On a recent trip out west, I took a tin of tea, a measuring
spoon, the egg timer I mentioned in another post, and a couple of
tea balls along. I wanted to take my electric kettle, too, but
my husband convinced me to leave it home.

I was hoping at least one of the restaurants we stopped in would
work with me to see that I got a decent cup of tea with my meals.
(I get so damned aggravated with those thin metal "teapots"
brought to the table with the bag on the side. Not to mention
that it's a bag in the first place, or that the water usually
isn't even hot enough to brew coffee.) At only one restaurant
did the waitress agree to take my tea ball to the kitchen and
pour the heated water onto it. Within 45 seconds she placed a
heavy guage metal teapot on the table, my tea ball sitting at the
bottom, fully immersed in recently-boiled water. (I used my
egg-timer for marking time.) That potful was the best tea during
the entire 4-day trip.

I use an oversized tea ball for steeping tea so that the leaves
have plenty of room to expand and bloom. At home, though, I use
either an infusing basket or two vessels--one for brewing, the
other to decant into. I have a Bodum pot but don't like the
press infuser. The Bodum (or an old glass coffee carafe) is my
steeping pot when I use the two-vessel method.

Tea ball are convenient when traveling or when dining out. If
they're big enough and packed correctly, I think they make good
tea. (The problem isn't with the tea ball, I've found, but in
getting restaurant staff to accommodate your tea-making
requirements.)

Even so, tea balls are not my preferred method for steeping tea.

Martha