The Best Tea Infusers of 2021

No one is as shocked as I am to find the silly Fred & Friends tea infuser in our top spot. I’ve passed over it in gift shops for years, thinking that its punny name and cute manatee form disqualified it from being a quality tea infuser. I stand corrected.

The design, which hangs the infuser from the rim to look like a manatee poking its head out of the ocean, is wonderfully functional. Even when tipping the mug more than 90 degrees to get the last few drops of tea, the Manatea holds on tight, eliminating the need for a separate dish to catch drips. And while that means you may keep it in the mug longer than other infusers, as you sip, and the water level decreases, steeping stops. (That being said, make sure you initially fill your mug to cover all of the infuser’s holes—you’ll see it start working immediately.)

Made of silicone, the Manatea is easy to clean, and leaves don’t escape or get stuck in the holes. The one downside is that when leaves expand in its narrow body, they need a little extra help being removed (I used my finger), but then they generally come out in one relatively clean clump.

A great gift? Absolutely (especially since it was the least expensive product we tested). But this is one tea infuser even avid tea drinkers should buy for themselves.

Whether it’s raining outside, or you need a giant cup of tea to kick-start your morning, there are some days that just call for an oversized mug. And on those days, we recommend you reach for the Yoassi. A more traditional stainless steel tea infuser, the Yoassi offers a large basket to hold enough tea leaves to flavor even the biggest mug of hot water—or to allow for an extra-strong cup for that boost of caffeine.

The Yoassi’s arms are wide enough to easily fit across our 16-ounce testing mug, and could likely work on one with an even bigger mouth. Tea steeps quickly and evenly without needing much prodding. And when the tea is steeped to your liking, the Yoassi’s dish (which fits snugly as a lid when not in use) can hold your dripping infuser until you’re ready to clean it or make a second cup with the leaves. Just be careful when you’re removing it—the metal arms get surprisingly hot to the touch after steeping.

And speaking of cleaning, the Yoassi is about as straight-forward as tea infusers come. Leaves come out easily and the mouth is wide enough to fit a sponge when washing by hand. If the Yoassi were a bit smaller to use with more standard mugs, we might have named this our top pick, but instead we’ll enjoy breaking it out on those days when we need a little something extra.

The ability to easily clean a tea infuser was one of our main criteria for testing. Whether at home or at the office, no one wants to hunch over the trash can picking out stubborn leaves from tiny holes. That’s where the Tilevo shined against the competition. Made of silicone, and designed with a wide opening in the “body” of the dinosaur, leaves generally came out in one clean clump.

The diffuser was also enjoyable to use in that it stands on its own at the bottom of your mug, its long neck bringing its head just above water level. While you may want to dip it a few times to keep steeped tea from concentrating at the bottom of the mug, it’s able to provide a nice flavor throughout. A few bits of leaves may escape, but it’s minimal and not enough to impede drinkability.

When you’re finished steeping, you will need a dish or paper towel to keep the Tilevo from leaking since it doesn’t come with one of its own. But once it’s dry, you can skip storing it in a drawer or cabinet and let it stand on its own, working well as a conversation piece for your desk or countertop.

Full disclosure: I’ve used the Harold Import Co. tea infuser for years in my own life. I’ve always had a pleasant time using it—it’s small enough to fit any mug and it disperses tea quickly and evenly throughout. (One minor hitch: If even a small leaf gets between the two halves of the ball, others can sneak out.) But I was still curious to see how it would stand up to the other tea infusers we tested.

Mine has looked a little worse for the wear for as long as I can remember—its delicate stainless steel mesh denting from what I thought was too many washings. But after just two uses of the new one I used for testing, the mesh was already slightly dented. It doesn’t impede performance as far as steeping goes, but it’s a bit disappointing.

That said, it’s a solid choice for anyone looking for a simple tea infuser that’s a breeze to clean. Simply squeeze to open the hinge and watch all the leaves fall into the garbage. Just be careful with the scrubbing.

I was immediately intrigued by the functionality of the OXO Good Grips tea infuser, twisting the end of the handle and watching the ball open and close with a satisfying heft. In practice, however, this proved to be the most frustrating part of the experience.

This is not to say the twisting itself doesn’t work—it certainly does—but the movement actually traps tea leaves between its two halves, making cleaning a pain. This design also made this infuser the only one that actually let whole leaves escape, likely from being caught in between the mini cups while they were in the open position. During one test, enough leaves floated to the top that I stopped drinking it altogether.

That being said, if you’re especially thorough with your cleaning, this may not be a bad choice. I enjoyed how little space it occupied in the mug, and, since I have a tendency to leave my tea steeping as I drink, the fact that I could still sip easily around it. Also, for all its moving parts, it felt sturdy and well-made.

My favorite part of the Chefast tea infuser—sold in a set with one large and two small infusers—was the combo scoop/bag clip that came included. While not a part of any testing criteria, that scoop came in handy throughout testing for scooping tea into all of our infusers, and was the single-most talked about piece from colleagues passing by, even while sharing the company of silicone dinosaurs and manatees.

That being said, I was less excited to use the Chefast infuser itself. I tested using a big mug, so I opted for the large infuser. While it held a good amount of tea and kept leaves from getting into the water, it took a while (and plenty of dipping it up and down on my end) to get it to steep enough.

In terms of design, the chain coming from the lid was about double the length it needed to be, rendering the hook at the other end useless. And clicking the lid into the basket didn’t feel as sturdy as I’d hope, making me wonder how durable this would be over many uses.

Sold separately, I’d purchase the bag clip scoop in an instant. But as a tea infuser alone? There are better ones out there.

The Forlife tea infuser was one of the more frustrating to use. Unlike the Yoassi (and most other similar-looking tea infusers on the market), the Forlife infuser only has one arm to hold it atop the mug, leaving you to balance a much thinner lip on the other side. Move it just so and that side falls into the water. While it never let any leaves escape, it seemed like such an unnecessary problem to have. I even tried it in a smaller mug, but at that point, it stood too tall to fit properly.

On the plus side, when the infuser is balancing properly, it works well to disperse tea throughout and contain leaves—and it comes with a dish to catch drips upon removal. It’s also large enough to fit a sponge into fairly easily for cleaning (even if leaves did get more stuck in the holes than I would’ve liked). But for being the most expensive tea infuser we tested, it was a let down.

Finum’s product description claims it works in most mugs and pots, and while that may be technically true, it’s a hard sell in practice. The infuser is massive, much larger than most in-mug infusers, and a bit excessive for steeping a single cup.

While the frame is made of a fairly cheap-feeling plastic, the stainless steel infuser panels are made of an extremely fine mesh that keeps every bit of leaves inside. They do, however, seem to slow down the steeping process—after 5 minutes of sitting in the hot water, the Finum produced a weaker tea than other infusers.

While I appreciate the idea of the House Again infuser having retractable arms that can be moved to a vertical position for easy storing, they made the tea-drinking experience pretty annoying. Even while the tea infuser is empty, the basket is too heavy for one single arm to support. That means, when you lift the infuser out of the mug, you need to use two hands or risk the arm folding in on itself. It likely won’t spill any leaves, but it does make the basket hit your knuckles—not painful, but unpleasant.

And while I enjoyed the silicone lid that doubled as a dish for drips, I did not look forward to using the House Again infuser. Some leaves were able to escape into the mug, which meant they also were able to get stuck when it came time for cleaning. In terms of even steeping, it performed just fine, but there are better infusers on the market that won’t leave you frustrated.