Wordy birdy!
I will probably update/edit this as time goes on given I’ve only had my Breville less than a week (eeee!), but I’ve made a lot of tea for a lot of different situations now so I feel comfortable piecing together some thoughts. Keep in mind, this is hyper personalized in terms of my quirky tea making preferences and needs.
First off, I am as impressed as everyone else about how nice the quality of the parts are. The kettle does not feel flimsy or especially breakable despite being glass. I was a little nervous the magnet mechanism would seem overly delicate, fragile and fiddly, but it’s sturdy and straightforward. I also like that the countertop real estate this takes up feels pretty small but the kettle houses a surprising volume of water (1.5L, I think). The brew basket is even roomier than I expected, so I don’t think I’ll ever have to worry about fluffy teas feeling cramped even when I’m putting in enough for 5 cups of tea.
As for all the programming stuff: it works as described, intuitive and easy with a straightforward interface (the “program the night before for fresh tea in the morning” has a few more steps, but if you don’t plan on unplugging your kettle much that shouldn’t be a big deal).
This is also the first glass kettle I’ve ever had, so I can watch the stages up to boiling (which hopefully will help me get better at eyeballing without tech/thermometers some day).
Now for some kinda-cons. The issue I’ve seen hinted at here and there but rarely explicitly described about the tea tasting differently—it seems pretty clear to me this is because of the design of the brew basket (it’s not a million little holes all around like mesh but solid metal with relatively few holes on the bottom, so the degree of direct contact between leaf and water isn’t what I’m used to) combined with the fact when the basket lowers into the tea and it’s steeping the temperature remains constant, at the prescribed brewing temp, as opposed to pouring leaves in an infuser basket or tea pot, pouring the water over them, and letting the tea steep in cooling water. (By the way, I know there’s a difference because I made a point to brew staple favorites the first few days I had it.) My quick fix for this is to adjust all the steeping parameters down from what I’d use if I was making tea traditionally—if I’d normally make a tea at 212F for 4 minutes, in the Breville I set it for 200F at 2 minutes. I’m going to do a side by side soon with all different types of teas to get my adjustment scale down for good; I’ve kind of been winging it so far with good if not always stellar results.
More problematic, the tea continues to intensify even after the basket lifts out of the water, and even if the keep warm setting is not used. I know this because you can see the tea get darker and darker in the kettle as it sits, and when you pour a second cup it’s noticeably darker (I can compare my cup when I go for seconds to my husband’s still-half-full first cup of tea) and tastes different, usually more bitter. There is an obvious solution to this—remove the basket from the tea maker completely once it’s done steeping—but that’s a little tricky given the hot steam, and also, the whole point of having it brew the tea for you is not having to do something like that, something akin to just using a finum or forlife in your cup in the first place. Ah well. My theory about it is that somehow just being amidst the hot steam in the kettle leads to condensation and dripping more tannin out of the tea. I will note that Breville admits this happens, too—I can’t remember if it’s in the manual or maybe the Amazon description or Breville website, but I know I’ve seen a one sentence mention from the horse’s mouth somewhere. So there’s that. I was prepared for it.
The other thing is, and this is understandable, the Keep Warm function is really only for tea; what I mean is, it works well if you’ve brewed tea and just want a pot of it to stay drinkably warm for a while (it will keep it warm for 1 hour; by the way, the count up as soon as it’s done making tea, so you know how long it’s been sitting, is a nice little touch). If you use the Breville as a variable temp kettle (something that was essential to me given the price tag since I knew the aforementioned cons would mean I’d still be doing things the usual way a lot of the time), the Keep Warm function won’t keep the water at the programmed temp for an hour or at all after the right temp is reached and it beeps (granted, this is a lot, probably too much, to ask of a kettle as opposed to a sealed water heater—I have a cheap variable temp kettle that does this hypothetically, but at higher temps it doesn’t take long at all for the water to completely steam away). I have had a desire for a while now to have a set up (probably in my living room) so I could sit on the couch reading or watching TV with a pot or gaiwan of green or oolong tea and just keep resteeping from a generous source of constantly maintained appropriate temp water without having to go to the kitchen; the more experience I get with tea gadgets the more I realize the two best options for that sort of thing are a variable temp kettle whose contents are then poured into a preheated vacuum sealed thermos (my current method) or one of those fancy Zojirushi variable temp water heaters (maybe someday—was really hoping the Breville and that, both biiiig ticket items, would overlap more in their uses but alas).
