Review: Teavana's Perfect Tea Maker

Being a gadget and technology junkie, I like to see and try gadgets in the kitchen as much as anywhere else. I was on my way to Target this morning when a kind woman lured me into the Teavana store to try a sample of her tea. Needless to say, I enjoyed the tea so much that I decided to buy some individual teas, as well as a set. This set contained the Perfect Tea Maker.

The Perfect Tea Maker is a teapot that allows you to steep loose tea. It comes with clear written instructions, as well as picture diagrams, on how to brew your tea. The process is quite simple. Scoop the tea and put it into the cup, add hot water and let sit for between 3-6 minutes. Make sure to set the cup on the included coaster to catch any leakage.
Once the tea is finished brewing, set the cup on top of your favorite mug. The strainer inside the Perfect Tea Maker kept the tea leaves and twigs from falling into my mug. With normal strainers, you can expect a few leaves or twigs to slip through and find their way to the bottom. Not with this pot. The container also held 99% of the water that I had poured in. The only time I found leakage was after I had brewed the tea into my mug.

When first testing out the tea maker, I would scoop in the amount of tea that it says on the directions. Then, when you have an idea of how that will taste, you can add more or less tea the next time you make a cup.

Cleaning the Perfect Tea Maker is fairly easy. The directions say that you can remove the lid, but I haven't found an easy way to do so. To get rid of the tea leaves, empty them into the garbage can. Then give the tea maker a good rinse. Some of the twigs and leaves may get stuck in the ultra-fine strainer. If that happens, reach into the container and pluck them out.

You can run your tea maker in the top rack of the dishwasher, but Teavana suggests that you handwash it to avoid abrasions that are caused by the detergent. They also suggest that you air-dry the teamaker. If you have a chamois cloth handy, you can use that for quick storing.

I would recommend the Perfect Tea Maker to anyone who enjoys loose teas. The 16 oz. container will make two cups of tea. The $20 price tag is reasonable for what you get. You can get this tea maker online at the Teavana website or visit their store, if you have one in your area.

Source: http://www.teavana.com/