Davids Tea Thermometer and Timer

Ha HA! It worked! Thanks!

I’ll have to try contacting them cause guessing is a bit ridiculous. :)

Dustin, Have you requested & received a copy of the directions from DT? If not, I’ll send one to you.

No, I haven’t! I was traveling for a while when I got it and didn’t have the focus to follow through and contact. When I got home I just left it tucked away in a cupboard and put figuring out how to use it on a very un-urgent to do list. If you are still willing to send one, I’d love to get a copy!

Sure, no problem. “Follow” and message me your address & I’ll send you a copy.

I’ve noticed as well that it does seem to time out after a few minutes. A little frustrating but I just make sure to keep an eye on it while my water is cooling. I just use it as a thermometer, but not a timer, since I can’t get it to save custom inputs and I’m too lazy to do it every time. I think I just got frustrated and gave up on that part :P

Courtney, Yes this unit will time out when not in use. However, this should not occur while you’re actively using it – asking it you to alert you when the desired temp has been reached &/or when the brewing time is finished.

Janelle, “I can’t get it to save custom inputs and I’m too lazy to do it every time. I think I just got frustrated and gave up on that part :P”

This thermometer/timer has 8 preset programs. It does not offer the ability to save user-defined presets. If you have a tea that requires a different time &/or temp than one of the presets, you’ll need to select the preset that most closely matches those parameters and then manually adjust the time &/or temp to match the tea you’ve chosen each time you use it.

I suspect this inexpensive model doesn’t provide user-defined presets because serious tea drinkers may easily have 50 – 100 different teas or more that have unique time & temp combinations. Then, you would also need a way to keep track of which tea program is stored in which memory location.

A better solution would be for DAVIDsTEA to add a 10-digit keypad that would allow one to directly enter the temp & time, rather than having to sequentially set these parameters with the up/down arrow keys.

Alternatively, you could use one of these: http://steepster.com/teas/teaware/39130-bonavita-1-liter-variable-temperature-digital-electric-gooseneck-kettle It’s much more convenient. However, it’s also much more expensive – $95.

Yes, this “auto shut-off before temperature is reached” is a very annoying aspect of this product. To looseTman, it DOES time out even when in active use (or at least mine does, and I have no indication that mine is specifically defective).

For the green presets, a pot’s worth of water (20 oz or so) never cools to temperature before the thermometer shuts off. I contacted David’s Tea about this and ended up with a shoulder-shrugging recommendation to “wait a few minutes” between my water boiling and activating the thermometer.

Not only does this make clear that they didn’t consider this possibility when designing it, it also defeats a lot of the product’s purpose—I bought this so I could boil my water and then forget about it until the thermometer beeped, NOT so I could boil my water and then count the minutes and then guess whether or not I waited long enough for my water to get close enough to the target temperature to accommodate the un-changeable auto shut-off time.

I absolutely agree Jimbo122. I find it so annoying, and that is exactly why I picked it up too. I didn’t buy it with the intention that I would have to stand over the cooling water, with thermometer in, while checking to make sure it’s still on. Far too many times, I’ve walked back over to check it and it’s been off. I then turn it back on and the temperature is then too low, and I have to re-boil the kettle and start the whole process over.

I honestly only use it for picky oolongs now (which I only drink once in a blue moon). I’ve gone back to my old method of waiting what I judge to be an appropriate amount of time before pouring the water into my mug for all other teas.

Courtney & Jimbo122,

It appears you’ve found an application that the designers of this thermometer/timer did not anticipate – waiting until larger quantities of water cool sufficiently for green teas.

Perhaps in the next model they’ll consider adding either an adjustable auto shut-off, or the ability to turn off the auto shut-off mode.

Other possible solutions for green teas with the current model might be:
- to not heat water to boiling as it’ll take longer to cool to green tea temperatures
- to use a smaller cup/mug of water that would cool off to the desired temperature before the timer/thermometer times out.

I haven’t had this issue since I mostly drink black and pu-erh teas.

Despite the above, this is a remarkable inexpensive device that combines a fast-reading accurate digital thermometer and a timer. Most thermometers only models cost at least as much.