After the success of the cold brewed lemon chiffon yesterday, I decided to cold brew lime chiffon. The result is I prefer lime chiffon hot and lemon chiffon cold. I am not sure why but that is my finding. Though this is still very flavorful and delicious, I find the lime shines a bit more when it is hot versus the lemon of lemon chiffon which sticks out in the cold brew.
In other news, I have been spending copious amounts of time on amazon and other sites for a week now looking for a shiny new kettle to replace the ghetto one I am using currently (and I mean ghetto – it doesn’t even have an on/off switch let alone a temperature gauge). I figure for the amount of tea I drink, it is worth it for me to spend some money on a kettle that will help me enjoy it all. Plus, I spend so much money on tea anyways, I might as well brew it properly. So I am wondering what your experience/opinions/thoughts are on different kettles? Which ones are you guys happy to have and which should I avoid?
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I love my Breville variable temp kettle to bits, but I got my mom one by Kitchen Aid that seems to work quite nicely and was much more reasonable in cost. The one we have at work, a Cuisine Art programmable, had such an irritating beep that one fellow disconnected the wire to it lol, also the controls were not as easy to use and kind of annoying. Oh and it leaks water now haha. There’s my humble variable temp kettle assessment :)
I think I was looking at the breville but it did not have a feature where you could set your own temperatures. I might be mistaken but I thought it was all preset. I will definitely be avoiding the cuisine art one.
I just got the Adagio kettle utiliTEA. So far I like it.
I have an Oster that I bought half price at Canadian Tire. It doesn’t have good review, but I’ve had no problems at all. I like that it’s not preset black, green etc. I can choose any temp I want in 5 degree increments. LOL what I don’t like is that it DOESN’T beep – when it reaches temp it just turns off. I forget, don’t notice and have to reheat water quite often. I would like the annoying beep.
It was a good price on sale, and I figured even if it did break or leak in a few months, I would have decided if I want to invest in a really good one. So far so good, I’m happy with it.
@Teabrat – What do you like about it? Do you have anything you dislike? Also Adagio has the VarieTEA kettle which I had to use a lot of willpower to resist given the name. In other news, I realized I misspelled my name but we will just go with it.
@Dexter – I think I am hoping to get a kettle that has a keep warm setting which I am guessing the Oster doesn’t have? I will definitely look into it though.
My Breville One Touch (http://www.amazon.com/Breville-BTM800XL-One-Touch-Tea-Maker/dp/B003LNOPSG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1390978336&sr=8-2&keywords=breville+tea) lets me set any temperature I want, as well as pre-sets, which makes it easy when there’s zero indication as to how to brew a tea. The only thing I can complain about is that it’s a bit tricky to clean, and I have to make at least 500mL of tea at a time. It is pricey though. I did just just a standard $50 kettle from London Drugs for a while prior until it burned out.
I have been so close to buying a one touch for months MissB. Alas, even with the amount I drink, I can’t bring myself to justify the price. My mother has offered a few times but it is just too pricey for me to feel comfortable with her buying it.
Plus I like to make multiple different teas at a time so that has also stopped my from going with a kettle that you brew the tea in.
My kettle does have keep warm….maintains set temp for up to 30 minutes. I don’t use it, but it has it.
Model Number BVSTKTVT01-033
Thanks Dexter!! I am definitely bookmarking this for later!
Mine is a T-Fal Thermovision, it has 160F, 175, 185, 195 and boil. 30 min keep warm for everything but boil (although you can set to 195, and boil, and it’ll boil then keep it at 195). I got it for $50 at Canadian Tire. It beeps. :) I don’t mind the beeping, it’s not as loud as my microwave.
I was looking at this one: http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beach-40996-Programmable-1-7-Liter/dp/B0083I7THI. It is the Hamilton Beach kettle if anyone has experience with that?
That has a lot of features for that price…I don’t have wake up hot water feature…. I don’t know anything about it, but for the price – it might be worth a try.
That’s what I thought. The only problem is when I go on Canadian sites the price goes up to about $70. I think I might give in though and just send it to my Dad in LA to send up here.
Regarding the utiliTEA, I like the fact that it’s stainless steel. It heats water up quickly but the one annoying thing is that there are no numbers on the temperature gauge, you have a setting for green tea and one for black but if you’re any good at math you can figure out what temps go in between that, lol. It has an auo shut off but doesn’t beep or anything when the water is done. Still for the price I think it’s decent.
