I have about 3 different devices, all of which seem to work well.

1. A device identical to your picture.

2. This "other" tea ball: https://i.imgur.com/Hg0mWFl.jpg

3. Tea "infuser". Similar to this one (but a different brand): https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41QJxs18f1L... . This is the bulkiest option though, and you still need another cup to transfer the liquid to.

My favorite tool is #1: the "springy clasp ball on the end of a stick". So I can recommend that to everyone over the other two devices. #2 isn't bad, but there's a lot of convenience factor to #1's spring design.

> In terms of convenience I don't think it's significantly worse than sachets.

In making tea, no, not much difference. But I dislike cleaning metal-meshes. Cleaning is a minor inconvenience... but if you've ever just used a paper-cup + Lipton tea bag and just trash everything when you're done... lol. Lazy lifestyle (but wasteful).

But yeah, its probably better for the environment to have these reusable tools, like a coffee mug.

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By the way, Lipton does sell loose tea, if you're a fan of Lipton. But I live near a tea / coffee shop with superior teas at low prices, so I just grab what they have instead.

As far as store-bought tea is concerned, Twinings is tasty and widely available. I'd take Twinings > Lipton any day. Lipton is slightly cheaper, but Twinings really does taste better.

I use option 3 at work. I like it a lot. It's not too hard to clean. It's actually the very one you linked a 16oz black Teavana Tea Maker.

For those wanting to buy one, it's sold by IKEA as the Idealisk tea infuser, $1.99. Also available in lots of other stores, I guess.

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/idealisk-tea-infuser-stainless-...

The ingenuiTEA is the best tea brewer I've used, it works great for all loose teas.

https://www.amazon.com/Adagio-Teas-ingenuiTEA-Bottom-Dispens...

When I drink tea I usually drink something spicy like Chai and use either my ingenuiTEA or a Cafetière.

Other price extreme: Vorwerk (of Thermomix fame) is selling a loose tea machine: https://temial.vorwerk.de/

Only 600 Euros!

Wow, that thing has GPL’ed code in it. Who says GPL code is anathema for business?

Personally, I prefer my tea makers without Apache in them; I recently got the Breville BTM800XL (a.k.a. Sage The Tea Maker™), and it is very nice, in that it is fully automated.

I've had one of these for what feels like centuries. Sturdy. Machine washable. Inexpensive as hell. Along with my single-serving french press also from Ikea[0] some of the most value per dollar I've ever got.

[0]: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/upphetta-french-press-coffee-ma...

I was using this infuser but it's also plastic and might be a problem: https://www.amazon.com/Fred-SLOW-BREW-Sloth-Infuser/dp/B00V6...

I might go back to non-plastic bag tea (usually stash or celestial seasonings)

IKEA sell another type of tea infuser which works much better than tea balls IMO, which I find hard to clean and often leaks leaves out.

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/ljudloes-tea-infuser-stainless-...