A tea strainer is a type of strainer that is placed over or in a teacup

Teacup

A teacup is a small cup, with or without a handle, generally a small one that may be grasped with the thumb and one or two fingers. It is typically made of a ceramic material. It is usually part of a set, composed of a cup and a matching saucer. These in turn may be part of a tea set in...

 to catch tea leaves.

When tea

Tea

Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...

 is brewed in the tradition

Tradition

A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...

al manner in a teapot

Teapot

A teapot is a vessel used for steeping tea leaves or a herbal mix in near-boiling water. Tea may be either in a tea bag or loose, in which case a tea strainer will be needed, either to hold the leaves as they steep or to catch the leaves inside the teapot when the tea is poured...

, the tea leaves are not contained in teabags, but rather are freely suspended in the water. As the leaves themselves may be distasteful, it is usual to filter

Filter (water)

A water filter removes impurities from water by means of a fine physical barrier, a chemical process or a biological process. Filters cleanse water to various extents for irrigation, drinking water, aquariums, and swimming pools.-Methods of filtration:...

 them out with a tea strainer. Strainers usually fit into the top of the cup to catch the leaves as the tea is poured.

Some deeper tea strainers can also be used to brew single cups of tea, much as teabags or brewing baskets are used - the strainer full of leaves is set in a cup to brew the tea, and then removed, along with the spent tea leaves, when the tea is ready to drink. By using a tea strainer in this way, the same leaves can be used to brew multiple cups.

Tea strainer use declined in the 20th century with mass production of the tea bag

Tea bag

A tea bag is a small, porous sealed bag containing tea leaves and used for brewing tea. Tea bags are commonly made of paper, silk or plastic. The bag contains the tea leaves while the tea is brewed, making it easier to dispose of the leaves, and performs the same function as a tea infuser...

, but is still preferred among connoisseurs who claim that keeping the leaves packed in a bag, rather than freely circulating, inhibits diffusion. Many assert that inferior ingredients, namely dust

Dust (tea)

Dust tea is a low-quality grade of fine grained black tea. Traditionally these were treated as the rejects of the manufacturing process in making high quality leaf tea like the Orange Pekoe. When leaves break or get crushed during the manufacturing process they are variously labelled as Broken...

 quality tea, are often used in tea bags.

Tea strainers are usually either sterling silver

Sterling silver

Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% by mass of silver and 7.5% by mass of other metals, usually copper. The sterling silver standard has a minimum millesimal fineness of 925....

, stainless steel

Stainless steel

In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....

, or china

Porcelain

Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...

. Strainers often come in a set, with the strainer part and a small saucer for it to sit in between cups. Tea strainers in themselves have often been turned into artistic masterpieces of the silver

Silversmith

A silversmith is a craftsperson who makes objects from silver or gold. The terms 'silversmith' and 'goldsmith' are not synonyms as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are or were largely the same but the end product varies greatly as does the scale of objects created.Silversmithing is the...

- and goldsmith

Goldsmith

A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Since ancient times the techniques of a goldsmith have evolved very little in order to produce items of jewelry of quality standards. In modern times actual goldsmiths are rare...

's craft, as well as rarer specimens of fine porcelain

Porcelain

Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...

.

Brewing baskets (or infusing baskets) resemble tea strainers, but are more typically put in the top of a teapot to contain the tea leaves during brewing. There is no definitive boundary between a brewing basket and a tea strainer, and the same tool might be used for both purposes.

Other uses

Tea strainers are also used by patients trying to pass a kidney stone

Kidney stone

A kidney stone, also known as a renal calculus is a solid concretion or crystal aggregation formed in the kidneys from dietary minerals in the urine...

. The patient urinates through the strainer, thereby ensuring that, if a stone is passed, it will be caught for evaluation and diagnosis.