Teaware | Russtea's

Top 10 Loose Leaf Tea Infuser Bottles & Flasks

17th August 2017

I love teaphernalia and always LOVE to try out new infusers. If I can steep tea in it and it’s portable I generally ultimately end up buying it! So I thought I’d do a round up of the top 10 tea flasks and bottles with built in tea infusers. I own most of these and have written reviews of a few so you can get an in depth hands on review as well, more reviews coming soon!

Also check out my second top 10 tea bottles post for more options: Here’s 10 more amazing tea bottles!

These are in no particular order and all of them are great 🙂

1. MIU COLOR Glass Tea Bottle With Built in Infuser and Nylon Sleeve

I’ve reviewed this tea bottle in depth with more photos here.

2. Adagio Teas IngenuiTEA Gravity Tea Infuser

You can find my review of Adagio’s gravity tea infuser here.

3. Thermo Double-Walled Glass Tea Infuser

4. Marino Tea On-The-Go Travel Glass Infuser Bottle with Stainless Steel Infuser, Carrying Strap and Silicone Grip

5. Just Life U Portable Glass Water Bottle with Silicone Handle and Sleeve

6. Adagio ActiviTEA Portable Tea Infuser – 300ml

6. Libre Thermal Tea Glass With Infuser 14 Ounce

I reviewed this a while back with more photos 🙂

7. CHAI BUDDY Thermo Double-Walled Glass Travel Tea Infuser Bottle

Also in a beautiful royal blue colour. or another version of the Chai Buddy is more of a mug style a with handle 🙂

8. Bamboo Thermal Travel Mug Flask With Infuser

9. X&W Double Wall Glass Water Bottle With Silicone Sleeve

10. Aladdin Tea Flask With Adjustable Infuser Basket for Perfect Flavour Every Time

I’ve saved the best until last, this is without a doubt the best tea infuser I own! The infuser basket can be lowered in to the water and retracted without even taking the lid off, using a small lever on the side of the flask. The result is perfect flavoured tea every time, no more tea becoming too strong if the leaves are left in the water. It also closes tightly, never leaks and isn’t made of glass so it’s the most portable of the bunch as well.

If you buy one flask or tea infuser, this is THE ONE! Full review coming soon! 😉

Here’s 10 more amazing tea bottles!

Thanks for taking the time to read this post, I hope it’s helped your buying decision. If you have any questions about these infuser I’m more than happy to help either via email or on twitter 🙂 <3 xXx

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Top 10's

Gifts for Tea Lovers Birthday Special!

9th March 2017

Recently I had my birthday and received an amazing haul of tea related Birthday presents. My boyfriend was lovely enough to give me 30 presents as it was my 30th birthday, so I’ve got quite a few things for this post!

As I hadn’t seen a lot of them before I thought it would be fun to put together a birthday gift post, hopefully it will give you some ideas for gifts for the tea lover in your life 😊

Paper and Tea Humpty Dumpty Sipping Cups

I love visiting Paper and Tea in Berlin, it’s one of my favourite places in the world. It has teaware fit for kings, the quality is incredible and I haven’t really owned anything from there before as a lot of the prices are fit for kings as well! So I was thrilled when I opened these tea cups from my boyfriend, he also included a 50 Euro gift card too 😃 They come in a few finishes and colours but the blue and white crackle have always been the ones I’ve looked at.

Gourmet Flower Kit

I’ve been planning to grow my own edible flowers for a while now, I think they’d be perfect to finish off my tea photos. My mum took note and found this kit, I’m really excited to try it out! You get everything you need to grow 6 different edible flowers, which really takes the hassle out of buying the stuff separately.

Rick and Morty Mug

Me and my boyfriend have been loving Rick and Morty recently and I hadn’t seen any merchandise for it before so this mug was an exciting surprise. It has Rick and Morty on the front coming out of the portal and then on the back they’re going in to the portal.

Tsum Tsum Stackable Cups

Our Tsum Tsum collection is taking over our house at the moment, we’re probably approaching the 200 mark. So this was an obvious choice as a present but one I hadn’t seen before, I definitely would of bought it if I had! Each cup has a different picture, it’s gonna be an exciting addition to our kitchen!

