How to steep tea without an infuser using everyday kitchen items

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Have loose leaf tea but no steeper or infuser on hand? Fear not, because you can create your very own DIY tea infuser with basic things around the kitchen!

When looking at tea bags vs loose leaf tea, many tea drinkers prefer the ease and convenience of a tea bag (I feel that). However, when you consider that tea bags have been shown to release billions of microplastics and other questionable chemicals into hot water when steeped, the extra prep for loose leaf tea definitely has its perks [1] [2].

Regardless of why you have some loose leaf floating around with no steeper, there are tons of other ways you can repurpose food-safe kitchen tools to brew a delicious, warm cup of tea. Here’s how to steep tea without a steeper—as tested by an avid tea drinker.

9 ways to brew loose leaf tea without an infuser or tea bag

1. Lazy coffee filter

Why over-complicate things when you can just use a coffee filter as-is? Strain tea with a coffee filter by placing it directly inside a mug and pouring the hot water over tea leaves inside. Coffee filters are easy to find in many office and home kitchens and are typically tall enough so you don’t have to worry about the water or leaves falling out of the top.

Once steeped, take the coffee filter out and presto—tea is served!

2. DIY tea bags with coffee filters

For a more convenient, on-the-go coffee filter method, you can make a DIY tea bag. Some sources suggest making DIY tea bags out of cheesecloth, but I don’t know of a single person who has cheesecloth conveniently laying around when they need to cut it up. I would recommend against making tea bags from scrap fabric too (another popular DIY craft), as not all fabrics are food-safe and you don’t know how the fabric will react to hot water.

To use a coffee filter as a tea bag, place tea leaves in the middle and fold as you would a small envelope. Rather than stapling or sewing the final fold down (again, avoid any questionable materials that aren’t proven to be food-safe), simply fold and hook it onto the edge of the mug.

Tip: Leave extra room in the tea room for the leaves to expand and swish around. Extra room for tea leaves has been proven to help the tea steep and reach its full flavor potential [3]!

3. Pour with lid

In all honesty, this method to steep tea without a steeper is one of the trickiest and least effective. Place a perfectly flat lid over a mug with tea leaves and water. Leaving the tiniest of gaps between the mug and lid, pour the tea into another mug, leaving as many of the tea leaves behind as possible.

4. Colander

Using a colander will work just as well as an infuser, but be warned. If using a larger colander, steep the tea into a larger container before transferring to a mug. Otherwise, some of the liquid will inevitably end up not in your mug and all over the counter.

5. Sieve

Avid matcha drinkers are likely to be quite cozy with mini sieves already, as you use one to sift out matcha into a fine powder before whisking. However, you can also use slightly large sieves just as well! Sieves are my favorite emergency DIY tea infuser, since it’s basically an infuser in disguise.

6. Pot with lid

Some lids on pots have tiny drain holes that make it easy to drain liquid directly out of the pot. If you have one of these lying around, then you can make stovetop loose leaf tea the old fashion way, then filter out the tea leaves with the very same pot and lid.

7. Foil tea bag

Tin foil is another way to make a DIY tea bag with simple materials from around the kitchen. Cut out a small foil square and poke several small holes with a knife or tooth pick. Then, pile the tea leaves in the center before folding up the corners of the foil and sealing the tea bag. Don’t forget to leave plenty of room for the tea leaves to swell and expand.

8. To-go coffee cup with lid

Here’s another to-go DIY tea infuser hack that’s helpful if you’re away from home with loose leaf tea to steep. You’ll need a disposable coffee cup with a lid that has a small sip hole, as well as a separate cup to drink from. Throw hot water and tea leaves together into the cup and snap on the lid. Then, slowly pour the tea out into the cup you’ll drink from and most of the leaves should be left behind in the coffee cup.

9. French press

And finally we end with another coffee-lover tool—the french press. Truth be told, some baristas may opt to make tea in a french press so using one to steep tea is nothing new. However, since french presses typically aren’t marketed to the tea-drinking crowd, this one’s a little less obvious method to steep your tea.

[1] “Some Plastic with Your Tea?” Newsroom, 31 Jan. 2020, www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/some-plastic-your-tea-300919.
[2] “Epichlorohydrin.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. PubChem Compound Database, U.S. National Library of Medicine, pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/epichlorohydrin.
[3] Yadav, G.U., Joshi, B.S., Patwardhan, A.W. et al. “Swelling and infusion of tea in tea bags.” J Food Sci Technol 54, 2474–2484 (2017). https://doi-org.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/10.1007/s13197-017-2690-9

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about the author

Hello, is it tea you’re looking for? Raquel is an Arizona-based tea drinker who writes about tea as a side hobby. Her current favorites are Earl Grey with a splash of milk and any Japanese green tea.