When I introduced Tea Tuesday, I mentioned that I now have a cast iron tea pot. It's really my favorite way to make tea, but it isn't necessarily the cheapest method either. Before I had my cast iron, I made my tea in the
Teavana Perfect Tea Maker, which is a much cheaper alternative way to steep loose leaf tea. And trust me, once you try loose leaf you'll never go back to bags.
The Perfect Tea Maker is pictured on the right, along with my favorite chai blend that I'll be using to do a quick demonstration on how the Tea Maker works. I have the smaller version, which costs $19.95.
If you have a tin of tea from Teavana, there should be a label on the outside detailing how much tea per 8oz of water to use, the temperature of the water and how long you should let the leaves steep.
If you're using another brand -- don't worry, it's not a closely guarded secret or anything. You can easily find guides for various kinds of tea all over the internet, like this pretty and compact one from
The Tea Spot. You could even print it and put it on your fridge for easy access.
After that, preparation is pretty easy. Ideally you would heat your water in a kettle, but the last time I used mine the water came out too fast and I scalded my hand so no, the kettle cannot come out to play right now, it's grounded. I cheated and popped a mug of water in the microwave.
Put your teaspoons full of tea in the Tea Maker. Just dump them right in there. If you're using any sweetener, you can put that in there too. I've been using real sugar until recently, but I just started a keto diet so I'm using Sweet 'n Low. Because I'd rather load my body up with chemicals than get fat.
I've measured my mug and it holds 12oz of water, which means I need one and a half scoops of tea leaves. I like my tea stronger, so I used two. The rules here aren't set in stone, feel free to experiment with all of the guidelines, though some types of tea will get bitter if made in water that is too hot or left for too long, so be careful.
When your water is ready and at the correct temperature, dump it in there too. It's kind of cool to watch the color of the water change for the first couple of seconds. Now leave it alone for the prescribed amount of time.
When it's ready, proceed to lift up the mug and ooh and ahh at how none of the tea comes out. Pretend you are doing a magic trick (illusion, Michael.)
Place it on your mug and it all drains out!
Now some of you may be wondering, "How do I clean it?" Well, I'm glad you asked that because that brings me to the review portion of today's program.
Review
Cleaning it is a massive pain in the ass. You can try dumping the leaves out into the garbage, but there are a lot of nooks and crannies in there and it won't all come out. You can try rinsing it and pouring it down your sink, which is great if you like clogged sinks. I don't have a garbage disposal, so I'm not sure how well that would work. The website says that the strainer can be removed to wash separately but I've done quite a bit of tugging and pulling on the contraption and have yet to be able to remove it before feeling like I'm going to snap it in half.
Pros:
♥ Cheap way to make loose leaf tea
♥ Allows for making more than one cup at a time, as opposed to a strainer
Cons:
X Difficult to clean
X The plastic stains after repeated use
X Tea seems to get cold very quickly
Verdict:
A good choice for those who just want to dip their toe into the warm, cozy world of tea without much commitment. However, the design could certainly be improved upon and may prove to be difficult to clean for many people. If you're already tea lover, you'll probably find yourself preferring to spring for a tea pot right away instead. Most of the time I find I'd rather use my tea pot because the strainer is so much easier to dump out and rinse. The Perfect Tea Maker is somehow more work than a tea pot.
Do you have any questions or topics you'd like me to touch on for Tea Tuesday? Tell me in the comments!
Note: I am not affiliated with Teavana in any way. This review is completely unsponsored.
