Tavalon Gravity Teapot

I was given a Tavalon Gravity teapot plus a matching tea cup and saucer for Christmas. They are all in a clear glass finish. I have come to really enjoy using it. I must admit, I had never heard of these before then. My daughter in law mentioned that you put the tea pot on top of the cup and the tea would filter down. This is where I made my first mistake as I unpacked but could not see instructions (they are on the side of the actual box it comes in) but I thought, how hard can it be? I did wonder beforehand how it would work as the teapot is not huge, but definitely larger than the cup and I imagined the liquid could spill over. So.. I put the tea pot on top of the cup, with tea leaves, and poured in the water. I expected a slow filter but instead the water was in the cup within about 3 seconds, with no time to steep and yes, it did indeed spill over. I wasn't impressed but it was my mistake for not looking up instructions beforehand.

The correct way is to just fill it like a normal tea pot, allow it to draw till it is ready, then place the teapot on top of the cup, whisking it off as soon as it gets to the level you want. Once I figured out how to use it, I was impressed.

The best part is you don't necessarily need to use a Tavalon cup, the teapot will work on just about any cup or mug. And it doesn't leak, either before or after use, which I half expected it to. Amazing.

The bonus with this tea pot is it holds enough water for 2 decent sized cups. So if you have a friend over, ideal. For multiple people, you may need a bigger tea pot but for one or two people, excellent size.

Plus, you can use loose tea leaves. This (I believe) is more environmentally friendly and it allows you to make up your own mix of tea leaves if you wish.

Easy to clean out, none of the tea leaves go through to your cup of tea either. Tavalon also sell nice loose leaf teas in a handy tin. I was given one of these too. I'm really happy with the whole set and it is getting a lot of use. I've included as best I can a photo of the tea filtering through but I had to be quick!