Stainless Steel Infuser Motta, Clear Lid, Inner Filter

For a bar serving real infusions rather than teabags, and for anyone at home making them every day. The whole difference sits there: a teabag is a fixed dose in a pouch that compresses the leaf, an infuser lets it open out in the water, and that is why the same loose product gives far more.

It is the instruction the maker puts first and almost everyone ignores. Dried tea leaves and the aromatic parts of herbs take up water and expand, in some cases tripling in volume: packed tight in the filter, the water only passes over the surface and the brew comes out weak for however much material is in there. In the stainless steel infuser the filter is filled halfway at most, and a smaller quantity left loose is better than a larger one compressed.

• Material: stainless steel
• Lid: clear, for watching the brew
• Fittings: inner filter and filter cover
• Brand: Motta
• Dimensions: 13 x 17 x 20cm
• Weight: 1kg
• Use: on the hob, with the vessel filled to halfway

The clear lid is about time

Brewing is a matter of minutes and every category has its own: around two or three minutes for green teas, three to five for blacks, five or more for herb and root infusions. Going past those times does not make the brew stronger, it makes it bitter, because after the aromatics come the tannins. Being able to watch the colour without lifting the lid, that is without losing heat, is what lets you stop at the right moment rather than by guesswork.

Choose the stainless steel infuser if

You have loose leaf teas and infusions on the list, you want to serve more than a bag in a cup of hot water, or you are after a piece that also looks right on the bar. One kilo of weight and 20cm of height are the measurements of an object that stays where you put it and goes to the table without decanting.

Steel takes on no smells

That is why a stainless steel infuser can make a camomile in the morning and a smoked tea in the afternoon without the second tasting of the first. The same preparations in a porous or plastic vessel leave traces you can taste for weeks. It still wants rinsing straight after use, because wet leaves left inside ferment within hours.

How much water, and why halfway

The instruction to fill the vessel to halfway is not caution against boiling over: above that level the boiling water reaches the filter from below, and the leaves end up boiling instead of steeping. A boiled infusion loses the volatile aromatics, which are the ones you meet at the nose, and only the bitter part stays. Half full is the level that keeps the two things apart.

FAQ

How is the stainless steel infuser used? Fill it with water to halfway, put the leaf in the filter without packing it, close it with the filter cover and lid and put it on the hob.

How long should the brew take? From two or three minutes for green teas to five and more for herbs: beyond that it turns bitter.

Why is the lid clear? To follow the colour without opening and without losing heat.

Does it hold the smell of earlier brews? No, stainless steel does not keep them: it only wants rinsing straight after use.

What size is it? 13 x 17 x 20cm, at one kilo.

The more you buy, the less you pay: 4 pieces -5%, 6 -7%, 8 -10%, on the same item.

Dispatched from Rome, Italy. 15-day returns, free of charge. Questions before you order? Message us on WhatsApp on +39 351 929 6937.

The other pieces of the coffee station are in the coffee accessories guide.