Everyone harps about tea balls not being great for loose leaf tea, but maybe I have a soft spot for them because it was the very first tea infuser I used to brew loose leaf tea in. If you find one that has very fine mesh and a tight clasp, then it will still do the trick for brewing tea. I use tea ball infusers primarily to make iced tea in my mason jars. I like to use two at a time for steeping which makes mesh tea balls perfect. Other than that it won’t usually be my go-to choice, but if its the only thing available then its not the end of the world for me. When using tea balls I try to stay away from steeping teas that have incredibly fine pieces to them, and teas that have very large leaves when they unfurl. The room for expansion is more limited with a mesh tea ball, so I’ll save the larger tea leaves with an infuser that has more room. You can read my review on the good old fashioned tea ball at http://worldofteainfusers.com/tea-ball-review/