One Touch Tea Maker

The best machine ever! I’ve used it daily for 3 months. If it broke tomorrow, I would run out and get another one!!

I’ve had this kettle for a few months and feel like I know it well enough to give it a fair review now. First of all I probably would not have bought this for myself but of course I didn’t turn it down when someone offered to buy it for me and I’m glad because it is a wonderful machine.

If you drink a wide variety of teas then this won’t replace your teapot. Because it is a bit hard to clean I prefer to brew ‘pure’ teas in it and keep a separate teapot for flavoured teas. I made the mistake of brewing a chai mix in it when I first got it and it took a week before the taste of cinnamon stopped finding its way into every cup of tea I made.

When I’m not using it as a teapot it makes a great variable temperature kettle, and secretly I’m glad it hasn’t made my teapot collection completely redundant. I haven’t seen variable kettles on the market (at least in Australia) that allow you to heat water in 5 degree increments and I really like that control.

I’ve lowered the score just a little bit because although I do love it, I’m not completely comfortable with replacing the ritual of tea with a magnetic basket. For that reason for me it is primarily a very expensive (and very good) kettle and just another teapot in my collection.

One day with this machine and I am so glad I splurged. I am a beginner and this helps me make sense of adjustments I need to make when brewing.

I am in love with this appliance. When you’re very serious about a sensitive tea, the process can involve a teapot, an infuser, a strainer, a thermometer, a timer; preheating the water to the right temperature, warming the infuser, decanting the infuser, steeping the tea, hoping that you don’t forget the time and overbrew your cup (!), taking care of all those dishes (!!), and repeating the process all over again when you want to rebrew (!!!).

This baby takes care of all of that for you. If you’re not a coffee person, it can even make you hot fresh tea in the morning – and if you are a coffee person, you could probably rig something up. I even boil my eggs in it. (Just don’t use anything big and metal to get them out, it’ll get stuck to the basket’s magnetic strip!) Cleanup is very easy, most of the time you can get away with just rinsing everything a bit. The keep warm function is great, and even adjusts to your original brewing temperature – so your greens won’t get uncomfortably hot, but your blacks won’t turn lukewarm with a splash of milk. But that’s all besides the point, which is: Perfect tea! Every time! Hot and ready! Drink some, drink some more, add water and press the button to make another perfect batch! Did I mention how fast this thing heats up? Really, really fast. Much faster than an electric stovetop and rivaling the microwave (with a whole lot more precision). Great for a quick batch of miso soup or anything else you’d want hot or warm water for.

Okay, gloating aside, a couple of caveats. The cord is comically short and the plug is three-pronged. You may need to get an extension cord. I never had any problems with it shutting itself off though, and I drive this thing pretty hard. The holes in the strainer may also be too large for very fine leaves like Gyokuro, or anything that includes very small pieces/powder. For those cases, I suggest using finium filter bags. Personally, I don’t mind the size of the holes because they work out for the vast majority of my teas; and they’re also really easy to clean since stuff doesn’t get stuck in them like in finer metal filters.

Lastly, you do have to make at least two cups at a time for at least a 30 second steep. This machine is not appropriate for gongfu style brewing. You may still want to make your most valuable and resteep-heavy teas manually. The other option is to keep making several 2-cup batches and storing the teas in your fridge. They may not be quite as good as fresh, but it’s not bad, and you can turn them into iced tea.

Overall, even these minor shortcomings do not keep me from giving this a perfect score, because it is easily one of my most-used and favorite appliances.

I would make another lengthy review to say how absolutely awesome it is, but the other reviews pretty much say it all! In my opinion, a must for all heavy tea drinkers, or those who simply can afford it. Not regretting any dollar I spent on mine!

I really really wanted this product and was given it as a Christmas gift in 2012. Love at first steep. The appliance is so easy to use and the instructions were really clear and easy to understand. I am a tea girl. My boyfriend knows it, my girlfriends know it and my family knows it. I love how you can make any type of tea with this tea maker and it keeps it warm, you can automatically set it. I started working from home at the end of 2012, so this was a perfect gift to get in my beverages throughout the day. So much less hassle, don’t have to worry about forgetting you brewed a cup of tea, it keeps the tea warm for you, it allows you to brew it to your liking.

In April, my tea makers handle was loose and I called Breville and they dealt with it right away. I boxed up my tea maker and sent it to them and they sent me a new one within 2 weeks of me reporting the issue. Great customer service, fast quick. I did have tea depression for the 2 weeks without it, but it made me appreciate it all the more and when I got it back, I will never be without it again. This is the perfect gift for the tea drinker, especially if they don’t drink coffee (like me.)