As for maintenance/cleaning/upkeep, I—knock on wood—foresee this being pretty great in that regard. Like any electric kettle you can’t immerse the base in water, but the mouth of it is much more open than most kettles I’ve had, and the glass means you can see what you’re doing inside it as you clean it. It definitely retains odors—I made Queen Catherine in it one morning and everything smelled like QC for the next couple days until I did a thorough baking soda clean—so you might want to watch out for that. The basket and lid can apparently go right into the dishwasher, though so far I’ve simply been rinsing them clean. The interface on the dock seems like it’d just need the occasional wipe down to stay clean (I hope).
So. I’m quite pleased with the design and quality of this thing, how much thought and care went into it. That said, I don’t feel this takes the place of other ways of making tea at all—I still find you get a better experience with appropriately hot water and a set-up that lets you smell the brewing process and all that. And it definitely doesn’t take the place of something like the Zojirushi heaters, which seem better suited if the majority of your tea drinking is gongfu style or generally Eastern (like using a kyusu and resteeping greens a zillion times) as opposed to “set it and forget it” big pots of tea Western style. But the “wake up to freshly brewed tea of any kind, nice and warm and ready” feature, and the freedom of knowing when I want to make tea for my husband and myself I no longer HAVE to do the whole “5 minutes to boil, then 5 more minutes steeping, and don’t walk away lest you forget it and it gets cold” hover-dance—I can set it up, walk away as long as I like (within an hour), and it’ll be ready for me—is super duper welcome. I think the Breville’s going to be go-to for teas I don’t think of as precious or finicky—first-thing-in-the-morning brisk blends, the flavored treats we share for afternoon tea, no-caf tisanes right before bed. And for everything else, it makes a good variable temp kettle. I’m definitely happy I’m lucky enough to have it now (best Christmas evar), I just don’t think it is the last word in tea making set ups, especially if you like resteeping/gongfu/Eastern style prep.
Ooooohh!!!!! Sounds like so much fun! I’m excited for you! Congrats!
This sounnds like a really cool device, making tea as easy as coffee!
:) thank you! Christy!
Tigress – yeah it is SO easy and helps if you tend to space off your steep or get busy with work while waiting on a steep! :)
It does sound wonderful. You and LiberTEAS will have to compare notes (I think she has one, or one like it).
I am interested in hearing more (I occasionally tell me friends about these, and they always seem intrigued).
I love the phrase, Happy dance!
Yah!
I am so excited for you and I am so glad to hear that it is as wonderful as I had hoped…Someday I shall get one:)
I smiled when you said you like shiny things…I like shiny things too;)
Congrats, Azzrian!
Very cool – although I’m a bit jealous… ;) Could you send me the seller’s info? I’d like to acquire one of these this summer myself!
One thing that I learned pretty quickly with using my breville is that because it does keep the tea warm while it steeps (warmer than with other steeping methods, at least for me, unless I were to warm the pot AND use a cozy while it steeps, which is something I wouldn’t normally do. Warm the pot, yes, cozy while steeping, no), I lower the steep time by 30 seconds. If I would normally steep a tea for 3 minutes, it is now steeped in my breville for 2 1/2 minutes. The longer steep time results in more bitterness with this because of the warmer temperature in the brewing vessel.
You’re going to love this, I think. Now that I’ve had mine for a year or so, I don’t know how I lived without it.