PlayStation Coasters

I’ve been looking at these coasters while out with my boyfriend for months, my Pokemon ones I got for Christmas have soaked up water so they’re due to be replaced. I’ve always loved gaming so these coasters with the PlayStation buttons on them are perfect 😃

Rainbow Bakes Book

I really love baking but haven’t done any for a while now, I’ve been so busy with uni and my business and just haven’t had the time. When I was baking on a regular basis I used to just add matcha to every recipe, you can’t go wrong combining anything cakey with matcha. This Rainbow Bakes book features 40 recipes that are all rainbow coloured, it’s camp, fun and will definitely leave me struggling to resist the urge to add matcha so I don’t turn everything Green! 😊

LSA International Circle Tea for One

I’ve been wanting a nice convenient tea for one set for every day use, that can basically live on my desk. This is the perfect product to fulfil those needs, because it only has the footprint of a cup so it will conveniently sit anywhere where space is limited (I should probably just tidy my huge desk!😳)

Star Wars Lightsaber Heat Changing Mug

We’re huge Star Wars fans,mainly the original three, so I often receive Star Wars presents. I’ve been wanting this mug for aaages, because it has special powers! When it’s empty the mug shows the handles of all of the lightsabers but when you add hot water they all light up! These mugs often don’t work very well as you can often see the outline of what will appear before you’ve added the water but you can’t at all with this mug. My mum thought this would be the perfect present for a geeky tea lover, she sure was right!:D

T2 Pearly White Ink Teapot

I adore T2 Tea! Their tea is phenomenal, as is there teaware. Recently I caved and bought a new T2 teacup and saucer that I’ve been wanting for months, it’s perfect for photos and a joy to use. As it was my 30th birthday my mum went all out and surprised me with the teapot to go with the cup and saucer! The quality is outstanding, blue’s my favourite colour so it’s a great choice, the finish on the pattern is stunning. It’s pretty much my dream teapot, looking forward to many tea sessions with this beauty!

Whittard of Chelsea Lucy Yellow Fluted Mug

Last up is this super cute Whittard of Chelsea mug. It’s fine bone china and finished to such a high standard, the whole cup is insanely smooth and glossy. It’s also dishwasher safe which is rarely the case with higher end teaware so it will definitely be in regular use, I tend to shy away from teaware I can’t dishwasher 😛

Thanks for Reading!

I hope this post gives you some inspiration to help you find the perfect gift for someone special or for yourself 😉

If you’d like to keep in touch with all the latest news from Russtea’s, you can find me on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook or join my mailing list below.

Bye for now! xXx

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Reviews Teaphernalia

Adagio ToasTEA Stainless Steel Travel Infuser Review

11th February 2017

I’ve got a bit of an obsession with tea bottles and flasks, out of all my teaware I love collecting tea bottles the most. The majority of my tea bottles are glass so I was thrilled to find the Adagio ToasTEA, which is a completely different product.

Adagio were awesome enough to send me a ToasTEA to try out and share my experience with you guys! You can also take a closer look at the Adagio ToasTEA on Amazon or Adagio’s website.

The Adagio ToasTEA is a stainless steel travel bottle with built in tea infuser that keeps your tea hot (or cool) for hours, literally hours! 😀

First Impressions

The first thing I noticed about the ToasTEA is the quality is incredible, as you would expect from Adagio. If you’ve tried the Adagio IngenuiTEA you’ll have an idea of the quality of Adagio teaware (check out my IngenuiTEA review).

It feels solid with a comfortable matte finish that won’t slip out of your hand like glass tea bottles can and would probably survive even if it did! It comes in blush, lemongrass or charcoal, I went for charcoal 🙂

The size is perfect, bigger than most of my tea bottles but you don’t lose as much volume as you would with a similar double walled glass tea bottle.

Using the Adagio ToasTEA

The infuser unscrews to allow you to easily add your tea leaves and the spring loaded flip top lid allows for one handed drinking, perfect for driving or drinking on the move. There’s even an easy click locking lid that enables the ToasTEA to be closed with one hand and stay closed. Inside the lid you’ll find an expertly designed lip to drink from, which slowly fills with tea from a small hole so you can feel confident of zero spillage.

The infuser inside the bottle is a good size, allowing your leaves to open up for perfect steeping. The holes in the infuser are really fine so you don’t get any bits sinking to the bottom, as can happen with bottles that have a less fine infuser.

One thing I particularly dislike about tea bottles is if they don’t offer an easy way to remove the tea leaves after steeping, leading to over steeped bitter tea. The ToasTEA completely avoids this issue, you simply fill the infuser, screw it back in to the lid, add the water, then flip the ToasTEA upside down and then flip it back when it’s steeped to your desired strength.

I’m particularly impressed with how long the ToasTEA keeps tea warm for, it easily outlasts my other tea bottles, another plus for drinking while you’re out and about. The only downside of this is I like to drink a lot of tea and I found that it takes a while for the tea to reach a drinkable temperature but this is easily remedied by adding a little cold water after the tea is prepared. The ToasTEA also remains completely cool on the outside at all times, making it easy to carry and hold.

