I'm Jane's Brother And I'm Here To Help: Get The Most Flattering Light From Any Old Lamp Without Burning Down Your House

Plus: My top-secret (till now!) Mason jar tea system. It's like an anti-bitterness magic trick.

I'm the person Jane and a lot of other people call when they can't figure out how to do something.

This week’s tips and product recommendations!

Adding on to last week's question about tea bag shapes, I'd like to recommend my system for making tea. As I mentioned, you want the tea to be free-floating in the water so the flavor comes out quickly. To prevent bitterness, the tea leaves should be in contact with the water for less than four minutes. The problem with tea bags is that the leaves are too close together. Also, 95% of these bags contain tiny bits and pieces, including stems. This is the leftover stuff after the company has used the leaves for better tea. What you want is whole leaves, or at least big parts of leaves.

The red lid for my Mason jar may not look fancy, but it makes pouring way easier.

The solution? I use a tea basket with good-quality tea. You want the largest basket that will still fit in your cup. The one I have also fits perfectly in a 32 oz mason jar I use as a teapot. I buy (Ahmad) loose tea which is good quality but inexpensive. This way, each 32 oz pot is about 7.5 cents — around 2.5 cents for a 10 oz cup.

Not all baskets are the same. It's better to get one with the most "open area" (you can see through it easily).

And now answers to a reader’s questions:

Dear Jane's brother.