Where to buy an electric tea maker in Ireland

Hiddden

The Irish claim that they're one of the main tea drinkers in the world, while these tea makers are quite popular in other parts of the world nowadays, I have not seen a single one here in Ireland, and I'm interested in walking into a shop and getting one, rather than waiting for an online order for weeks.

Do you know where I can get one similar to the one in the pic below?

goo.gl/HUJ6Ii

donnacha

Would you not consider buying separately a kettle to boil the water and a tea pot/brewing vessel. While you are at it you could also buy a nice tray and you then have something similar to the "tea maker" in your image link?

Alternatively you could blow your money in Harvey Normans on one of the Heston branded tea makers: http://www.harveynorman.ie/home-appliances/kettles-and-toasters/kettles/sage-tea-maker-btm800uk.html

Hiddden

donnacha wrote: »

Would you not consider buying separately a kettle to boil the water and a tea pot/brewing vessel. While you are at it you could also buy a nice tray and you then have something similar to the "tea maker" in your image link?

Alternatively you could blow your money in Harvey Normans on one of the Heston branded tea makers:

Thanks for your reply donnacha, but that's not just a 'tray'! It has the electric kettle to boil the water, and the hot plate/hob for the tea pot to brew the tea properly (tealeaves rather than crap teabags). I did see that one in the link before posting this question, but that's not like the casual electric kettle+pot sets that I showed in the picture.

donnacha

Didn't realise the plate also brewed the tea.

Mind you I still reckon its a gimmick

My understanding is that different teas leaves will brew best at different temperatures. You'd also get better results from not boiling your water first.

http://www.houseoftea.ie/how-to-brew-a-perfect-cup-of-tea

So on the back of that I'd say scratch the planned purchase and buy one of these babies: http://coffeeangel.com/product/bonavita-variable-temperature-electric-kettle/

Then buy whatever tea pot you like - personally I like the stump ones and they sell them in loads of places.

Jezek

I still don't understand what that thing does?

lokii

Hiddden wrote: »

The Irish claim that they're one of the main tea drinkers in the world, while these tea makers are quite popular in other parts of the world nowadays, I have not seen a single one here in Ireland, and I'm interested in walking into a shop and getting one, rather than waiting for an online order for weeks.

Do you know where I can get one similar to the one in the pic below?

goo.gl/HUJ6Ii

In the pic that you have shown, the plate keeps both the water in the kettle and the tea in the teapot warm.
I’d argue that the tea pot does not need a hot plate to brew proper tea at all. If you have the water to the correct temperature with the kettle and have the teapot warmed, there is no need for a hot plate. In fact, leaving proper tea leaves in a teapot on a hot plate will result in some seriously oversteeped tea.

For proper tea-makers, the likes of the BKON are high-end machines but aimed at restaurants and cafes rather than end consumers.

I have the Breville Puratea tea maker. It has the keep-warm function, variable temperature setting, and integrated tea infuser that lowers. The features are comparable (identical?) to the Sage Tea Maker that Harvey Norman has for €249 except the Breville cost me just €34. ;-). There are issues with real tea and these types of tea-makers so I only use it as a tea-maker for loose leaf herbal teas. The vast majority of the time I remove the tea infuser and just use it as a thermostatic kettle.

As a thermostatic kettle with a keep-warm function, it is perfect.
Hope that helps.

Hiddden

So, there are different ways of brewing tea in different part of the world. The way I do (with which Tefal, Delongi and many other French and German tea maker brands agree), is that you boil the water in that kettle, and once the water is boiled, you add the tealeaves and the boiling water in the pot next to it and since that's a hot hob, it heats it to some extent to brew it. That's how it works!

And, the most important part that I forgot to mention is that with that sort of tea maker or even a samovar, you'll have the brewed tea and the boiling water, so you can get your tea to the desired saturation with adding more or less boiling water to the cup (a glass one!) after adding the brewed tea and check to make sure it's at the desired 'color'!

Have a look at this: mypersiankitchen.com/how-to-brew-persian-tea/

This is impossible with any of these tea makers available in the Ireland's market, since Irish don't care about any of these, but throw the tea bag in a ceramic mug, mix it with a spoon, squeeze and remove it, pour some milk on top, mix some more, and that's it!