Overall

The Adagio ToasTEA really is a wonderful product! It makes an exciting change from a tea bottle market that is dominated by glass bottles, making it stronger and nicer to hold.

It has a list of design choices that I haven’t seen on any other tea bottles. The flip top locking lid, lip to drink from and the ability to steep your tea without it being over steeped are all features I haven’t seen on other tea bottles.

Final Words

Thanks for taking the time to read my review of the Adagio ToasTEA, I hope it’s helped you with your buying decision. Also a massive thanks to Adagio for sending me the ToasTEA to review, I LOVE it!

If you’d like to try out the Adagio ToasTEA you can find it on Amazon or buy it directly from Adagio.

The Adagio ToasTEA is featured in my Top 10 Tea Bottles for 2017 post.

Check out my Instagram, Twitter or Facebook for more tea related fun and join my newsletter below.

Bye for now xXx

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Teaphernalia Top 10's

Top 10 Amazing Tea Bottles Update

26th December 2016

A while back I did a Top 10 Tea Bottles post that’s been really popular on my blog. Since writing it I’ve discovered loads more tea bottles, so I decided to make an updated version with the new ones I’ve discovered.

They’re in no particular order, just 10 of the best I’ve found. Hope you like it 😊 Be sure to check out number 8 and 10 for something totally unique!😉

1. GROSCHE Marino 550ml Water and Tea Travel Infuser – also available in grey or red

2. ToasTEA Stainless Steel Travel Infuser – Also available in red and gold. Full Review

3. EFOSHM Thermos Insulated Stainless Steel Thermos Tea Bottle – also in blue

4. MIU COLOR Glass Water Bottle with Anti-slip Silicone Sleeve – comes in loads of colours!

5. bamboo Infusing Vacuum bottle

6. GioHybrid Stainless Steel Thermos Flask Tea Bottle – also in lime green or cherry red

7. Vireo Double Walled Tea Bottle with Carry Case

8. LifeWheel Borosilicate Glass Tea Bottle – Lid has a storage space for dry tea so you can infuse on the go! Tons of colours

9. Life4u Borosilicate Glass Tea with Silicone Sleeve – wide choice of colours

10. Oxford Eve’s with Bamboo Lid & Multi Functional Infuser – A Must See!

I hope this has helped you decide which tea bottle is for you! I’d love to hear in the comments below what your favourite tea bottle is?

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now xXx

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Top 10's

Top 15 Coolest Tea Mugs

30th March 2016

Hey guys!

I’ve got a bit of a problem, I’m a mug collecting addict! I literally don’t have enough room for them all and I’m starting to have to store them on the side as there’s not enough space in the cupboards. So I thought it would be fun to show you some of my favourites!

They’re in no order really, just 15 that I think are worth sharing. I’ll add to the list as time goes by 🙂

1. Walking Dead Daryl Dixon Crossbow Mug – This season of The Walking Dead is quite possibly it’s finest and this mug is hella awesome!

2. Game of Thrones Westeros Stacking Mugs – So this is technically 3 mugs but it has to be to fit a glorious map of Westeros on them 😀

3. “I don’t even think straight” – One of my personal favourites, it always gets people talking and pretty much sums me up!

4. Jumbo Toilet Mug – This probably isn’t a mug everyone would want but it sure will put a smile on the face of everyone in the office, especially if you drink black or green tea 😉 Just make sure your boss doesn’t see it!

5. Morning Wake Up Colour Changing Mug – This mug is so damn cute! When it’s empty the mug is black and sleeping, add the water and the mug wakes up, delightful!

6. R2-D2 Giant Mug – This was one of the first large mugs I bought, I figured the bigger the mug, the more tea I could drink! Disney’s merch is always such good quality and long lasting, you know you want it 😉

7. Whittard of Chelsea Pao Infuser Mug In Teal – This is a real beauty, you get a lovely quality mug with lid and the best infuser I have, it also fits any mug. I have it in dark blue but the Teal is cuter 😉

8. Magisso Tilting Tea Cup – This is so simple but so clever! Tilt it one way to infuse and then tilt it the other way to stop infusing when the tea is your desired strength, genius!

9. Jake The Dog Adventure Time 3D Mug -I’m not the biggest fan of adventure time but my boyfriend loves it and this mug is pretty damn cool either way!

