Review: Teavana Perfect Tea Maker - Loose Leaf Tea Brewer

Having already been exposed to the world of Gourmet Tea via my Electric Tea Maker I really didn't have much expectation when reviewing the Teavana Perfect Teamaker. I thought this simple contraption wouldn't compare to my Electric Tea Maker to brew a perfect cup of tea. Or could it?

Upon opening the box I noticed not much in the way of parts; a Teavana Perfect Tea Maker and instructions on how to use it. The instructions are simple and concise which pretty much describes this Teamaker. No crazy setup. No extra parts to try and figure what to do with them. Just a simple Teavana Perfect Tea Maker awaiting its first 32 oz of tea.

I was able to test the Teavana Perfect Tea Maker with 4 different types of Teavana signature teas (Black/Green mix, Green,Herbal, and Rooibos). You start off by placing the correct amount of tea per cup in the Teavana Perfect Tea Maker. The Tea settles nicely at the bottom of the cup contained nicely by the strainer. This product is able to accommodate 4 cups of Tea or 32 ounces. To sweeten the Tea, I added a little Stevia Extract. In order to know the temperature and steep time you look at a Tea Table on the back of the Teavana Tea packets. It just as easy as pouring the hot water into the cup and waiting for the desired time. There is a lid to prevent accidents with the hot water contained inside. Once the time has elapsed, you place the bottom of the Teavana Perfect Tea Maker over a cup and press down to activate the release mechanism. It's actually quite enjoyable to watch the Tea pour out the bottom of the Teavana Perfect Tea Maker and into your awaiting cup.

The empty Teavana Perfect Tea Maker

Add a little loose leaf tea.

Let it brew...

Fill up your cup with amazing tea from the Teavana Perfect Tea Maker...

It's really a simple process. There are no complicated steps. And if you were diligent in keeping the right temperature and time, what you will have is something that rivals any fancy electric tea maker's cup of tea. Surprisingly simple and surprisingly good!

Cleanup is so simple and easy that I found myself wondering why my electric teamaker couldn't be this easy. With the Teavana Perfect Tea Maker all you have to do is simply open the lid to the cup and rinse it out...it's that simple. Amazingly nothing ever sticks to the strainer on the bottom of the cup. It's almost too easy to clean and for that I am thankful. You can also put it into the dishwasher since it's dishwasher safe.

But there are some things that would make this superbly simple Tea Maker even better. For one thing I found the bottom of the Teavana Perfect Tea Maker wasn't designed for the average sized cup. In fact it really didn't fit it at all. I tried different normal sized mugs and none seemed to fit the bottom correctly. By maneuvering it so the cup is at an angle to the bottom of the Teavana Perfect Tea Maker I was however able to get it to release it's amazing bounty.

I did notice the Teavana Perfect Tea Maker cups that are sold separately for the Teavana Perfect Tea maker suspiciously seemed to fit the bottom perfectly. Too bad I didn't have one when reviewing this product. Also since gourmet tea is so sensitive to time and temperature it would only make sense to put a timer on the cup and a way of seeing what temperature the water is that is in the Teavana Perfect Tea Maker. This would take what is an amazing product and make it that much better. A locking mechanism on the bottom would also be nice. I must have burned myself a couple of times by mistakenly placing my hand on the bottom of the Teavana Perfect Tea Maker. Finally all the teas that were sent with the Tea Maker were signature mixes of different types of Tea.

Since black tea has a different steep time and temperature then Green Tea, it was difficult to know what time and temp to set this mix to since the instructions on the back of the packet only had generic times and temps. If only the mixes had this information on the front label (But this is more a problem for the Tea Packets and not the Teavana Perfect Tea Maker).

All in all this is definitely worth the purchase, especially if you can't afford an Electric tea maker. It's simple, convenient, and easy to clean up. Oh and the Teavana Perfect Tea Maker makes a wonderful cup of tea!

At Teavana and Teavana Perfect Tea Maker

Update: Teavana now has a tea timer with different settings for different types of teas. Check out the Teavana Perfect Preset Tea Timer

July 8, 2009

Review: Teavana Perfect Tea Maker - Loose Leaf Tea Brewer