Customer Rating: Summary: Excellent for brewing tea even when you're not camping Comment: I've tested many loose tea brewers and this is the best (I've never used it to brew coffee so look to other reviews for an evaluation of how well it does that). The problem with most loose tea brewers is that the mesh is too coarse, letting through flecks of tea. This brewer has a very fine mesh. I'm not a camper, but I was in REI to buy some shoes and I spotted this and decided to give it a try since I'd never found a really satisfactory tea brewer. I was delighted. That was a couple years ago -- I've been using mine a couple times every day ever since -- So I feel MSR is missing the mark here -- they should be marketing this in kitchenware stores, not just in camping stores. I bought my second one from Amazon so I can have one for me and one for a guest. (I don't like to brew tea by using the same tea leaves for two cups -- the second cup is never as good as the first -- each tea drinker deserves a cup of tea made from fresh leaves, not leaves that have been used to brew another cup before theirs. By having two of these, I can brew two excellent cups of tea at once.)
For loose tea, I recommend alltea (for excellent tea with good value -- try their English Breakfast tea -- very hearty) or Upton tea (for an amazing variety of high-end teas). Have you ever tried Rooibos tea? -- give it a try! Customer Rating: Summary: Perfection Comment: Needed a way to make coffee while backpacking and this works. It is way better than that plastic stick thingy that you have to stir around and let sit in your mug for 10 minutes in order to get any flavor out of it.
Functional in the backcountry or in your office, MSR's Mug Mate is the infinite coffee and tea filter Comparable to a French press, the MugMate works great with almost any size cup for hot drinks anywhere Features: Specifications: Weight: 1 ounce
