posted by [identity profile] shadawyn.insanejournal.com at 12:01pm on 18/11/2008
Teehee. I ordered my electric tea maker yesterday. Part of the reason I held off is because I love the pouring of the tea from a little pot into my little cups, but the trouble with is that I'll over steep if I get distracted, and most of the time these days, I'm just interested in the result, rather than the experience of the preparation (which seems more appealing when I'm doing it for guests than when I just want a mug of something warm while at my computer fighting crime).

But, then I can just pour the tea into a teapot if I really want that ;)

I'm waiting for hojicha, too. That "coming in..." has been there since March, and keeps pushing back every time the date is up. :( I could order form another company, but I KNOW I like theirs.

Oh, speaking of temptation, the new BPAL (http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/limited.html) stuff is up, and there's a lot of yummy stuff... I think you'd like Water Phoenix.
 
posted by [identity profile] sigelphoenix.insanejournal.com at 12:41pm on 18/11/2008
Oooh. Do tell me how you like it so I can be convinced to buy my ownsee how it works. I'm with you on preferring the result to the experience most of the time ... when I'm at home I just want to make a giant pot of tea and nurse it over the course of the evening, rather than boiling/steeping/pouring every few minutes.

Uh-oh, that's not good news about the hojicha. D: I may have to get my fix elsewhere ... (I know that Market Spice's oolong fills the same taste niche for me, though YMMV.)

The only thing keeping me from pouncing on the BPAL is my incompatibility with musk + resin. XD Otherwise Water Phoenix does sound really pretty. D:
 
posted by [identity profile] shadawyn.insanejournal.com at 01:10pm on 18/11/2008
Bah, I didn't see the frankincense :(
 
posted by [identity profile] sigelphoenix.insanejournal.com at 01:22pm on 18/11/2008
Resins are pretty insidious. ;) I bet it would smell lovely on a person with more compatible skin.
 
posted by [identity profile] shadawyn.insanejournal.com at 12:36pm on 21/11/2008
P.S.: Got the tea maker yesterday. Based on a whoppin' two brews, I would call it fabulous and totally worth the money if you're a tea guzzler like me. The tea turned out perfect (I tested this with teas I have made many times). The quality of the tea was on par with the stuff I was making when I first got my IngenuiTEA, and was more anal about steeping times and temperature than I am now that I'm lazier.

It even keeps the tea warm when it's done. No more cold cups of tea forgotten next to me. The only thing that might be bothersome is the beeping. It beeps when the water is heated and starts filling the steeping chamber, and it beeps again when the steeping is done and it fills the carafe. Mike and I have characterized the signals as "cool" (especially re: getting distracted with my tea making) and fairly white-noisey, but I can see others not liking it, and there's no way to turn it off that I've found.
 
posted by [identity profile] sigelphoenix.insanejournal.com at 12:58pm on 21/11/2008
Yay for a good tea trinket ... damn because it's 99 bucks. :P It sounds like it does everything I want from it, though, and would allow for an essentially hands-off tea-making process. Plus it would mean I could stop heading to the microwave every few minutes when my tea cooled ...

One question I have is, does the temperature control have actual numbers? One thing about the utiliTEA kettle that seems potentially annoying is that the temperature control only has color-coded ranges, rather than a numbered dial. I can't tell what the triniTEA has based on the picture.
 
posted by [identity profile] shadawyn.insanejournal.com at 01:04pm on 21/11/2008
The controls on the triniTEA are really simple, but are pretty much what you need.

There's temp 1, which is for green, white, etc. (180f I think?) and temp 2 (212f, I'm guessing) for blacks. That's all I've seen any of my teas need, so it seems to work out. There's a timer (up to 7 minutes) for steeping, and an on (start)/off button.

Plus it would mean I could stop heading to the microwave every few minutes when my tea cooled ...

I just top off my cup with more (hot) tea. LoL

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