Disposing of used tea leaves

[roboboticus]

Whether I make tea in a press or use an infuser, I always have a hard time disposing of the used leaves and cleaning my press/infuser without washing leaves down the drain. I don't want to clog the drain (it's happened before). I try to scoop as much as I can into the trash, but there's always some that clings on and I end up washing it down the sink.

Is there any good solution to this?

 

[neverender2113]

Garbage disposal for me, otherwise you can always let the leaves out to dry for a few hours and then dispose of them.

 

[roboboticus]

Unfortunately, I don't have a garbage disposal. and when I let the leaves dry they become even harder to scrape away. I'm thinking maybe the toilet...

 

[Thundering Bear]

since I'm not composting now I have the same situation with coffee grounds, so I dump them in the toilet, rinse and repeat until they are gone. I like the drying idea, too.

 

[superbleu]

I had the same issue cleaning a french press. You could try getting the leafs suspended in water then dumping the slurry into an empty milk carton. when the leaves settle pour off the water and when it's full dump the whole thing in the yard waste.

 

[Masterkova]

A drain trap in the sink should do the trick.

 

[rockviper]

I use a french press as well and, when the tea/coffee is all done and the press has cooled down, I add water to the press, swish it around and throw it out on the lawn. We actually have many questions asked as to why our lawn is so green.

 

[milnerpt]

put it in the compost bin.

 

[jwhite]

Before I had a garbage disposal and when I'm composting I rinse out over a mesh colander to catch the leaves then I just dump the colander into the compost bin.

 

[arghblech]

A tea strainer has many uses and is inexpensive.

 

[roboboticus]

Thanks for the ideas, guys!

since I'm not composting now I have the same situation with coffee grounds, so I dump them in the toilet, rinse and repeat until they are gone.

I did exactly this today, and it worked so well, I'll probably keep doing it

I use a french press as well and, when the tea/coffee is all done and the press has cooled down, I add water to the press, swish it around and throw it out on the lawn. We actually have many questions asked as to why our lawn is so green.

I like this too!

put it in the compost bin.

You must be from Seattle
I just moved back east after living in Seattle for about a decade. Believe it or not, not everyone has a compost bin. Of course, they should...

I regards to the suggestions about using a sink trap/colander/tea strainer, I've tried those but just end up with the same problem on a different utensil. I'm usually brewing yerba mate, so the leaves are pretty fine. Maybe that's part of the difficulty.

Anyway, thanks! I'm moving into a place that's set up for composting in a month, but until then, the toilet it is

 

[_JP_]

You can just dump out as much as possible into the trash can. Then follow that with a spoon or paper towel to scoop out the rest of the leaf.

 

[roboboticus]

You can just dump out as much as possible into the trash can. Then follow that with a spoon or paper towel to scoop out the rest of the leaf.

That, sir is an excellent idea! I hadn't thought of a paper towel. So simple

 

[StillShaving]

A drain trap in the sink should do the trick.

Yes, wouldn't a sink strainer basket do the trick?

I do find the smaller leave bits to be hard to remove from the strainer, it takes a lot of rinsing to remove them. And some smaller leaves do end up down the the drain because often there is no strainer basket there to catch them.