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The Eight Cranes Perfect Steeper
Perfect Steeper (Glass or Polycarbonate Model) – $29.99
Perfect Steeper Gift Set (Steeper with 3 tea samples) – $39.99

The Perfect Steeper

Serious tea lovers will tell you there's no substitute for brewing with loose teas. But although loose teas will brew up into a more flavorful, less bitter cuppa, they require extra equipment (usually some combination of teapots, infusers, strainers, and mugs) that would make it difficult (if not impossible) to carry around everything you need for a good-quality tea on the go.

The Eight Cranes Perfect Steeper is an innovative product hoping to change the mindset that loose teas cannot be brewed while on the go. The Perfect Steeper does a good job living up to its name – providing a compact, drip-free, and most of all, convenient means to brew loose tea on the go – all that's needed is access to hot water.

Perfect Steeper Stands Out By Design

The key to the Perfect Steeper is its innovative design that incorporates the infuser (where the tea steeping takes place) into the top portion of the unit. As you can see from the video below, unlike other steeping solutions on the market, you actually flip the Perfect Steeper upside down to allow the tea leaves to begin to steep in the hot water inside the "steeping chamber". When you feel the tea has steeped long enough, you turn the unit right-side-up, leaving you with perfectly brewed tea you can drink straight from the Perfect Steeper's 8 oz. drinking chamber.

The drinking chamber is an insulated, double-walled design that keeps your tea hot but doesn't burn your fingers. Both high-tempered glass and polycarbonate models are available to choose from (polycarbonate model has a glass interior chamber and poly exterior). In both models, the steeping chamber is composed of polycarbonate. All metal accents are stainless-steel and the the top lid is embossed with the Eight Cranes logo. All of the sections of the Perfect Steeper screw together into a leak-free cylinder that is 7.75" high, 2.5"  diameter (outer diameter).

Tea in Two Minutes

The Perfect Steeper is simple to use and did an excellent job with the two kinds of loose teas I had on hand (a black tea and an oolong tea). The steeping chamber is large enough to allow the tea leaves to infuse properly, and would even handle rolled or leafy teas just fine. I love being able to watch the tea as it steeps, and even though I use a clock to make sure I don't let the leaves steep for too long, you can almost tell just by looking at the shade of the tea when it's ready to be flipped back over.

The sections screw together nicely without any difficulty, and when you're ready to drink, the steeping chamber comes off and you set it upside-down, so there's no dripping mess! The drinking chamber is comfortable to hold and drink from; the thread for screwing it into the steeping chamber is set far enough back from the lip of the unit so as to not interfere with the drinking process whatsoever.

For those that like more than the occasional cup, please note that your loose tea leaves can be re-used up to 10 more times! Simply add more hot water and repeat the steeping process again. (Your mileage may vary depending on the quality of the tea leaves you're using, of course.)

The only complaint I have about the Perfect Steeper is that it isn't dishwasher-safe. The three individual parts (top lid, steeping chamber, drinking chamber) are all very easy to hand-wash, though, so I'm not too bothered by this factor of the product.

Is The Perfect Steeper for You?

The Eight Cranes Perfect Steeper is an excellent product for tea enthusiasts on the go. While it probably won't replace your existing loose tea brewing setup, it could easily be your primary brewing equipment if you're a casual tea drinker or are just getting into experimenting with loose teas. And for everyone else, it would make an excellent addition to your tea-making setup, and give you a simple, clean, and convenient method to brew tea while in unfamiliar territory.

Pros:

• The compact design allows one to steep, filter, and consume your tea in a single unit with no spills or mess.
• The glass double-walled design feels solid and pleasant to drink from (and stays hot without burning your hand).
• The Perfect Steeper doubles as your mug – no separate container required.
• Ample-sized polycarbonate steeping chamber allows you to watch the infusion process, and is the perfect size for tightly rolled teas that need room to expand.
• Easy to re-use your loose tea for multiple brewings without any additional mess or preparation.

