I was suspect about this product as I tried to figure out whether I would use it, and how I would use it for my tea, but decided for under $12 I would figure it out. There are no instructions aside from those very simple directions printed on the label on the back of the box of the product (pretty much what is listed in its Amazon description). It doesn't go into how to disassemble the unit so it's not clear that the infuser does twist off from the bottom of the unit. Note that this unit breaks down into 5 separate parts (which I will attempt to describe with my not-so-official descriptions): 1) green plastic tea reservoir tube lid (which also acts as the plunger top), 2) green see-through tea reservoir/plunger tube, 3) clear plastic outside unit that holds the whole thing together, 4) steeper basket (including the green plastic steeper neck), and 5) clear steeper cover (the thing that keeps your wet tea leaves from getting all over everything in your bag/case). The unit itself is well-made and the parts feel pretty solid (except for the infuser basket itself -- keep reading). I like that it has a clip so it doesn't bob around in your cup. But, the clip is metal -- so -- it will absorb heat from the hot water as it steeps. TEA STORAGE ON THE GO: I put in 1.5 tsp of my favorite loose leaf white tea into the infuser part and filled the loose leaf reservoir tube with enough tea for approximately 4 more servings. Note that there was still room in the steeper for additional leaves, if that's your thing. That seems like a good day's worth of iced or hot tea, so a total of ~5 cups of tea can be served from this one unit. Filling the narrow loose leaf tea reservoir tube was a bit challenging, as the leaves in my white tea are a bit long and gangly and seemed to want to resist actually going into the opening of the tube itself, but I finally managed to successfully fill it by cupping my fingers into a strange funnel-like shape to assist putting the tea in. Another option is to use a 1/2 teaspoon spoon and just stick the open end of the reservoir tube onto your scoop of tea and tip it over and, again using fingers to assist, you will get most of your tea into the tube. Maybe you can use the tube itself as a scoop in your tea -- my bags of tea aren't large enough to do this but I suppose it's a viable option if you buy huge amounts of loose leaf tea. Anyway, it helps to tap the tea reservoir onto the counter so that you can get a few more leaves in there into the air spaces. Special note for uncoordinated folks: You cannot sit the reservoir down onto the counter because of the two spikes at the end of it (used as the tea press portion of this unit), so you do have to actively hold onto/balance it while you fill it with tea. This isn't a big deal once it's full, because then you just screw the green plastic end cap on and lay it down and your tea is safe. Until your tube is full, though, this part can be frustrating until you practice, or until you use tea without long, gangly leaves. STEEPING: As for steeping, I didn't have a problem with the leaves blooming -- just don't use your reservoir/plunger all the way down during the steeping process and the infuser basket is fine and releases yummy tea into your cup. Maybe this is a problem for people who use more than 1.5 tsp of tea in the basket. I actively plunge the tea a couple of times while it's steeping just to infuse as much flavor into my cup as possible, so you might do that, too, if you find the leaves aren't blooming to your standards. At the end, squeegeeing the tea into the bottom of the basket forces out so much of the flavor -- it's pretty superb, and I find I get better results from a standard "let it sit and steep" style of steeper, just because that extra flavor does end up in my cup and not wasted in leaves in the basket. I was surprised to find that the infuser is solid at the very bottom of the basket, and that the fine mesh is only around the sides of the basket -- I suppose this helps give the basket strength for plunging. CLEANING: Cleaning is not an issue because all you have to do is remove the infuser basket portion from the rest of the unit (HINT: the green plastic part stays on the infuser. Don't squeeze the infuser as the metal mesh is pretty delicate and it will give easily to the pressure of your fingers, so beware) and it rinses out like any other infuser. Just lay the parts out on a paper towel to dry at the end of the day and voila! It's ready the next morning to be filled with your favorite tea for another road warrior kind of day. OVERALL IMPRESSION: All in all, though the design itself presents a couple of very minor challenges (the solutions to which are not immediately apparent due to the lack of literature on the use/cleaning of the product), but ultimately I believe it's a well-made product and would make a great accessory for any loose leaf tea enthusiast who enjoys that extra bit of mobility and flavor infusion in his/her cup of tea. Definitely a good choice for a tea snob who might really enjoy pulling this from a case or bag and steep a luscious, exotic tea in a random cup of hot water while everyone else is forced to enjoy whatever hot beverage is available at the time. :)
