2oz each or so. Most of the tea I get is all sample sized since I like a variety. I figured I could get stuff like that at a dollar store, but so far I haven't found anything quite right, and I don't want to pay more for the jar than I do for the tea that goes in it :P

Oh, oh! WOrld market has little 2-3 oz glass jars for less than a $1!!!! o: I just saw because, that's where I got my VOSA water bottles xD They're here: http://www.worldmarket.com/product/.....mp;amp;from=fn but they have some other sets you may like more!

OSHI~
There's a world market in a nearby town. I shall make note of this.