Tea Filters from For Tea’s Sake

One of the funny things about my life is that I’m the only person in my family who is crazy for tea. Oh, a few come close, like my aunt, but she isn’t as adventurous about finding new varieties online as I am (which makes her the perfect recipient for tea that I’ve tried and reviewed, but haven’t fallen in love with).

What’s particularly ironic is that my in-laws are not Tea People at all — to the extent that they don’t even own a kettle. When I visit them, I usually bring my own teas and tea filters from David’s Tea as a result. I ration my filters, though, since I can’t be sure I’ll have enough to last the whole trip.

Thus, it was with great surprise that I walked down the main drag of the smallish city where my in-laws live and noticed a bakery with a tea display near the door. Mr. BooksandTea and I walked in and were greeted with a display of teas and teaware for a company called For Tea’s Sake.

I have to admit that the majority of items and blends the store had available weren’t that new to me, but one thing did catch my eye: these disposable tea filters. Having a backup supply of tea filters while travelling? Score!

So here’s what they look like:

At this point I’ve primarily used the ones from David’s Tea, so it was interesting to compare them to these tea filters from For Tea’s Sake. So here are the main differences I’ve noticed about the For Tea’s Sake filters:

• The fabric/material of these filters is white, rather than the taupe of the David’s Tea ones.
• While both filters have drawstrings to keep them cinched up, the drawstrings of these filters are left to hang separately — there’s no little tag/label at the end of the drawstring like there is with the David’s Tea filters.
• These filters are also boxier/more rectangular.
• The material of these filters also feels finer/softer/more durable to the touch. Almost, but not quite, like fabric.

There are pros and cons to the way these filters are designed. One pro is that when you’ve finished steeping the tea, the filter material becomes nearly transparent, so you can see the tea inside the filter — even as it’s still sitting there, steeping in the mug.

It’s quite pretty! You get to see how the leaves have unfurled/expanded.

However, because these filters are rectangular, when the drawstring is pulled shut, the dry filter looks rather awkward and boxy.

I suspect that this is why the David’s Tea filters are shaped the way they are to flare up at the top —when you close the drawstring tight, it makes the filter itself look a little cleaner. Plus, the wider opening makes it much easier to spoon tea in.

The other issue I have with the For Tea’s Sake filters is that the drawstrings don’t have any sort of closure/loop/tab at the end. This makes it a bit harder to ensure that the drawstring doesn’t fall into the brewing tea. With the David’s Tea filters, I can tie the drawstring around the mug handle, and the little label at the end is large enough to ensure that the tie doesn’t come loose — no such feature here.

In the end, I’m glad I found out that these filters exist — I can use them as back-ups whenever I visit my in-laws.