These are very useful things if you like your tea loose, you only want to make one cup and you want to cut one step out of the process of making it...  You use the stick to scoop the tea and then dunk the stick in your cup.  It has lots of fine holes at the bottom which allow the flavour (to pinch a phrase) to flood out.  They are stainless steel and dishwasher friendly (as long as you remember to empty them first).