Cons:

• It is not dishwasher-safe, so you must wash the three pieces by hand.
• It is not microwave safe (although I don't know why you would want to microwave it anyway).
• Be sure to get the polycarbonate version if you are worried about carrying around a glass container with you while out and about. I'm a bit of a klutz and this is a concern I have about the all-glass version.

Disclosure: I received a review sample of the Perfect Steeper from Eight Cranes, but chose to purchase it rather than send it back at the end of the review period.

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In my family, I am notorious for choosing the worst movies for family movie nights.  It's almost a sure thing.  In fact, it happened so often over the years that I almost consider it my superpower to be able to choose to watch, out of all available selections, the worst movie possible.  Here are some of the "gems" I selected over the years:

• Super Mario Brothers
• Wagons East and Canadian Bacon
• Waterworld
• Drop Dead Fred
• Citizen Ruth (caveat – for my 12 year old brother)
  
• The Cable Guy
• Batman and Robin

Now granted, most of my worst choices were back in the days before internet rating systems and review sites were in place.  We'd usually wander around in a Blockbuster video store and pick movies that looked like they might appeal to the family.  I just know, if left to my own devices, I tend to choose films on the crappier side of the scale.

Given this knowledge, how can I best use my powers for the good of all mankind? By simultaneously warning and entertaining others of the perils of these crappy movies!  And what better way to do it than in the most succinct format known to humanity today – the 140 character tweet!

I'd like to introduce to you my alter-ego, TheCrapCritic, who can be found anywhere that bad movies and media exist.  Through this account, I'll distill the essence of a crappy film, book, commercial, television show, or other media down into a pithy, 1-tweet "review".  I can't promise a regular schedule because even I won't voluntarily subject myself to these crappy products – but you can bet with my unerring ability to choose the crap that I'll have plenty to post.  Here a couple of my more recent "reviews":

• SURROGATES: The actors portray surrogate robots. They do a great job – it's like a bad screenplay being read aloud by your computer. #crap
• DEATH RACE: Where Jason Statham wears a metal mask and drives a Mustang with guns attached. Viewers are advised to wear blindfolds. #crap
• If Jet Li spent as much time practicing his acting as he did his martial arts, Kiss of the Dragon might have been a better movie. #crap

If you're on Twitter, come follow TheCrapCritic for more along the same lines.  I'm just getting started over there so there's not much of a backlog, but the crap will out, so it's just a matter of time…

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Friday Drabble

Today, I learned that the term for a 100 word story is a "drabble" (not to be confused with comic strip or the novelist). The term comes from Monty Python's 1971 Big Red Book. In this book, "Drabble" was a word game where the first participant to write a novel wins. In order to make the game possible in the real world, it was agreed that 100 words would suffice.

I thought it would be fun (and a good writing exercise) to try to do a weekly drabble attempt or two. Since Friday's usually the day I feel the least desire to get any writing done, I figured it would be a good day to schedule my weekly drabble attempt.  Feel free to join in and write your own 100 word stories on Fridays and tag them with "friday drabble".  Link to them in the comments and/or on Twitter with the hashtag #fridaydrabble. Let's see if we can get a following going!

"Welcome to Hell," a voice growled from behind his back. Still groggy from the blow to his head, Mike didn't even attempt to turn around. His brain sloshed inside his skull with every minute movement, causing him to retch and collapse onto the hard packed dirt floor. The next blow arrived unseen and he descended into the depths of unconsciousness.

The lights snicked on, and he started peeling off the adhesive patches affixed to his forehead, scalp, and neck. "Damn, that was hardcore!" he told his friends, each anxiously awaiting their turn. "I'm only porting happy memories from now on."

I've always been a bookworm, but back in middle school, it was really pronounced.

In fact, it got me into trouble on more than a few occasions.

The most memorable time was in middle school, when the class bully was picking on me for reading The Hobbit during lunch.

I studiously ignored his insults and shoulder prodding. Finally, my temper grew short, I closed the tome, and swinging it like a tennis racket, slapped him silly upside his head.

I don't know if the pen is mightier than the sword, but a good hardcover book can definitely pack a wallop!

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