Breville Tea Maker and T2 Breakfast Club Teas Reviews...

A month or so ago, I purchased the Breville Tea Maker after seeing it in my yoga studio and enjoying some delicious tea from it. The best thing about the Breville one over other tea makers is that it keeps the tea warm for an hour, so if you're someone who likes to make a jug for yourself on a Saturday afternoon, you can have a cup now and a cup later. I purchased my Tea Maker from Myer and it was on sale then (looks like it's on sale again now). It's not cheap but I have such delicious tea now, and I'm drinking tea basically nightly, whereas before I was drinking it maybe once or twice a week with the tongs infuser I have from T2.

The Breville Tea Maker, (currently) $254.15 AUD, myer.com.au/Myer in store.

Preparing the tea maker is really simple. You fill the jug to the appropriate water level. Then, you place one spoonful of loose leaf tea in the basket per cup (unfortunately it only makes a minimum of two cups, so that is where the keep warm function comes in handy, although the last couple of weeks I have finally got my husband drinking tea), place the lid on the basket, and then you drop the basket onto the metallic pole inside the jug which clings to it magnetically. Pop the lid on, choose your tea type and strength and press 'tea'. What happens next is pretty cool.

 The water begins to boil and bubble.

As the water boils, the screen tells you the current temperature and how long the tea will brew for. Notice I've chosen black tea and strong. You can also customise how long you want to brew for.

Once the water has boiled, the basket slowly lowers into the water and sits there for as long as the brew time. The timer counts down how long until the tea is ready.

When the tea has finished brewing, the basket ascends the metal pole, and the tea maker beeps to say your tea is done. You then simply pour your tea and enjoy! 

Once you've poured you can press the 'keep warm' button and the timer will count up how long the tea has been sitting there since it brewed. And this button keeps the tea nice and hot.

Here's today's tea in my Royal Albert Ruby Celebration cup. I got this as a 21st birthday present back in the day. It didn't come with a dessert plate so I've been desperately searching the internet the last couple of months for a matching plate, as it just feels wrong to have the cup and saucer but no plate.

T2 had 18% off storewide today so I kind of went nuts. I got a birthday present for my grandmother, and a couple of boxes of tea for myself, and then my mum saw this set of small canisters with all the breakfast flavours in one box. It wasn't cheap, but with 18% off it was justifiable. I'm secretly hoping Melbourne beats all the other flavours! Today I've tried the Hobart Breakfast which is a nice, fruity, mild black tea. The guy in T2 Southland was super friendly (not in an annoying way which is good), and he was wearing a tie with diamantes on it which looked really good, he started telling me he was a 'bit overdressed for the occasion but why not since it's our 18th birthday!', which was pretty funny.

Anyway, my final comments on the Breville Tea Maker:

Pros:

• Makes a perfect cup of tea every time.
• Easy to use and clean.
• Not really any floating bits of tea leaves in your cup.
• Adjustable to different tea types and strengths.
• Also heats hot water quicker than your gas top kettle.
• Has a 'brew in the morning' function where you can set it up the night before on a timer and it will brew when you wake up in the morning.
• Keep warm function keeps the tea nice and hot.
• Looks good on the bench top and as a cool design.

Cons:

• It is really expensive for something that is basically able to be done with a stove top kettle and an infuser.
• You can't make one cup - you have to make a minimum of two cups.
• You can't run the outside of the jug under water - you can only clean it with a damp cloth.
• The electricity cord is ridiculously short (apparently to stop accidents) - so it required a significant rearranging of my kitchen bench tops as the jug has to be sat basically directly in front of a power point.

Do you like to drink tea? Do you prefer blacks, greens, whites, reds, or herbals?