I don’t have that particular HB kettle but I did get another for Christmas that has been working great for me (http://www.londondrugs.com/Hamilton-Beach-1.7L-Digital-Kettle—-Stainless-Steel—-41000/L7691330,default,pd.html?start=18&q=kettles%20%26%20tea%20makers) It doesn’t have the wakeup feature but other than that they sound pretty similar (and it’s available in Canada :))
The one thing I found when looking for “programmable” kettles is that you have to watch out for the ones that are programmed I had to return the original kettle I received because I could only use the 5 “programmed” temperatures :( The box even said programmable, but it lied…
Oh! I have the same kettle as Kirlika, and I love it! It heats up nicely, it doesn’t beep or buzz (which might be bad if you want to know w hen the water is ready, but good when you want steatlh tea in the middle of the night like I do), and it has a lot of variety for setting the temperature. I think it’s about 6 different settings for F and C each (it goes up by 10’s, and if you switch between F and C you should be able to find the temperature you want).
It keeps it warm for an hour too, unless you tell it not too.
I assume mine is the same (http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/hamilton-beach-hamilton-beach-pro-1-7l-kettle-41000-stainless-steel-41000/10261214.aspx?path=537c8ee81299072574239dbe620d6b35en02) this says it’s the pro, but it looks similar. I grabbed it for $45 when it was on sale in December.
The Breville is pricey, and I find I end up using it more to keep water hot (for an hour), to time my steepings (because I also do several cups at a time), and auto-set temperatures. When I do want to brew say two cups of tea though, it really is amazing, and hard for me to mess up a tea that way – a big plus for me! :$
I see some really great alternatives here though, I’d try those first if price is a concern. Just make sure wherever you do get it from, you can return it if need be.
Also, for the US shipping, there are companies just across the border that will accept packages on your behalf; all you’d need is an excursion with a friend one weekend to walk over the border and get them.
Luckily my dad lives in LA so I can ship to him and he ships it up to me. And though I can afford the Breville, I just keep thinking of how much tea I could buy if I get a cheaper kettle :P. I have seriously considered it many times though.
I have considered the Breville many times myself!
Good luck choosing! I think one thing I don’t like about the Breville is that you brew tea right in it – I don’t think I’d use that. What if I make Hot Cinnamon Spice? Will it corrupt the next few teas I make, no matter how hard I try to clean it out? Also, I don’t want to clean my kettle/teamaker. I guess I like things simple.
I love my Breville variable temp kettle to bits, but I got my mom one by Kitchen Aid that seems to work quite nicely and was much more reasonable in cost. The one we have at work, a Cuisine Art programmable, had such an irritating beep that one fellow disconnected the wire to it lol, also the controls were not as easy to use and kind of annoying. Oh and it leaks water now haha. There’s my humble variable temp kettle assessment :)
I think I was looking at the breville but it did not have a feature where you could set your own temperatures. I might be mistaken but I thought it was all preset. I will definitely be avoiding the cuisine art one.
I just got the Adagio kettle utiliTEA. So far I like it.
I have an Oster that I bought half price at Canadian Tire. It doesn’t have good review, but I’ve had no problems at all. I like that it’s not preset black, green etc. I can choose any temp I want in 5 degree increments. LOL what I don’t like is that it DOESN’T beep – when it reaches temp it just turns off. I forget, don’t notice and have to reheat water quite often. I would like the annoying beep.
It was a good price on sale, and I figured even if it did break or leak in a few months, I would have decided if I want to invest in a really good one. So far so good, I’m happy with it.
@Teabrat – What do you like about it? Do you have anything you dislike? Also Adagio has the VarieTEA kettle which I had to use a lot of willpower to resist given the name. In other news, I realized I misspelled my name but we will just go with it.
@Dexter – I think I am hoping to get a kettle that has a keep warm setting which I am guessing the Oster doesn’t have? I will definitely look into it though.
