SWEDISH TRADING Mesh Tea Ball, 1 EA

I originally purchased one of these to use in my homebrew kegs for dry hopping. The unit I bought was supplied by Super Depot, and was received in perfect condition, packaged in the same minimalistic box pictured in the item description. The item seemed to be of very quality workmanship and design as it sealed 360 degrees evenly, the mesh was flawless as was the clasp, hinge, and chain. I have now used that one in a keg for several weeks and even the acidic nature of beer did not leave a single mark on any of the piece. (100% stainless is very important for homebrew, so even the clasp and rim must be stainless, otherwise it will corrode and leach metals into the beer). I cannot speak to the material of the chain itself, as I removed that for my purposes. The chain does visually appear to be of good quality. The unit I received was exactly what is visually pictured in the item image showing the plain white box, red lettering and an image of the tea ball on one side.Having had very positive results with the first unit, I decided to order 3 more as I can only fill each with 1/2 ounce of pellet hops (plus a half inch stainless ball bearing for weight) for use in dry hopping and need to be able to add more per keg sometimes.These last three came from M.V. Trading Co., and are obviously not of the same quality. The mesh itself is not nearly as fine, nor is it of the same shine/brightness. While a difference in metal appearance is acceptable for my uses, it does make me think twice if this is truly food grade stainless steel. More importantly for my purposes, is the larger mesh. Pellet hops need a fine mesh like the first unit I received so they do not spread into the entire keg of beer, and this latter batch has me concerned that it will not contain all the hop material as I require. This second batch also does not seal evenly around the circumference, nor is the clasp mechanism as precise in its operation. The 3 items arrived packaged in individual plastic bags, nesting inside each other. I do not believe they are the same unit as is described here, however I have already placed two of them into one of my kegs, so should have real world results in a few weeks. I am optimistically looking for good results for both corrosion resistance and dry hop material containment, and hopefully the latter three work just as well as the first one I purchased.As with the originally purchased tea ball, I removed the chain on these as well. The chain does visually appear to be a quality chain. The clasp portion of the chain to the ball was different than in the item description image, but it is such a small detail it is barely worth mentioning.To those who would use these as tea infusers, I would say that whole leaf tea should work fine in either of the two styles of item regardless of supplier, and should work as per your needs.To the home brewer that is considering using these to dry hop their kegs, I would suggest inquiring to the supplier before you purchase. The units that ship in the same box as what is pictured here are what you would ideally prefer.If I can figure out how to upload images, I have a good side by side comparison.

This three inch mesh tea ball is a nice larger size if you have need for a large tea ball. It is made quite well, has a fairly fine mesh weave to keep in the contents, though very fine tea that has managed to break down to almost powder does escape. I have owned several of this size and have had difficulty from time to time with the chain falling off, but it is fairly easy to put back on. The chain is convenient if you happen to be using a container where it can be hung on the side of the container and then dangled into the liquid. If the liquid is too far down, then the ball has to be dunked a few times by holding the chain and then the ball placed into the bottom of the container and taken out when fully steeped with a slotted spoon. It does get hot so I put it on a plate and let it cool completely before attempting to empty it. After you place the ingredients into the mesh tea ball be careful to get the little locating pin lined up with the hole properly, so it is in there snugly because this is the only way it is going to lock down securely when you swing that small metal closure piece back onto itself to lock it down. These have the potential for other uses besides tea, such as putting herbs into broths for flavoring purposes. I use mine for tea, but rather than a pot of tea I'm making a large amount of tea for homemade Kombucha. These work great for that purpose, but normally I have to drop the ball into the pan of water to steep and remove with slotted spoon. I use a bit of caution when handling it for washing by hand so if the chain comes off I know it and don't lose it and also to be sure I'm not being too harsh as I clean the mesh area so that it doesn't get a hole in it. All in all it's a sturdy tea ball, but I think it naturally is going to last longer if you use some simple methods to give it some TLC. I use these once or twice a week so they get a lot of use here. If you use them only on occasion I doubt you'll run into the situations like I do because they aren't under heavy usage. I buy more when I need them so I'm pleased with them because they get the job done.

Arrived well-protected in a small cardboard box that was not at all squashed.The stainless steel mesh, however, was very slightly dented in a few places (hence 4 out of 5 as it's not shown dented in the picture) but this appears to be only cosmetic as it does not seem to affect use of the tea ball.The diameter of the mesh portion of the ball is about 2 1/2 inches whereas the diameter of metal rings where the mesh hemispheres come together is 3 inches. Despite the size, the ball does fit into my ceramic mugs, but they are on the large size and there's little room to spare. The ball will probably not fit into smaller size mugs.The clasp seems fairly sturdy and the two mesh hemispheres fit together very closely leaving no gaps.After emptying the contents of two of the pre-packaged tea bags that contain what appears to be pulverized tea dust into the ball and brewing, about 75% of the tea dust remained captured in the ball.Brewing with loose leaf tea, however, resulted in all the tea staying in the ball after brewing.The clasp has so far always remained firmly closed while brewing.There has been no discoloration of the tea ball and the brewed tea tastes perfectly normal.

I bought this to try one more time to get a tea ball with small holes so that my drink isn't full of leaves. This ball came with the rim well matched so that when it is sealed the edges align well, without space for tea leaves to fall through. Unfortunately, the tea I use is so fine that I still get some leaves in my tea, but not nearly as many as with my tea ball with holes poked in it, or with the small mesh ball I bought. The edges of the small mesh ball don't meet when it is sealed closed.