NomadicGray

Jaysus, there's a high horse for everything these days

lokii

Hiddden wrote: »

So, there are different ways of brewing tea in different part of the world. The way I do (with which Tefal, Delongi and many other French and German tea maker brands agree), is that you boil the water in that kettle, and once the water is boiled, you add the tealeaves and the boiling water in the pot next to it and since that's a hot hob, it heats it to some extent to brew it. That's how it works!

And, the most important part that I forgot to mention is that with that sort of tea maker or even a samovar, you'll have the brewed tea and the boiling water, so you can get your tea to the desired saturation with adding more or less boiling water to the cup (a glass one!) after adding the brewed tea and check to make sure it's at the desired 'color'!

Have a look at this: mypersiankitchen.com/how-to-brew-persian-tea/

This is impossible with any of these tea makers available in the Ireland's market, since Irish don't care about any of these, but throw the tea bag in a ceramic mug, mix it with a spoon, squeeze and remove it, pour some milk on top, mix some more, and that's it!

One of the great things about tea is the diversity with which camellia sinensis can be prepared. The Tibetans mix it up with butter and salt, the Russians throw in a culture of bacteria and yeast etc. etc.. ;-)

I go for gongfu. True, it hasn’t been adopted by a tea-maker brand but it is the traditional Chinese method and in my experience it gets the very best from the leaves.

innthe

lokii wrote: »

In the pic that you have shown, the plate keeps both the water in the kettle and the tea in the teapot warm.
I’d argue that the tea pot does not need a hot plate to brew proper tea at all. If you have the water to the correct temperature with the kettle and have the teapot warmed, there is no need for a hot plate. In fact, leaving proper tea leaves in a teapot on a hot plate will result in some seriously oversteeped tea.

For proper tea-makers, the likes of the BKON are high-end machines but aimed at restaurants and cafes rather than end consumers.

I have the Breville Puratea tea maker. It has the keep-warm function, variable temperature setting, and integrated tea infuser that lowers. The features are comparable (identical?) to the Sage Tea Maker that Harvey Norman has for €249 except the Breville cost me just €34. ;-). There are issues with real tea and these types of tea-makers so I only use it as a tea-maker for loose leaf herbal teas. The vast majority of the time I remove the tea infuser and just use it as a thermostatic kettle.

As a thermostatic kettle with a keep-warm function, it is perfect.
Hope that helps.

Sounds good, where can you get that? Can you boil both the tea and put in the grains in that like sage?

annieoburns

Argos have a teamaker (Swan at 84 euro ) in their new catalogue.

innthe

annieoburns wrote: »

Argos have a teamaker (Swan at 84 euro ) in their new catalogue.

is that like the breville/ sage tea maker? the cheap breville tea maker seems to be no longer made, does anyone know where you can get it now? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Breville-VKJ436-Stainless-Discontinued-Manufacturer/dp/B003L77HD2

annieoburns

I have no idea! New catalogue out last month and also online.

Hiddden

@innthe: This is the Swan Tea maker that Argos has (not sure when I'll stop being considered as a new user!)

argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/9104653/Trail/searchtext%3ESWAN.htm

Quite different from the Breville one.

lokii

innthe wrote: »

Sounds good, where can you get that? Can you boil both the tea and put in the grains in that like sage?

The Puratea does put the leaves in like the Sage but it doesn't seem to be available any more. I know in the states it was replaced with a model called "One Touch Tea Maker" but that doesn't seem to be available either.
There are plenty of similar tea makers out there.
Try searching on amazon (uk site) for "Ariete Lipton Glass Tea Kettle" or "Ariete Bollitore Tea Maker" or "IQ Innovations Fine T".
Morphy Richards also do a tea maker (for about £100).
I don't have any of these ones so can't comment on how good they are.

scream

Hiddden wrote: »

[...]not sure when I'll stop being considered as a new user![...]

I believe it's at the 50 post mark. Think they changed it relatively recently in an attempt to stop spammers, or some-such reason.