Infusers.

A tea infuser is a small perforated container—mesh ball, basket, or chamber—that holds loose-leaf tea inside your cup or teapot while water passes through it. It lets you brew loose leaf without a teapot or a French press.

Fill it about halfway—leaves expand as they hydrate—close it, and set it in your cup. Pour water at the right temperature, steep for the recommended time, then lift out the infuser and discard or re-steep the leaves.

Knock out spent leaves into the compost immediately—dried leaves are harder to remove. Rinse under running water, then scrub the mesh with a soft brush. Most metal infusers are dishwasher safe on the top rack, but hand-washing extends their life.

Any loose-leaf tea. Fine-cut teas need a finer mesh to avoid cloudiness. Whole-leaf oolongs and white teas expand a lot, so give them room. Powders like matcha go through a whisk, not an infuser.

A basket sits across the rim of a wide mug and gives leaves more room to expand, producing a better extraction. A ball is compact and portable but constrains expansion, which can underextract larger whole-leaf teas.