Thanks for the tip Liber!
Keen I will PM you the info! :)
Thank you Hesper!! LOL yes shiny things distract me which is fine :)
Simplici – LOL thanks! I will make more notes as I experience more. Seems like Libra would be the guru on this! I am just really happy it is so easy to use :)
Yay! Glad you got it and it works awesomely. :D
Thank you Missy!!
Neat! I am glad it made you dance!
LOL well okay more of a wobble but hey I got up and MOVED some haha
Soooo jealous of you!!!!! :) That’s awesome that you got one! The cost and the one con you listed are keeping me at an arm’s length from getting it. Look forward to your future tasting notes using your new toy! :)
If you have the funds – even if it means holding off on some tea for a little bit (providing you really have enough tea already) GO FOR IT! I mean if you would have to cut back on tea to the point of not having anything to brew it in then it would not make sense but if you can get this DO IT! I just did another little happy dance just now preparing my next tea for the day! I even said to hubby and daughter smiling so big “Its soooo neat I just push the buttons and it does what I say” ROFL silly I know but hey where else can one get that kind of service haha!
And yea its pretty and shiny and has lights on it! :)
OKay here is a CON: The beeper could be louder! Especially so I could use it as an alarm in the morning when my brew was done steeping! Yeah it could be louder but its good as long as you are not too far away.
You enabler! LOL! Don’t this I can justify it until I’ve been at a job for a couple months. :) Hopefully it’ll happen soon though. I’ll just live vicariously through you until then! :D
Yay! Welcome to the family :)
LOL okay Will but when your ready let me know and I’ll PM you the link to this person’s ebay!
Thanks Rachel!!! :)
I have been tempted by this as well, but it’s rare that I want so much of one tea at once. :)
Yes that is one of my cons as well. Usually I do one cup and resteep so in the cases where that is all I want its kind of a bummer that you have to do TWO cups because then it is two MORE cups in the resteep at least!
Or you waste the leaves OR like me you take the leaves out for a next day or later in the day brew. OR go ahead and steep it and put it in the fridge.
Regardless a one cup ability WOULD be nice!
Chill one cup for trying a tea iced?
Just think at the end of the day you could have a whole pitcher of iced tea ;)
Indeed! :)
Miss Sandy has one if I remember right and she loves it as well. I’ll have to start collecting cans! :D
We should have a breville fund where we donate change here and there – a sign up list for those “in need” and go in order as funds collected :)
Lucky woman! YAY! :)
Thank you Lynne!
That’s a pretty awesome idea.
CON: Basket is a LITTLE hard to clean out but only because I don’t dump and rinse – I compost so its hard to get ALL of it out so I end up actually rinsing a fair amount out whereas with a regular steep basket I can get it all out to compost. Anyway small detail but Im posting everything I think of.
Pro: Warmer button – keeps tea warm for 30 minutes.
CON: No alarm, beep, or noise to indicate that the warm time is up! I would love if it alerted me so I could push the button again!
PRO: Forgot to mention – there is a secondary straining device (is that the right way to say it? Anyway….) at the pour spout. I like this as the basket:
CON: The basket is nice, no problem with stray tea particles for MOST teas a little dicey with SOME herbals, rooibos, etc but only minimal.
So the extra straining thing helps. And one can always use a strainer over the cup like a finnum.
That hold feature sounds nice. My Zojirushi only has 3 presets and when a tea calls for brewing at a different temp like 185 or 160 you kind of need to drink as many cups as fast as you can before it drops too much.
Yeah exactly it is such a great feature! I just need to get used to remembering to go push the button again when I need more time.
@Azzrian: You know the strainer that we received with our first Steepster Select box? I use that daily to strain the tea as I pour it from the Breville teapot to my cup. One might think that it’s overdoing it a bit, but with the very small bits (especially in teas like chai) it does catch potential additional floaters. I’m not fond of floaters in my tea, so it’s really an easy thing to do to eliminate any potential floating bits.
