Julie’s espresso post inspired this tea post. This Breville tea brewing pot does all the “heavy lifting” for you – and the clear pot lets you watch the action. The One-Touch Tea Maker heats the water to the correct temperature, then lowers the tea-infuser basket into the water. After the correct steeping time, the basket is lifted out of the water to prevent over-steeping. The Breville will even keep your tea warm for up to an hour. You just know the tea has to taste better when it’s made in this cool gadget. The Breville One-Touch Tea Maker is $249.95 at Teavana.
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$250 for a gizmo that does what you can do yourself with a teabag, a teacup, and hot water??? Really now…
@Jerry What is it with people wanting to do things more cheaply by hand when a machine can do it for them?!? 😉 (just kidding)
Seriously, I think tea made from loose tea in an infuser (even the little ball on a stick type) is much better than teabags. I’ve read teabags are made from the stuff they sweep off the floor – or only slightly better stuff than that.
Hi, Janet — well, yes, folks would do well to dunk an infuser for themselves and save $250. But it won’t impress the neighbors!
Label me traditionalist, but I’ll take a Yixing teapot for steeping any day of the week. I’ve even bought one from Tevana (although the style I bought is no longer available).
http://www.teavana.com/Tea-Products/Teapots-Teapot-Sets/Artisan-Teapots/Yixing-Teapots/?view_all=True
@thsu I love the dragon teapot! 😀
I have one of these and love it – I like tea in the morning instead of coffee, and the option to set it like a coffee maker so that the tea is already made and kept warm when I come downstairs is a wonderful thing.
Honestly, I have ruined more than a few cups of white tea with too hot water. It’s a good idea, but not quite the solution for me.
@Jerry– The fact that you said “teabag” indicates that you are not the target market for this product. Everyone knows that tea snobs are *completely* price/clutter indifferent when it comes to a good cup of tea! 😉
I think I’m kidding about that last statement, maybe: I just found out that many people in my neighborhood buy into private fair-trade tea coops and have loose leaf delivered. That may be too trendy for me.
@Meredyth that is hard core. I use Stash Tea’s premium white tea teabags at work, but at home, I like to use loose teas.
Meredyth, I don’t question the usefulness of this auto-teamaker, but I do find the price a bit — “steep”! I also had to question why someone would pay $500 for stereo earbuds when I have found pairs under $100 with fantastic sound. But — one of the owners claimed the sound of the $500 buds was “transcendent.” That transcends my budget, I’ll tell you! It makes me think of the Acura ads where guys are justifying paying a king’s ransom for a watch made of solid platinum or whatever. It’s nice that the top one percent can afford anything they want…
@Jerry I totally agree with you on the “Steep” price 🙂 I’m just making of hard-core tea people (myself included)
@Julie Indeed! I thought I was going overboard because I buy oodles and oodles of tea whenever I’m in London for work. I always arrange to stay over an extra day and go on a buying spree at some of my favorite shops. However, investing in a overseas tea farm/coop seems so hard core. When my new neighbor mentioned her tea coop I thought she HAD to be kidding, but she wasn’t.
[Apparently, there are lots of foodie coop organizations here: veggie coops, tea coops, cheese coops, and the one that personally weirds me out the most… Amish unpasteurized milk coops! That’s what I get for moving to Harvard 😉 I’m still in serious culture shock. ]