Where to Buy:  Samovar

Product Description:

The new Breville One-Touch Tea Maker is a revolutionary tea experience. The fully automated tea basket moves down, then up, gently agitating the leaves to precisely infuse your tea. Push the basket button and watch the basket cycle in and out of immersion. Seeing is believing.

Different tea varietals such as Black, Green, White, and Oolong require exact water temperatures and controlled brew times to allow their unique flavors and aromas to develop during brewing. The One-Touch Tea Maker eliminates the guesswork so you can enjoy a perfect cup of tea, every time.

Fully programmable for all types of tea, water temperatures, and steep times. The moving tea basket allows water to circulate freely around the individual tea leaves for maximum infusion. Set the timer and wake up to the aroma of your favorite brew. The German-made Schott glass kettle is durable and stain resistant.

Relaxation – from start to finish.

Suggested Retail Price:  $249.00

Review:

I want to preface this review by saying I have wanted one of these devices for well over a year, but, let’s face it, $249.00 is quite a lot of money to shell out, especially for what would appear to be a uni-tasker (borrowed that term from Alton Brown)  But, since I drink tea all day, every day, it eventually became a price I was willing to pay.  Perhaps the occasional tea drinker may see no need for such a lavish price for a tea maker, but, those of you who drink tea as often as I do, I think you probably know where I’m coming from.

My First Impression:  THRILLED!  I was practically stalking my front window watching for the FedEx truck!  In fact, once while I was waiting, a FedEx truck did drive down my street but was delivering (or picking up) something from the house a few doors down.  So when it finally arrived, I think I actually did a dance.  I can’t tell you if I did or not, because the details are all a little blurry – yeah, I was that excited.  Samovar’s shipping of this product was very prompt, and they have excellent customer service too!

It was simple to clean and prep for the first use, just a quick sudsy bath for the tea basket, tea basket lid and tea pot lid, and then fill the kettle to the max fill line with water and bring it to a boil, discarding the water once it’s boiled.  Then it’s ready for use.  It almost seemed too easy to me, so I decided to do a second boiling, just to make sure I was rid of any production dust.

It’s simple to use too.  Just measure out the desired amount of water in the kettle, and then measure the appropriate amount of tea into the basket, snap on the basket lid, and slide the basket onto the magnetic thingamabob in the kettle.  It’s a strong magnet!  Then click the controls, I used the custom controls for my first steeping as I’m still getting familiar with the device.

The resulting tea?  Fabulous!  Just as good as if I would have poured the boiling water into the teapot, set the timer and allowed the tea to steep, and then strained the leaves from the brewed tea.   Only… I didn’t have to do any of that.  I just had to add water and tea to the device and it did the rest.  It could also be argued that the tea from the Breville One-Touch is even better than the old-fashioned process, because the water retains its heat as it steeps, which in turn allows the leaves to steep properly.

Cons:  Well, having only owned it for a couple of weeks now, I don’t have a lot of cons to discuss, but, there are a couple of things that I would change for future models.  First, I would like a louder chime.  I don’t know if this is something I can regulate myself, I guess I should consult the manual!  The chime is very quiet and unless I’m in the kitchen, I can’t hear it.

Second, I would like better custom controls.  I can only adjust steeping time at 30 second intervals, and I would like to adjust them by 10 or 15 second intervals.  Thirty seconds is a large span of time when it comes to brewing tea.

There are those who might suggest that the short cord is a “con” but, in my opinion, it is a “pro” – I like the short cord, because my kitchen has many outlets throughout the kitchen, and I seem to have an abundance of excess “cord” from the various appliances that I have on my counters.  This cord doesn’t get in the way.  It is the perfect length, and I like that there is a spindle at the bottom of the base that allows me to wrap or unwrap the cord, which allows me to keep the cord at a manageable length.

Overall, I love my Breville One-Touch and I’d recommend it to anyone who drinks more than a pot of tea on a daily basis.  I’ve had my tea maker for less than a month now, and I don’t know how I’ve lived this long without it!  It has not only become an essential appliance in my home, but, it is also probably second only to the refrigerator the most used appliance in my house.