Why this tea strainer earns its place
Loose-leaf tea poured from a pot needs two things at the table: something to catch the leaves on the way into the cup, and somewhere to put that strainer down once it is dripping. This is both. Without the bowl the strainer ends up on a saucer, a cloth or the table itself, and every one of those leaves a brown ring that someone has to deal with on turnaround. It is a small item that removes a small mess repeated fifty times a day.
18/8 polished stainless steel is what makes it a volume-service item rather than a delicate one. That grade is the standard tableware steel — chromium and nickel giving corrosion resistance against hot water and tannin over years of use — and polished steel rinses back to clean rather than holding a stain the way an unglazed or plastic equivalent does. It also takes being tipped into a bussing tray and washed with everything else, which is the actual life of a table item in a canteen or a self-service restaurant. Small pieces disappear in a warewasher, so a mesh basket and a count in and out is the routine that keeps a set together.
