ZENS Tea Mug with Infuser

This cup is beautiful and sturdy feeling. I use it pretty often. I like not having to be worried about knocking it over. The wide base and weight to the cup are exactly what I needed.

I’ll start with the pros first:1. It is a very aesthetically pleasing mug. The shape and design really give it a wonderful look and feel when you’re holding it.2. The included strainer/diffuser insert make it a one stop item so you don’t need to buy a diffuser separately.3. It didn’t shatter upon the first use, which should be expected, but I’ve had it happen before.4. The strainer/diffuser was very easy to clean.Here are the cons:1. The strainer/diffuser gets hot (obviously) which makes it a tad difficult to remove once your done steeping and ready to drink.2. There are no soft rims or rubber bumpers anywhere, so you’d better get used to the sound of ceramic grinding on ceramic when you use it.3. The diffuser strainer is definitely not meant for any loose leaf teas that may have fine/small particles in it. They do mention this , but I didn’t expect the amount or size that it allowed through. I doubt it would have hurt me, but I ended up having to pour out the last drink of my tea as it was loaded with tea particles.4. The strainer/diffuser takes up space inside the mug. So when you fill the mug up to steep you need to fill it almost to the top. Because once you remove the strainer, your going to lose about a half inch or so of drink. I think it should have been made thinner, to make this issue less of a nuisance.All in all, I still like the mug, but there are plenty of places for improvement.

I chose this after looking at dozens of tea mugs with matching infusers. Although some of the others I considered had a more pleasing and elegant shape, I chose this one because so many other customers had praised it, and because it has a larger capacity than many of the others.When the mug arrived (securely packed), though, I really fell in love with it — the fine quality of the ceramic, the ease of holding it (with that oddly shaped handle that at first had put me off, and the ease of cleaning the infuser convinced me that I’d made a good purchase. The strange-looking handle actually turns out to be quite comfortable, providing a place for your thumb so that you can keep a good grip without burning your fingers. And the odd shape of the mug itself makes it very stable when you set it down.However, that doesn’t mean you can’t break it. I was heartbroken when, just a couple of weeks after getting it, I dropped the mug in the sink while washing it and the handle snapped off at the top of the rosewood grip. But, due to the unusual design of the handle, I found that I could still grip and carry it, so I continued to use it. Meanwhile, I researched the best glue for ceramics and purchased some Gorilla Super Glue (in the “micro-precision” bottle) and, after just four tiny drops and a few seconds to let the glue set, my mug is now as good as new.Just a couple of things to point out to prospective buyers:1) although the mug’s capacity is 13.5 ounces, when you brew tea in it, you will wind up with only about 10 or 11 ounces, because of the space displaced by the ceramic infuser. Without the infuser, of course (for instance, when drinking other beverages), you can fit more in it.2) The rather thin ceramic of the walls of this mug do not retain heat very well, so your tea will cool pretty quickly. I tried reheating tea by putting the mug in the microwave and found that the handle got hot along with the tea. If you drink a lot of tea, and like it piping hot, you may prefer to brew in something that will keep your tea hot (I use my electric coffee maker and a steel infuser) and use the mug for drinking, without the infuser. I use it both, depending on how much tea I plan to drink, so it works well for me.