A cup of tea is typically made by dipping a porous tea bag into a hot cup of water for several seconds to several minutes in order to release the tea flavor from the tea bag or tea strainer into the hot water. The tea bag is then removed. Removing the tea bag can be a messy process as the tea bag tends to drip and inadvertently sink to the bottom of the cup. Moreover, drippings can scald the skin, stain the tablecloth and/or create a pool of tea in a saucer, which might then drip on and stain one's clothing or tablecloth. Other disadvantages with the common method of preparing a cup of tea include the length of time needed to achieve an optimal flavor and the singular and thus potentially wasteful use of tea bags. Similar issues arise when the cup of tea is prepared from tea leaves. To prevent the undesirable mess resulting from disposing of the used tea leaves, multiple dishes need to be typically used in a time consuming process. Moreover, the damp tea bag or tea strainer, once removed from the cup, is unattractive and detracts from the tea brewing experience.
The present invention addresses all these negatives. The device used for preparing the cup of tea from a tea bag is a single unit assembly that provides for functionalities and features to 1) prevent the tea bag or from sinking to the bottom so that its retrieval would not require reaching into the cup with ones' fingers or a spoon, 2) prevent dripping outside the cup when the bag is removed, 3) shorten the time to squeeze out the flavor from the tea bag into the water and obviate the need for wrapping the tea bag around a spoon or other secondary utensil to squeeze the tea bag before removing from the cup of tea, 4) enable reusing a tea bag at least once, and 5) obscure from view the unattractive, damp, used tea bag following brewing.
The device for preparing the cup of tea from tea leaves is a single unit assembly that provides for functionalities and features to 1) prevent the tea leaves from sinking to the bottom of the cup so that its retrieval would not require reaching into the cup with a spoon, 2) prevent dripping outside the cup when the bag is removed, and 3) shorten the time to squeeze out the flavor from the tea leaves into the water and obviate the need for handling the tea leaves multiple times. 4) potentially reuse the tea leaves at least once and 5) obscure from view the unattractive, damp, used tea leaves following brewing.
A number of prior art references that relate to tea bag holding and squeezing devices. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,591 two porous plates are attached to the ends of the tong. U.S. Pat. No. 2,887,948 likewise discloses two dome shaped porous plates connected to a common hinge. References that indicate at least one porous plate include U.S. Pat. No. 3,342,518 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,708,401.