Heston Blumenthal £200 teapot claims to be the best in the world!

I haven’t seen this being mentioned on the forums before (if they have and I missed them then please forgive the re post). Heston Blumenthal is a unique chef famed for making the likes of garlic ice cream and snail porridge but he has just bought out a new teapot which claims to be the first of it’s kind.

So what’s so special about this new ‘space aged’ teapot? Here are the specs:

Toughened glass jug is filled with the correct amount of water for the cups needed – 500ml = 2 cups.

Tea Maker sits on power base, which holds the setting buttons and connects to mains.

Five different tea settings – black, white, green, herbal, oolong.

Leaves are put in to jug basket using tea scoop – one per cup.

Water is heated to the correct temperature for the tea type.

Basket lowers into the hot water for the correct time period for the tea type.

Black = 100°C for 2mins; White = 85°C for 3mins; Green = 80°C for 3mins; Herbal = 100°C for 4mins; Oolong = 90°C for 3mins.

Three different strength settings – mild, medium, strong.

Timer function allows maker to be set to turn on automatically first thing in the morning.

Warmer function allows the brewed tea to be kept warm for up to one hour.

Override function to increase the temperature or brewing time to meet personal taste.

Tea Maker can be used as variable temperature kettle.

HOLY MOLY!!! A teapot/kettle that not only brews the tea with regards to it’s type (black, oolong etc) but one that you can use loose leaves in with a timer that promise to offer perfect results. It seems to do everything for you except pour itself into your cup and hand it to you while your on the sofa. But I mean £200 (around $320 US) is a lot of money. Even so I reallllllly want one!

http://www.sageappliances.co.uk/the-tea-maker.html

6 Replies
alice said

It looks exactly the same as the breville tea maker which as been around for a while, just with different branding on it. I’d be very surprised if they aren’t made in the same factory.

I have the breville and really like it. I don’t think it will ever replace the experience you get from the ritual of using a traditional tea pot, gaiwan or other method but it does make a nice cup, is convenient and you can even set a timer so it will have a pot of tea freshly made when you wake up in the morning.

edit to add: it has a 2 cup minimum

They don’t sell the Breville BTM800XL that is similar in the UK.

As for the ritual of making tea you are correct, it can never replace using Gaiwan of Gongfu but most teas I have could be used in this teapot. Any sort of blend or cheap leaves etc would be good to use.

alice said

I think it is good for high quality teas too, especially if you want to tinker with temperatures and brew times or have a tea that you don’t think you’ve gotten the most out of yet. It beats fiddling around with a candy thermometer in the kettle like I did in the past.

I prefer not to use black teas or flavoured teas in mine though because it is a bit difficult to clean and I find that the flavour left behind can interfere with more delicate green and white teas. I made the mistake of brewing chai in it once and it was very difficult to get the flavour out, even after trying to clean it a few times there was a faint cinnamon taste to everything I brewed for the next week.

I really like mine (the breville but I do think they are the exact same thing, even the instruction book they have online looks word for word to be the same as the breville) and would recommend it if you drink a lot of tea and want a convenient way to brew it.

pas2iche said

it is identical to the breville. how does he get away with this?

ChaMei select said

KittyLovesTea is right. Breville brand is not owned by Breville Group Limited in the U.K. Here is an article explaining more: http://www.current.com.au/2013/05/13/article/Breville-unveils-Sage-by-Heston-Blumenthal-brand-for-the-Brits/EEWCLDDCUQ

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Yamarin said

Its the same. Even got the same product number except a UK at the end: BTM800UK http://www.sageappliances.co.uk/tea-coffee-toast.html

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