Pros:
- beautiful to look at
- doesn’t take up a whole lot of space on the counter
- easy to use
- doubles as a kettle as well for other things you might need boiling water for
- works with many different kinds of teas
- I drink more tea because of this
- easy company to deal with for warranty issues

Cons:
- expensive, get it on sale to ease yourself with the price – but do know it is worth every penny
- it’s somewhat easy to clean but not as easy as it could be – because of the base not being able to be submerged in water
- makes minimum 500ML so sometimes you want just a quick small cup, but have to make at least 2 cups of tea

What others have mentioned and what I have to say about that:
The Plastic issue:
Mine was labelled that it is BPA free and for the most part none of the tea comes in contact with any of the plastic pieces. The carafe is made of glass and German glass at that, the handle is acrylic, the lid is combination of metal and plastic. Again, the only thing that comes in contact is the basket which is part metal, and a little plastic. The basket lid is acrylic plastic. For those that have said it’s a deal breaker for them, I’d like to know if they eat canned food, use aluminum water bottles (which are coated with a plastic inside,) etc. For me it is not a deal breaker. I have never had tea taste like plastic, and basically I think if they get tea that tastes like plastic they aren’t using the product correctly.

Customer service:
AMAZING. Great to deal with, didn’t have an issue.

Cleaning:
I will say that at first I felt that my tea was starting to taste like other teas I had brewed in there. However, I have since become more diligent with rinsing it out after each use and emptying the tea leaves and not letting them sit overnight, or for extended periods of time (like it says in the manual.) I also clean it with baking soda only, which does wonders. I put a generous amount of baking soda and boil over the max hot water limit with the basket and more baking soda in it. I let this side for an hour. I empty out the carafe and then take a cloth/old clean sock/paper towel and wipe. The unit still has to be hot for this to work as well. When you wipe it, you will see all the tannin from the tea that has been previously steeped come off. It makes your tea maker look like new and the brown tinge that develops over time is eliminated from the tannin being removed. This goes for the basket. the carafe and the lids. Then I reboil with clean water. Let stand. Rinse and voila. I do this once a month to once every two times a month.

Never had an issue with different “smells or tastes.”

All in all I recommend this to ANYONE that has even one canister of loose leaf tea. You will increase your consumption of tea and it will be a joy to drink. One of my friends has bought one and I give them as gifts when I see them on sale for bridal/baby showers. Tea is a very calming and relaxing thing and I believe what better than the gift of relaxation and convenience.

Try to take reviews with a grain of salt, whether positive or negative. Try it, if you don’t like it, take it back :) But I doubt you will once you use it :D

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a newbie when it comes to teas. I had heard all of the instructions on the “right” temperature to make tea at, the proper steeping time, but it seemed to me that a few degrees more or less (or leaving the tea in the water for a bit longer) wouldn’t REALLY make that much of a difference.

Cue the Breville tea maker.

I received it as a Christmas gift from my boyfriend (now Fiance – any guy who gets his girl a $200 gadget to just make tea is a keeper!) and tried it out the next day on some Peachberry Jasmine Sutra tea from Teavana.

Oh. My. Gosh.

Not only was this gadget easy to use (with the push buttons for tea, hot water, and strength of tea) but the combination of the perfect temperature water and perfectly-timed steeping made my tea taste better than I had ever tasted it before. And that INCLUDES the times I would buy a cup of it from the store.

Now, six months later, I still use the Breville every day. The timer function comes in handy for early mornings (prep everything the night before and set it to turn on like a coffeemaker at a particular time) and the hot water function makes it fabulous for bringing hot water-and-a-tea-bag anywhere.

I would suggest this to ANYONE – it is one of those gadgets that, once you have it, you will never want to live without!

Oh, what a lucky girl am I!!! I got a Breville for Christmas! I really enjoy it. I thought I wouldn’t like 500 ml minimum. I got used to that very quickly since it has a keep warm feature. Since I received the Breville and got a bunch of new teas for Christmas… I have been drinking a ton of tea. Okay, yes, I am going to the bathroom a lot. I enjoy the auto feature. It is great way to start the day.

I just have to add some more about the Breville! Oh my gosh I love it. I’ve had it about a month and every time I use it i"m in love with it all over again. It is so convenient . I haven’t had a single over steeped or under steeped tea since I got it. When I’ve mentioned the Breville to others and apologize for the price, I’ve had many say that they have spent more than $300 on a cappuccino machine so $250 isn’t really that unreasonable. By the way, my husband only spent $190 using a Black Fridays coupon at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

I just have to say, Buy one, buy one now. For beginners it would really take the guess work out of steeping with a great cup every time For experienced tea people it will just add to the joy :D

OK, so I’m a bit late to the party. I won’t rehash everything else that has been said about this, but its all true! What a great machine. I find myself drinking more tea now that I have it (not a bad thing). This won’t replace all of my other pots, and I would not want it to. I still have a small collection of Yixing pots and Gaiwan’s for Gong Fu. This is not a pot for Pu Er. I only have two (very small) negatives. The fill lines are behind the handle and somewhat hard to see. Secondly, the basket, is somewhat difficult to clean. I find that the leaves tend to stick to the inside a bit and are harder to detach under running water then some of my other baskets. Other then that, just a fantastic machine.

Have one. Works great.