I wish we had a LIKE button here lol good post LiberTEAS!
I have been eyeing this machine for a while…I would love to buy one in the near future. Could you please email me the name of this ebay seller? Thanks in advance…
Will do!
How did you get it sooo cheap?! I want one but I don’t really want to spend $250+
PM me and I will send you the link to the person I got mine from – she lists them now and then. :)
Okay, I’m coming to this thread months after it was posted. How do you like the Breville now? I’ve been looking at it and looking on eBay since you said you got a good price there. What did you consider a good price since they range widely? I’d really like to know and if you don’t mind sharing the seller?
Blessings,
Maitri
This is the seller http://myworld.ebay.com/foryou247 – they don’t have any items listed right now but you can see in their feedback they sell the Breville One Touch fairly often. I would message them and ask if they have any sitting around. I love mine! Now since I got my Zojiroushi I don’t use the Breville AS often but I still use it and love it when I do.
I use my breville when I want to make several cups of the same tea – like when wanting a pot to sit down with a book or movie. Otherwise I use my Zojurushi for sampling for reviews and one cuppers through out the day.
I paid 182.50 plus 13.44 Shipping on mine back then. Maybe they are priced even lower now – not sure.
What’s this Zojiroushi? I haven’t heard of it before…
Here are reviews on it http://steepster.com/teas/teaware/28510-zojirushi-champagne-gold-3-liter-water-boiler-and-warmer
I will PM this to you as well in case you are bad at looking at the updates like I am :)
Say there have you compared teas the old fashion way vs the breville tea maker xB TM800 xl ?
We would to see you compare a light green ..say a Japanese green using the tea maker vs the old fashion way hot water & pot .
I Have one of these tea makers and we always notice a “chemical taste” to our tea ,, particularly the more delicate varieties ie green , white and most good oolongs.
We also tried chlorinated water from the tap as well as filtered water ,,, filtered water appeared to make some difference , but we could still easily taste the " chemical"In further observation there is a large silicon gasket separating the glass carafe section to the metallic base of this tea maker. As a result of the silicon contact with the hot water & tea we suspect that’s where the funny taste originates from ??
has anyone else found this to be true ?
I find that preparing greens the old fashioned was is far better than in the breville. Everything else – with exception of puerh of course is fine.
I prefer my greens gong fu style as opposed to the breville unless they are just some standard flavored green – then the breville is okay. Honestly though I would not prepare ANY of my PRIZED teas in the breville as I reserve those for sitting down and throughly enjoying and gong fu, for me, is part of that enjoyment. That is not to say you can’t make a quality tea in the breville but for the most part I agree with your statement.
Then again if you are stumbling around in the morning just needing that stand by black, or whatever tea like I often am then the breville is much better.
:)
Azzrian- I have been looking for one of these at a decent price for so long. Is there anyway you could pm me the info? :) Great review btw!
Here it is but I will PM it to you as well http://myworld.ebay.com/foryou247
I can sometimes spend an HOUR making my tea before I go to work. I usually make a big ol’ thermos full (48+oz), so with that said, do you think this tea maker would really cut down on my tea making time? I mean I have to admit, I am not standing by the microwave waiting for my water to boil the entire time ( I multitask), but it still is a pain in the butt waiting for water to cool down to the proper temperature, etcetera. As for finding it on eBay, thank you for the great idea. I was pretty much decided upon getting it at Teavana.
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I bought my Breville last October, and I. LOVE. IT. I love it. If mine ever breaks, I will have to fork over for a new one, because I can never go back. Have you found a de-scaling agent you like? I’m finally getting around to de-scaling mine (almost a year later), but any guidance any of you have on de-scalers would be very welcome!
Bought mine at a BB&B with those 20% off coupons. The reason being I don’t believe eBay is included in the authorized retailers required for warranty service noted in the manual.