You’ll rarely catch Phantila Phataraprasit at her desk running Sabai without a cup of tea in her hand. “I love tea,” says Phataraprasit, co-founder and CEO of the chic furniture brand. “One thing my family got involved in later in my life is running a tea garden, so I’ve been very exposed to tea products and tea. It’s a tea garden up in northern Thailand, and I drink tea pretty much every day.”
Her family’s business, Araksa Tea Garden, has a tea garden in Chiang Mai as well as a tea room in Bangkok. Whenever Phataraprasit goes back home, she fills her suitcase with bags of her favorite blends from her family’s garden. Since they’re loose-leaf — a more sustainable (and, usually, more economical) option than bagged tea — she uses a tea strainer to brew each cup.
If you’re a solo tea drinker, having one of these on hand is a great way to enjoy cups of tea without the fuss of a pot — and, in line with Phataraprasit’s ethos, without the waste of tea bags and packaging.
“I use this tea strainer pretty much every day to drink my tea,” Phataraprasit says. She’ll start with green, followed by herbal teas like ginger or peppermint later on in the day, so it’s frequently in use.
She says the strainer is super-easy to use, plus it requires zero of the fuss or cleaning effort of using a teapot — which is great if you’re a solo tea drinker and want to consume many cups or varieties over the course of a day.
“You put it over your mug, and that’s a nice thing: It can be used with basically any mug,” she says. “Then you put the loose leaf tea in and pour your boiled water over it, or your hot water,” depending on the kind of tea you’re brewing.
One of the reasons she swapped to a strainer was to cut down on any microplastics lurking around. “There are a lot of newer tea bag products out there that aren’t plastic-based, but there are microplastics in products throughout the kitchen, the home, and so on. Tea is one area where I was conscious of that.”
Well-designed and made to last
“Loose-leaf tea is what I drink, and a tea strainer is a really great way not to have excess waste,” she says. “Even if the tea bag is biodegradable, that’s excess waste. It’s not a ton, but it is something that you’re using every day.”
It’s no surprise that Phataraprasit extends the idea of cutting down on any toxic baddies and excess waste to her personal life, since it also plays such a major role in Sabai’s business operations as a “nontoxic” and sustainable furniture business.
“From the onset, the thought with our approach to sustainability was one where we wanted to be as comprehensive or holistic as possible,” she says. “We launched our Revive program, which is where, if you have a Sabai piece and need to move on from it for whatever reason — you’re moving or whatever — we’ll take it back from you and sell it ourselves as secondhand, and you’ll get a commission on that. We’re making that process easy, so that you’re not leaving it on the curb and it’s not going to a landfill.”
Phataraprasit’s idea of products that are made to last doesn’t just extend to furniture. Its stainless steel build is a plus for her, since it’s light and holds up for ages, making it a buy-once kind of item.
In fact, it’s so convenient to have around and carry that it’s an essential packing requirement for her mom. “You can also travel with it,” she says. “I don’t do that so much, but my mom, who runs the tea garden, travels with her own tea and her tea strainer everywhere.”
Plus, all you have to do cleanup-wise is dump out the tea and throw it in the dishwasher (Phataraprasit suggests keeping a couple on hand if you want a rotation available between loads).
All in all, it’s firmly a life essential for the tea-loving CEO: “There are no cons for me,” she says.
