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Can somebody give me an opinion on the Morphy Richards Tea Maker? I've always wanted to get into the arcane subject of brewing tea so it was a nice surprise when I got this for Christmas but now I'm not so sure if I shouldn't return it and get a see-through water cooker and a teapot instead. My main concern is that it only works at three different temperatures - 85°, 95° and 100°. I have next to no idea about tea but from what I know that's already too high for some (white, yellow, green). However, I've heard people claim that the steeping process somehow makes it work? No idea. I ordered Sencha from a local teashop to test it at 85° and 3 minutes of steeping and while it wasn't bad it didn't taste much like anything. Maybe I have to get used to the subtle taste first, or maybe my settings were wrong or maybe the machine just isn't good. I don't know! Anybody here use this thing?
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Jan 11, 2014 13:48
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 12:41 |
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Thanks for the advice. I'll probably return it, not just because I don't like the temperature limit but also because it's kind of awkward to handle and clean. That said I tried to make tea through more traditional methods (heat water in cooker, pour into cup, brew leaves) and I have yet to be amazed. I think I may be doing this wrong but it's kinda confusing when everyone gives you different directions. For example I've ordered some Darjeeling Broken Singtom. Steep.it tells me to brew Darjeeling for 3 minutes at 85°, the store I bought it from says its a normal black tea that should brew 4-5 minutes in boiled water and a different webstore only says to brew the same leaves for two minutes. I also got some Chinese sencha even though sencha is supposed to be Japanese. I don't even know anymore.
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Jan 13, 2014 20:28
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Thanks for all the advice. I guess I'll have to try and brute-force the right combination then. That said I think I already managed some decent green tea. I'm not sure since I never had any proper, professionally made tea that I could compare it with. But it wasn't bad.Goddamn posted:Depending on how much you can return it for and what deals you can find, you could also take a look at Breville's tea maker if you still like the automatic concept. It'll give you any temperature from 160F to boiling in 5F increments (also works in Celsius, I don't remember the numbers but that's around a 70C minimum), whatever time you want, and only needs a quick rinse unless you forgot old tea in there or something. There's a 500ml minimum for it to steep for you though, so that might not work with some high-rebrew ones unless you're serving a crowd or just using it as a variable kettle. I feel like I go on about it way too much here though, so I'll st-- did I mention it makes tea for you in the morning? Sounds convenient but I think I'll stick with a kettle/pot combination for now. Should be easier to experiment with and I barely ever brew that much tea at once.
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Jan 14, 2014 20:46
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Comic posted:It's true, but without a point of reference you can keep doubting yourself. Do you really not like it? Or was it just made incorrectly? Yeah, that's pretty much it. Maybe part of the problem is that I just bought two of the cheapest teas they had without much thought. I think I'm going to order a sample collection and see what else I like. That said I think I had some decent cups of tea by now, only I failed to take any notes about temp and brewing time 
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Jan 15, 2014 18:46
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I'm about to finally return my Morphy Richards machine and replace it with a standard pot/kettle combo. To that end I still have a few questions: Is there anything specific I should look for in a kettle? I'll probably try to get one where I can set a target temp, but anything else? Same for the pot. Will any old pot do? Is there any advantage to brewing tea in a pot vs. directly in the mug? (Other than the larger quantities) Finally, I noticed that my hot water loses a lot of temperature when I pour it. How do you guys deal with that? I usually pour some of my heated water, then toss that away and refill the warmed cup with more hot water. But that seems kinda wasteful, especially when you brew in a bigger pot.
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Jan 20, 2014 20:00
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Could use a kettle recommendation. I tried the Cloer 4950 and it's not bad, but when I shell out 90€ for a water cooker that lets me "pick a temp between 40-100°C" it leaves a sour taste in my mouth when I can only select in 10° increments and the display isn't reliable. Now I'm looking for a replacement kettle that at least correctly shows the water temperature. I've only found a few models like that but none of them have very inspiring reviews ("comes apart at the seams after 6 months", "tastes like plastic", "costs 150€", ect.) I'm in Austria so most of the cookers that have been recommended earlier in the thread aren't available here. Should I just get a cheap steel kettle and measure with a thermostat instead? I'm beginning to think it would be cheaper and easier.
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Feb 4, 2014 15:47
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 12:41 |
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detectivemonkey posted:I have this kettle and absolutely love it. However, if that's not available I would say just look for a thermometer that beeps when it gets down to a certain temperature. I've been looking for one myself for work, but for now I just stick with black tea there. We have a similar cooker. The main difference is that it trades some preset buttons for a temperature display. Which is fine with me. I really just want a convenient and reliable way to always know how hot my water is. It's also the only one I've seen so far that is neither rumored to leak nor to stink. There's a few plastic parts but water contact seems to be negligible. I might give this one a shot, and if it doesn't work, I'll get some simple a stainless steel machine and use a thermometer. Thanks.
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Feb 5, 2014 17:17
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