10. Brass Knuckles / Knuckle Dusters mug. Possibly not everyones ‘cup of tea’ but definitely one of my fav cups for tea! :p

11. Camera Lens Mug – This is one for the geeks, which is why I love it so much. Tea and tech <3

12. Tasse Ninja Mug – This is a little bit special actually, it has a mug with an amazing black ninja mask, a ninja star as a coaster and a ninja sword handled spoon included.

13. Tetris Colour Changing Mug – I really love colour changing mugs, especially ones where it’s not that obvious, some are so blatant even when the mug is cold. This is a massive flashback to my Gameboy years, battling with my brother for the highest score!

14. Wimports Glass Tea Mug with Infuser – It’s all about loose leaf tea for me so a mug with a built in infuser is always at the front of my cupboard. This one’s awesome as the lid doubles as a holder for the infuser once your tea is the way you like it.

15. Saw Sculpted Mug – I’ll finish with a horror themed mug, my collection wouldn’t be complete without this horrific beauty!

So that’s 15 of my most favourite mugs, what are your favourite mugs? I’d love to hear in the comments below. If you enjoyed this post I’d really appreciate it if you could please share it! 🙂

Also if you like Top 10’s. 15’s, 20’s etc you’ll like my Top 10 Novelty Tea Infusers and Top 10 Tea Infusing Bottles.

Thanks so much! xXx

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Fruit Tea Reviews Tea Reviews Teaphernalia

Review of Bora Bora & Double Walled Glass Cup from The Tea Makers

25th June 2015

Last week I was sent some tea by The Tea Makers. I received Bora Bora, White Peony and Tangerine & Coconut Green Tea and also an amazing double walled glass cup. I’ll be reviewing these over the next few weeks, starting with my first review today. I decided I’d start with a fruity review of Bora Bora.

Bora Bora is described by The Tea Makers as a “Sensational Flavoured Exotic Fruit Tea Blend”, read on to see if I agree! 😉

The Look
I’ll start with the packaging which is phenomenal, the overall quality and presentation is exquisite with striking red text set against a matte black background. It’s really nice to see a change from the usual brown and relatively plain packaging loose tea is traditionally sold in. The back of the package has a really cool zip opening the first time you open it, a nice touch that furthers the feeling of luxury.

Looking at the tea for the first time I can certainly see why the tea is described as exotic, there’s all kinds of fruit in this blend, from raspberries and blackcurrants to strawberry pieces and papaya cubes. The smell is beyond words, the first inhalation transports you to white sands and bright blue sea, if paradise has a smell, this is it! The fragrance just bursts out of the packet, with a fun and bouncy vibe.

How It Tastes

As the kettle boiled I felt sheer excitement and literally couldn’t wait for the tasting to begin. Pouring the water creates a whole new smell, the initial fragrance becomes softer and sweeter, sweeter is GOOD.

I take my first sip, probably before the tea is even cool enough, the taste is fresh and succulent, with a rich quality to it. I often find tropical type fruit teas a bit sickly, usually pineapple is the ‘go to’ fruit, but there’s no pineapple to be found in this super tropical blend! Bora Bora has a deeply satisfying fruity flavour, with slight floral undertones that create an aftertaste that dances on the roof of my mouth.

Final Thoughts on Bora Bora

Overall I’ve gotta say this is one of my favourite fruit teas of all time. Fruit tea was my first love but in all honesty I was getting bored, bored of every fruit tea tasting the same! Bora Bora has reignited my love for fruit tea, I now cannot wait to try more fruit tea from The Tea Makers 😃 Bora Bora excels because it avoids the tart sharpness often found with fruit tea and steers bravely away from adding pineapple.

The Double Walled Glass Cup

I was also lucky enough to receive a beautiful doubled walled glass cup with the tea, which is pictured above 🙂 The cup is beautiful with perfect curved sides on the outside wall and matching contours on the inner wall. It’s a really nice size, as it fits in my hand just right, you can just slide your fingers round it and curl up with it. A few of these would be a gorgeous choice for a dinner party, pair your favourite blend with these cups and you’ll have a perfect finish for your guests.

The double walled finish is not only easy on the eye but is very functional and keeps the outside cool for your hands and your tea warm for a lot longer than a mug. The smooth rim of the glass is blissful to sip from and the cup has a steady base when placed on my coffee table. The glass looks like it would be really fragile but after a week of using it and washing it, I haven’t felt that it would break easily which is a massive plus. Overall I really love this cup, from the look to the functionality and the ease of use, it’s all good.

I’ll be reviewing the other 2 teas sent with the Bora Bora in the next couple of weeks so please do check back soon or join my newsletter to read it first!

