Share Your New Tea Gifts!

Nice! Love the teapot; I have always wanted to try one of those electric tea kettles.

Oooh. I love the teapot! I have the bubble teacups but they’re black, so they don’t really match.

I want that kettle!!

I got that same kettle from my brother for Christmas. I was a little skeptical since I am very old school about making tea but I really love it and it heats up water super fast. What do you think of it?

I got that same kettle….my only complaint is that I cannot set my own temp, but the preset buttons is what encouraged me to start trying green and white teas. I like it alot, and yes it is fast, unless you put alot of water in it. I only put about 1-2 cups worth in. I have yet to use the Keep Warm function because I don’t want the water to go flat.

So far I really like it. I don’t have a problem with the options for preset temperatures, worst thing that happens is it has to cool a couple degrees and that takes no time at all compared with getting boiling water down to say, 170. I’m pretty sure it’s nowhere near as fast as heating water on my gas stove (settings: hot, really hot, burn everything) but I really hate having to go back and forth from the kitchen especially when I’m using my gaiwan, and I far prefer this to trying to use a thermometer since I always break them. I really want to get home already and use it at home but at the same time I don’t want to leave LOL.

Lynxiegrl-Yeah, I don’t think I will be using the keep warm function either.

momo-This is much faster than my gas stove top but that’s funny. We have a gas/electric combo stove and our oven is the opposite of yours, it takes twice as long to cook anything but I end up burning food since I get sick of checking on food. Yeah, I don’t mind waiting to let the temperature cool down a couple degrees either. I was already using the kettle at my parents house within the hour of opening it. My husband got me a puerh cake that we got to try out though I did bring plenty of other tea with me.

I got the same kettle. In fact, I got two! I’m very happy with it.

That zebra tea mug sounds so cute!

I like that the labels for the various temp buttons are on the base and not on the buttons themselves on the Breville, I feel like the on-button labels on the Cuisinart would wear off with as much use as my kettles get. I like that there is a “french press” setting because some of my lighter blacks and darker oolongs do better between “oolong” and “black” temp (because mine was bought online, it’s in Farenheit, not Celcius like i’m used to, so can’t remember the numbers off the top of my head). I like the one-touch lid – press a button and the lid pops open on its own. The base is nice and sturdy, I don’t feel like I have to worry about knocking it off of my brewing station. The 1.8L capacity is WAY nicer than the 1L capacity of my other kettle. It’s weird not having to sit and stare at my kettle to get to the right temperature, I can push the button and walk away, and it beeps when it’s done. The beep isn’t overly loud either. The buttons have a LED ring around them to indicate what temp it’s heating to, but the LEDs turn off automatically as well.
I don’t know how I managed to make a decent cup with my old kettle!!!!

I think I’ll put nail polish top coat over my Cusinart’s buttons then. I’ve heard of people having problems with them wearing off over time. I greatly enjoy that it beeps when it’s ready to go, and I had been hoping for something that had a keep warm setting, 30 minutes is perfect enough for me.

Teas I know on Amazon: Rishi, SerendipiTea, Simpson & Vail, there’s tons really: http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/other?redirect=true&rh=n%3A16310101%2Cn%3A%2116310211%2Cn%3A16310231%2Cn%3A16318401&bbn=16310231&pickerToList=brandtextbin&ie=UTF8&qid=1356531734&rd=1

zhena’s gypsy tea and numi both are on amazon in both bags and some loose leaf

If you like lavender, Pelindaba Lavender (which you can find on amazon) blends their own tea. they have a Jian Green and Ceylon Black. They also have other lavender products listed.

Thanks Momo! That link makes it much easier!
Now that I’m hearing reviews on the kettles, maybe I should get one of those! I heat my water for tea in an old fashioned kettle on the stove and guestimate the temp by how much it sounds like it’s boiling.

No problem, it’s much easier to search by brand than go by the default, nothing good comes up for pages otherwise (all those k-cups, meh)!

I’ve never seen that, either! Let us know how it works!

That mug looks awesome. Beats having to take out the basket.

I have had that mug for years and I love it! Great gift!

I considered that style. after reading the reviews about how hard the lever was to deal with, went for others(some asian styles on amazon and elsewhere). can’t risk the difficulty level with chronic pain

Tried it last night and it works like a dream! The lever was not a problem at all! I was expecting it to be more time consuming but it wasn’t. Probably my only complaint is that it kept my tea hot! LOL I wanted to try it right away and was impatient so I took the cover off for awhile as I did an herbal with 208 degree water. Next I’m going to try a white or green.

I think that the first run of these cups had lever issues, but they fixed the issue in the later cups. I used mine again last night and had the same heat issue! I had to wait 25 minutes with the lid on blowing into the hold for my tea to cool to a drinkable temp.

that is very responsible of the company to address the lever issue, and good to know.

The first one I bought for my sister had the lever issue and when I called the company to ask about the difference between hers and the one I had, they sent us a free replacement! It’s an awesome company in my one time experience.

Nice. I love how rustic they look.

Teacup measuring cups?? Too cool!

I’d love to see a pic of those measuring cups too!

Fantastic sale you say? Is the sale over? Do you mind sharing how much you picked one up for?

I have had similar experience. The only tea I received was what I ordered myself.