My Breville One Touch (http://www.amazon.com/Breville-BTM800XL-One-Touch-Tea-Maker/dp/B003LNOPSG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1390978336&sr=8-2&keywords=breville+tea) lets me set any temperature I want, as well as pre-sets, which makes it easy when there’s zero indication as to how to brew a tea. The only thing I can complain about is that it’s a bit tricky to clean, and I have to make at least 500mL of tea at a time. It is pricey though. I did just just a standard $50 kettle from London Drugs for a while prior until it burned out.
I have been so close to buying a one touch for months MissB. Alas, even with the amount I drink, I can’t bring myself to justify the price. My mother has offered a few times but it is just too pricey for me to feel comfortable with her buying it.
Plus I like to make multiple different teas at a time so that has also stopped my from going with a kettle that you brew the tea in.
My kettle does have keep warm….maintains set temp for up to 30 minutes. I don’t use it, but it has it.
Model Number BVSTKTVT01-033
Thanks Dexter!! I am definitely bookmarking this for later!
Mine is a T-Fal Thermovision, it has 160F, 175, 185, 195 and boil. 30 min keep warm for everything but boil (although you can set to 195, and boil, and it’ll boil then keep it at 195). I got it for $50 at Canadian Tire. It beeps. :) I don’t mind the beeping, it’s not as loud as my microwave.
I was looking at this one: http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beach-40996-Programmable-1-7-Liter/dp/B0083I7THI. It is the Hamilton Beach kettle if anyone has experience with that?
That has a lot of features for that price…I don’t have wake up hot water feature…. I don’t know anything about it, but for the price – it might be worth a try.
That’s what I thought. The only problem is when I go on Canadian sites the price goes up to about $70. I think I might give in though and just send it to my Dad in LA to send up here.
Regarding the utiliTEA, I like the fact that it’s stainless steel. It heats water up quickly but the one annoying thing is that there are no numbers on the temperature gauge, you have a setting for green tea and one for black but if you’re any good at math you can figure out what temps go in between that, lol. It has an auo shut off but doesn’t beep or anything when the water is done. Still for the price I think it’s decent.
I don’t have that particular HB kettle but I did get another for Christmas that has been working great for me (http://www.londondrugs.com/Hamilton-Beach-1.7L-Digital-Kettle—-Stainless-Steel—-41000/L7691330,default,pd.html?start=18&q=kettles%20%26%20tea%20makers) It doesn’t have the wakeup feature but other than that they sound pretty similar (and it’s available in Canada :))
The one thing I found when looking for “programmable” kettles is that you have to watch out for the ones that are programmed I had to return the original kettle I received because I could only use the 5 “programmed” temperatures :( The box even said programmable, but it lied…
Oh! I have the same kettle as Kirlika, and I love it! It heats up nicely, it doesn’t beep or buzz (which might be bad if you want to know w hen the water is ready, but good when you want steatlh tea in the middle of the night like I do), and it has a lot of variety for setting the temperature. I think it’s about 6 different settings for F and C each (it goes up by 10’s, and if you switch between F and C you should be able to find the temperature you want).
It keeps it warm for an hour too, unless you tell it not too.
I assume mine is the same (http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/hamilton-beach-hamilton-beach-pro-1-7l-kettle-41000-stainless-steel-41000/10261214.aspx?path=537c8ee81299072574239dbe620d6b35en02) this says it’s the pro, but it looks similar. I grabbed it for $45 when it was on sale in December.
The Breville is pricey, and I find I end up using it more to keep water hot (for an hour), to time my steepings (because I also do several cups at a time), and auto-set temperatures. When I do want to brew say two cups of tea though, it really is amazing, and hard for me to mess up a tea that way – a big plus for me! :$
I see some really great alternatives here though, I’d try those first if price is a concern. Just make sure wherever you do get it from, you can return it if need be.
Also, for the US shipping, there are companies just across the border that will accept packages on your behalf; all you’d need is an excursion with a friend one weekend to walk over the border and get them.
Luckily my dad lives in LA so I can ship to him and he ships it up to me. And though I can afford the Breville, I just keep thinking of how much tea I could buy if I get a cheaper kettle :P. I have seriously considered it many times though.
I have considered the Breville many times myself!
Good luck choosing! I think one thing I don’t like about the Breville is that you brew tea right in it – I don’t think I’d use that. What if I make Hot Cinnamon Spice? Will it corrupt the next few teas I make, no matter how hard I try to clean it out? Also, I don’t want to clean my kettle/teamaker. I guess I like things simple.