I’m always looking for new and exciting fruit teas and I’d love to hear any suggestions you guys have in the comments below 😊

The Tea Makers London have a large range of teaware and beautiful glassware, with great prices which are really worth taking a look at.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read my review of Bora Bora from The Tea Makers London. You can check out their online store here.

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Teaphernalia

The Adagio IngenuiTEA Is Ingenious!

23rd June 2015

I recently received the IngenuiTEA from Adagio to review, find out how I got on!

First things first, OMG! It’s changed the way I drink tea and more importantly the quantity of tea I can drink, I have so much tea so anything that allows me to drink it faster and more often is fantastic! Read on to find out more.

The Build Quality

The first thing I noticed as I was taking it out of the box is the quality, it’s so sturdy and smooth! There’s no sharp edges or rough or visible seams in the plastic and it’s nicely weighted. The handle is the perfect angle and the grooves fit my fingers like they were made for them!

It’s constructed from BPA free plastic which is also totally transparent, it has the look of glass but the strength of plastic. It’s transparency allows you to keep an eye on your tea as it steeps and fill your mug at exactly the right moment, ensuring the perfect strength tea every time. The IngenuiTEA has a built in fine mesh strainer at the base so you never get any tea leaves in your mug.

Another special touch I like is the little feet on the base that ensure the IngenuiTEA doesn’t touch the surface you stand it on, meaning you don’t have to worry about the cleanliness of the surface you stand it on.

I love that when you fill the IngenuiTEA the lid stands proud and stays firmly in place, it would be infuriating if it kept falling down all the time but this never happens.

In Use

The IngenuiTEA is glorious to use, just add your leaves to the chamber, pour on the water and return to whatever you were doing, taking the IngenuiTEA with you. When your tea is your desired strength simply place the IngenuiTEA on the top of your mug and the valve on the base opens, allowing the tea to fill the mug (I still find this exciting and anyone that sees it in action is blown away!). The IngenuiTEA has a transparent base so you can watch your mug as it fills so it never overflows.

The only thing I might recommend is a coaster to sit under the IngenuiTEA if it’s on a precious surface as it does sometimes drip a tiny tiny bit underneath after filling a mug.

I chose the smaller of the two sizes and I do regret it slightly as I’m a real power drinker and the smaller size fills about 1 and a half mugs, so I’d prefer to be able to get more tea per preparation. I do find that I can fill one mug, then refill the IngenuiTEA again and add a few more leaves and make another batch though, which is a great workaround and very economical. The smaller size would definitely be best if you wanted to travel with it or were in an office setting though.

Cleaning

The best best part, the IngenuiTEA is DISHWASHER SAFE!! You just fill it up with water to rinse the leaves out and put it in the dishwasher and it’s ready to go when you next need it. The IngenuiTEA is equally as easy to rinse between uses, just fill the chamber with water and rinse the leaves out, then fill it again and press the base, the water flows through the valve to rinse it.

Overall

I’ve gotta say, Adagio’s IngenuiTEA is fantastic, I can drink so much more tea and it’s just good fun to use. I love teaphernalia and this is definitely one of the most exciting things I’ve got, I just want to show it to everyone!

It’s well made, looks epic (your friends will be so jealous!!) and makes great tea. My tea is always the perfect strength, I usually find with teaware that requires you to add the leaves to the water, that it over infuses and you end up with bitter tea but this doesn’t happen at all with the InegnuiTEA.

If you’re a home user I’d go for the Adagio IngenuiTEA XL, if you’re a work user or on the go more, I’d choose the regular size Adagio IngenuiTEA. The only important thing is that you buy one of them, it’s a game changer for sure! 😀

Signing Off

Thanks so much for taking the time to read my review of the Adagio IngenuiTEA. I hope it made your purchasing decision easier 🙂

A massive thank you goes to Adagio for sending me their IngenuiTEA for review, you can find more info about the IngenuiTEA on Adagio’s website. I also received some tea from Adagio, including the Mango Green pictured (LUSH). I’ll be reviewing these over the coming weeks so definitely check back or join my newsletter to receive them direct as they drop!

If you have used any exciting tea gadgets recently I’d love to hear about them in the comments below! xXx

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Hi there, welcome to my blog about my biggest passion, tea!

My name’s Russell, my lifetime nickname has always been Rusty or Russtea as my friends now call me (my surname even begins with T!).

Not much beats the feeling of taking a moment at the end of a busy day and relaxing with your favourite mug, filled with sweet fruit tea, or waking up with black tea infused with vanilla shortbread.

Why not take a moment now, make your favourite tea and join me as I share my tea related experiences?