A cup of tea anyone?

Jon and I have challenged ourselves to only purchase products made in the USA unless the product is used from a garage sale or a second-hand store.  This is quite the challenge and we've already hit a brick wall searching for our first item: a tea ball.  Such a simple item, but yet very elusive!  I have spent at least two hours calling local stores that claim to sell only local items in addition to online searches.  This is the only tea infuser I could find that is Made in the USA: http://www.plymouthtea.com/tobyteaboy.html  I am a bit disappointed because it is made of plastic, and pouring hot water over plastic just goes against my efforts to use less petroleum-based products.

Until recently, I purchased tea in the individual packets that came in a shrink-wrapped box.  Recently, while shopping in the bulk foods department, I discovered I could purchase individual packets of local tea rather than packets of tea shrink-wrapped in a box.  I made the switch to purchasing the individual packets thinking that I was making a better choice because of the reduced packaging.  While sipping my cup of chai one evening, I thought, "Duh...why not make tea directly from the herbs and avoid the packaging all together?  Better yet, why not expand my herb garden to include more of the herbs?"  I felt somewhat silly that I hadn't thought of this years ago.  Herbs I don't grow can be purchased at the grocery store in the bulk section.  So...this is where the dilemma of the tea ball came in.  A simple small strainer will do too.  Tea anyone?

Update February 2011:  A close friend and confidant, read my blog and exclaimed, "I have a tea ball for you!"  Whew!  What a relief---I was ready to throw out the towel on this one and hope to stumble across one at a garage sale.  I made my first batch of homemade chai last weekend and it turned out pretty good.  Once I have the recipe perfected though, I'll post it...