Forlife Tea Infuser – Item of the Day
Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.
Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is the Forlife Tea Infuser. We tried a bunch of different ones and found this one to be absolutely the best. At around 18 bucks there are lower cost infusers for sure, but I have yet to find a better one. Like many that drink loose teas I tried many of the “ball type” infusers, sorry but they are nothing but a pain in the ass to fill, a bigger pain in the ass to clean and they just don’t last a long time. Not to mention for many herbal teas they just don’t have the capacity.
I also tried the tiny hanging baskets, back to small capacity, and pain in the ass to clean. I also tried the snap mesh ones, again same story. The day I got the Forlife Tea Infuser I took all the rest and put them into the donate to Goodwill Box.
This thing is heavy stainless steel with micro tiny holes. It will last as long as you do unless you say drive over it with your car or something. 1200 plus reviews and 94% are 4 or 5 stars. Here are the features I like most about it.
- High capacity
- Tiny mesh so you don’t have floaters
- Easy to clean, just swish it in water to get it perfect
- The lid keeps the seam in while it infuses
- Turn the lid upside down and it becomes a drip tray after infusion
Now honestly I use my French Press most days when I make tea in the morning, because I get two big cups per run. And I and my wife drink several cups each in the AM. But when I just want a single cup I still grab my Forlife Tea Infuser. And today I am going to give away my recipe for our morning tea.
Until today this was a closely guarded secret as I was considering taking it commercial under the label of “Nine Mile Farms Tea”, but I decided to just make it well, open source. You can make this for a fraction of the cost of tea in bags or pre blended and be sure 100% what is in it, and with one substitution you can make it caffeinated or decaf and it will tastes about the same. I was drinking WAY too much coffee daily and this got me off of it like with no issues at all.
Jacks Morning Blend – Nine Mile Farms Tea
- 6 Parts Peppermint
- 6 Parts Chamomile
- 3 Parts Lemon Grass
- 3 Parts Lemon Balm
- 3 Parts Green Tea (caffeinated) OR 3 Parts Blackberry Leaf (decaf)
One day I ran out of Green Tea and used Blackberry Leaf, the taste was well, the same. That is how I usually make it now. The parts are by volume they are NOT BY WEIGHT. I mix this up in a huge bowl so I have plenty for a month or so, and use a small glass to measure my parts. If you want to make a smaller amount use a table spoon or reduce the 3-6 ratio down to 1-2. Sweeten with your choice of sugar, honey or what I prefer, liquid stevia.
I brew it at two tablespoons per large cup. Here is a secret though. In a French Press, when you want to make a second run, just leave the old stuff in, and add one tablespoon to it, you can do this for about 4-5 runs, plenty for a day for two people. In the Forlife Tea Infuser just add a slightly heaped teaspoon to your last run.
Even if you don’t get a Forlife Tea Infuser give my tea a shot it will blow you away with how good it is, and while buying all the herbs if you don’t have them may seem expensive, compare it to buying pre made teas and the cost per serving is really low. I just store mine in ball jars, and by the way a Canning Funnel is really helpful in getting the tea into those jars. And REALLY mix it well before jarring it up. And mix your jar often as you use it. To help leave about an inch at the top of the jar when fill it.
I may give away some of my other tea blends in time, but this is my absolute best daily drinker, check out my video below to learn more.
Remember you can always find all of our reviews at TspAz.com
From where do you suggest purchasing your tea ingredients? Or, are you growing and harvesting some of your own now? Thank you.
Well there is a reason I linked to every item in the recipe on Amazon, those are all great. Mountain Rose Herbs is another great source. That is about all I use at this point, the stuff I linked to or Mountain Rose.
Thank you. I could not see the links at the time I posted the question.
I’m curious about your French press choice too!
It will likely be featured next week and it was in our show on kitchen gear, http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/15-items-prepper-kitchen
Are you and Dorothy still doing your mint garden?
Quick edit Jack, “or reduce the 3-6 ratio down to 1-3” wouldn’t that be 1-2?
yea dang it let me fix that thanks
I LOVED the video Jack! I grow ALL of those things but have never made tea. Thanks for giving me some direction!
I am kind of blown away that you can make your own tea. That is cool!
Don’t know what to do first, tea? root beer? I found a lady to buy local eggs from and will go pick up this morning, and I’m working on sourcing local pastured meat and getting started with a freezer. Got our first cast iron pan, a vintage 3-notch #8 Lodge, in the mail yesterday!
I have been using your tea recipe since the first time you mentioned it on the show. I LOVE it! I will use different mints in the blend to slightly change the flavor but using spearmint is my favorite! Thanks so much for sharing this with us!
May be one day I will give up my spearmint orange tea recipe.
I’ll still be listening when you do! LOL
If I were to buy 1 lb bags of everything in your mix, do you have a sense of how many cups of tea that makes?
Sorry if this is an impossible question because I know you said sometimes you reuse earlier batches throughout a day.
My wife and I buy a lot of various organic tea bags from Amazon each month and I’m just wondering so I can do a comparison. 96 tea bags cost us about $20.
All I can say is a lot but keep in mind 6 parts of chamomile and mint, hence they will run out first. What I can say is I did exactly that a pound of each in November and we are not out of the other stuff yet but I have hard to reorder the six part ingredients.
Hi Jack,
In one of your recent episodes, you mentioned a sleepytime tea that you make that helps you sleep and gives you nice dreams. Have you posted the recipe somewhere? I can’t remember which episode that was or where to find the recipe. Thanks!
-Cozima
Never posted it but I will soon.
Hi Jack,
Was just curious if you brew in larger portions? I like to brew to make a gallon at a time, and was wondering how much mix you think it might take. I usually just wrap my mint tea leaves in cheese cloth to steep.
Thank you for your time
I have a 1 litter French Press that is about as much as I make at one time. http://amzn.to/29UQ87q
That said in the time it takes for one press to steep the water for the second comes to a boil. So you can make 2-3 liters really fast.
I second the ForLife tea infuser. It has been a great kitchen tool and we use it for a lot more than tea. If it fits in there, we will use it (Elderberry syrup, hot pepper/garlic spray ingredients we use to deter rabbits in the garden etc.)