A question for the tea makers out there..

I was wondering how particular you guys are about the utensils you use to make your teas. I've often been told that metals are a no-no, when brewing herbs for medicinal purposes, as it could interact with the constituents in a negative way.

Now, I never bothered to try looking into the science as to why that's the case, just sounded like a reasonable claim to make, so I went along.

The reason I'm asking, I've recently started making decoctions, simmering my herbs for a period of time, rather than just pouring hot water over them, and allowing them to steep.

The trouble is that it's been hard to find a pot made out of one of the safer materials - glass, enamel, what have you, so as to make the pot as airtight as possible, and prevent the yummy oils from the herbs from escaping.

On top of that, the clean up process has become a lot more difficult, and I've been looking into some type of tea bag, sock, something, but the options are limited.

I have found some empty tea "filters" that would work, but, the thing is, I've been able to find a ton of those metal, mesh containers that you put your herbs in, then just throw in the water, and have been thinking how great it'd be if I could have something like that.

ALL of that said, what are your opinions on using metals for brewing purposes?

I'll probably just end up making do with what I've got out of paranoia, but just curious if anyone else uses any metals..

Thanks!

I'm looking for something I can throw into a pot and actually, like, heat continuously though.

Think that would work, being plastic and nylon? I imagine the plastic is THICK, strong, but still. Hm.

I'm guessing you just pour hot water into the thing, let the herbs steep for a bit, then consume, right?

I've been doing a lot of herbs by bringing them to a boil, then simmering for 20 - 30 minutes, after I found that my usual method likely wasn't pulling as much of the goodies from the tougher herbs that I have been using, being that they're like barks and such.

Thinking of switching back to powders and just drinking them along with the tea like I was doing, even though the texture is gross. lol

edit: THANK YOU THO, KATE! I'll definitely take a look at some more of Teavana's products. The name actually sounds familiar btw. Do they have commercials on the tube? Hm.. anyway..

Yeah, I worry they're not big enough though, and maybe treated with something. I could use more than one, I guess.

I'll look!