Kettle Help
Hi all. New to the boards, but been lurking for a while.
Been into loose leaf tea for at least 10 years but after reading these boards, I think I’ve been doing it all wrong :)
I put in an order for some higher end teas, so now want to do it the “right” way. I got some fancy teaware coming, so now need to figure out the water situation.
Doesn’t look like there’s a good option for non plastic variable temp kettles out there. I wish I was in the inventing business because I’d make a bundle. With all this organic, health craze crap out there, no one makes a completely plastic free product? Or is that all just way overblown purist crap.
I’ve spent hours on amazon and consumer report sites, not getting anything close. Seems like the lid or the see through window ends up messing it up.
Any ideas or am I worrying about something that I shouldn’t be?
I’m not overly worried about a kettle having some plastic as long there isn’t overmuch touching where the water is. That doesn’t mean I’d want to use a completely plastic kettle to make my tea, but some is alright, especially something like a lid and/or a handle. To me at least.
I’m pretty fond of this kettle here – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0083I7THI
It’s got a plastic lid (which the water doesn’t touch), plastic handle, and a plastic viewing window to see the level of the water. Technically it also has a plastic and mesh filter piece that you’re supposed to have over the mouth of the spout inside, but I’ve never used mine and never had a problem with it.
One day I want to get one of the Breville One-Touch Teamakers. It looks like the ultimate tea makers delight (and everyone here who has one seems to love it). I’m pretty sure that one is all stainless steel and glass, but not owning one myself I couldn’t say for absolute sure. The lid for the brew basket looks like it might be plastic from the pictures, but again, I can’t say for sure.
Hamilton-Beach kettle is great. Just wrote about this on a separate post. Lets you set the temp at 5° intervals, you can set it to automatically turn on in the morning and it also will keep it the temperature you desire for up to an hour.
this Hamilton Beach kettle is looking more and more like the winner.
Got some Oolongs this weekend and they really need to be infused at 200+. If the temp starts dropping from having water sit in cast iron or other non heated pot, I can really tell the difference. So the keep warm feature is a big plus.
going to keep looking but probably pull the trigger in next week or so.
That kettle looks great!!
I have one without a temperature gauge, so I have to stick my own thermometer in it to check, and it’s pretty annoying when you have to keep flipping it off, opening the top, and taking the temp when you’re trying to stop it before it goes over 180°F…. I think I’ll add this to my ‘wish list’.
…and there’s a ‘keep warm’ feature! Be still my heart!!
I do have to say that if you get ths kettle, it runs about 5* over what you set it for. That was with about a half full kettle. Sometimes it can go up to 10* over depending on how little water is in the kettle. I generally do only enough for one cup since my water smells bleachy if it constantly gets reheated. I know that I’m probly heating under the min amont of water, but so far I haven’t had any issues aside from the temp.
If you really want to find out how good your teas can taste, I would recommend the Breville BTM800XL One-Touch Tea Maker. It is the best of the best! Yes, it is expensive but it does everything! As Shadowfall said it seems that everyone here who has one loves it.
I have something similar and it is great but the one I have you have to make a reasonable amount of tea in one go which I may not want in one sitting. Thats the only downside, and the price. Great machine tho.
Can you not just buy a glass kettle?
well, I haven’t seen any electric ones with variable temp settings. That was kind of the point of me asking : )
Everything seems to have a plastic lid and/or the see through water level window.
Anyway, I think I can live with the lid, so I’ll probably just go with one that doesn’t have the window, since that sits in the water.
I’m sure I saw a Breville one that was all glass but had a plastic lid and that was one you could set the temperature on and had a keep warm feature.
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