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Breville Tea Maker, The One-Touch BTM800XL
If you love a good cup of tea and want to know how to use a tea maker; why not start with one of the best! The Breville Tea Maker (also referred to by some as a Breville Tea Steeper). A great cup of tea is sure to be made in the Breville Tea Maker btm800xl, one of the most technologically beautiful and modern tea kettles out there!
Most people are familiar with the popular practice of using tea bags to make their tea: just heat up the water and steep the bag in your cup. While this is certainly a quick and easy way to get a cup of tea, it’s not the best way to make a good cup.
In fact, the tea bag is not how people have historically made tea and certainly not how it all got started (you can click here to read a little about that if you’d like).
Tea has most commonly been brewed by heating up the tea leaves directly and then pouring the resulting water into a teacup. But such a process is often foreign to us today.
How long do you brew the leaves? How hot should the brew get? Are there different techniques for different kinds of tea leaves? We’re here to answer all these questions for you and introduce you to the Breville Tea Maker.
With this elegant and refined little appliance, you will be able to brew the perfect pot of tea every time and say goodbye to tea bags forever! But if you want the option to use bags once in a while, not a problem for the Breville Tea Maker btm800xl, you can just pop one into this awesome kettle’s basket in place of the loose leaves.
And if you want to make sure that you’re still going to be able to enjoy the same quality tea as your loose leaf, then just use the tea bags fill your own method. Click here and you’ll see how easy it is!
Click the item in the table below to skip to your most pressing question, or continue to read the entire review.
Why Use Loose Leaves Instead of Tea Bags?
So, why use loose leaves instead of tea bags in the first place? Well, many people complain that tea is somewhat flavorless; that drinking tea just tastes like drinking hot water. And they might be right if they are used to using tea bags. The typical process of steeping tea bags in hot water often produces low-quality drinking tea, and that is what most people are used to.
Then, is there really a major difference between using loose leaves and using tea bags when brewing tea? Or does the use of loose leaf tea result in the same tasting qualities? Well, the very fact that so much of the world drinks tea, and uses loose leaves should give you a clue to the answer.
You would not expect millions upon millions of people throughout history to be so in love with drinking slightly flavored hot water! The short answer is, yes; there is a tremendous difference in quality between using loose leaves and tea bags when brewing tea.
Equally, there is a huge difference in quality depending on the type of water you use to brew your tea. The better the water, the better the taste, the experience, and the benefits.
One way to get wonderfully tasting and extremely healthy water is through the use of a Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration System. Take a moment to read more about how it works and what it costs on Amazon (this link will take you there)!
Teabag brewing became popular because it was much easier and much quicker to brew a decent cup of tea. You did not need an entire pot and you did not really need to worry about brewing time or temperatures. But with this convenience, quality was sacrificed.
Five Great Reasons To Switch Over to Loose Leaves:
There are some very good reasons why using loose leaves is superior to using tea bags, here are 5 of them:
- The tea leaves that are used in tea bags are the “fannings” or leftover dustings from broken leaves. This means that you are already beginning with the lowest quality tea leaves when you use tea bags. You cannot expect a great cup of tea if you are using the leftover tea leaves.
- When tea leaves are broken down to be included in a tea bag, they release many of the oils that give them their taste and smell. Once these are released, they cannot be recovered.
- As tea bags are steeped, they release more tannins into the water. Tannins are what make the tea taste bitter. And we would definitely not prefer bitter tea!
- The tea leaves within tea bags (fannings) cannot be fully unleashed of all their potential. The bag keeps more of the tea leaf surface area from properly mixing with the water. This is part of the reason it tastes so weak.
- If you love tea, then you also love the sense of tranquility that the process of brewing brings you. Working with loose leaves will immensely add to those moments where we nourish not only our bodies but our souls as well.
For the best cup of tea possible, you really do need to use loose leaves. These are not some dustings from other, better leaves, but the full, healthy leaves that have not lost their potency. With loose leaves, you get the fullest flavor and aroma possible from these amazing plants. Using loose leaves will transform the way you enjoy tea completely!
Breville BTM800XL One-Touch Tea Maker Review
The Breville One-Touch Tea Maker is a compact and stylish tea maker that takes all the guesswork out of brewing tea leaves properly.
Fully Automated
The Tea Maker uses an automated system to do everything you need to have done when brewing a pot of tea.
At the core of the tea maker is a basket where you set all your tea leaves. You can select, with “One Touch,” from six different varieties of teas (Black, Green, White, Herbal, Oolong, or Custom) and the machine will adjust its brewing process to match.
This determines how hot the maker will brew the tea since the different varieties require different temperatures to brew properly. You can also select from 4 different strength settings: Mild, Medium, Strong, or Custom.
The Breville Tea Maker will then brew for just the right amount of time for your desired strength. Once you enter your desired settings, the real magic begins. The tea maker will begin heating the tea to the proper temperature and at the right moment, the tea maker will begin moving the basket with your tea leaves up and down in the water.
It will also agitate the surface of each tea leaf so that it receives maximum exposure to the water, unleashing its flavors and aromas. You can watch the whole process through the lovely glass teapot. And once the brewing process is done, the tea maker raises the basket up out of the water. This helps avoid over-brewing which is a common problem for those making tea with loose leaves in traditional teapots.
Watch this informative video below if you like visuals:
Other Functions
The tea maker will also keep your tea warm for up to one hour, so there is no need to guzzle down a cup just so you don’t waste any tea. And the LCD indicator timer will tell you how long it’s been since it brewed the current pot. This will keep you from drinking tea that has been sitting too long and lost its potency.
For convenience, once you lift the Tea Maker from its base it will automatically shut off the hot plate underneath. If you only want to pour out some of the tea and keep it warm, you can cancel this feature by simply pressing the “hot water” button on the base.
The tea maker also comes with a programmable timer and clock. You can fill the teapot with water, load the tea leaves into the basket, and set the time to begin brewing the next morning. You’ll wake up to the perfect cup of tea already brewed and waiting for you when you come into the kitchen!
The tea maker can also act as a traditional teapot to simply boil water. Just fill the teapot and press “Hot Water,” in a matter of minutes you’ll have boiling water. It holds a little over six cups of water and will take about 3 minutes to bring the water to boil.
Keeping a Clean Breville Tea Maker
Except for the plastic basket cover, the entire tea maker is made of stainless steel and glass; eliminating the worry of rust and helping it to last you many, many years.
Clean up is easy. Once you have enjoyed your freshly brewed cup (or cups) of tea, the opening at the top of the pot is large enough to fit your hand through. So it’s easy to wash and rinse out the inside of the glass kettle, ensuring a clean Breville Tea Maker.
But just because it’s easy doesn’t mean you’ll be able to get all the tea stains out sometimes; especially if you are someone who likes your tea strong!
Tea stains won’t impact the workings of the Breville Tea Maker, but they sure will affect the appearance of that lovely glass pot.
Imagine that you have this fantastic machine (that many would love to own) sitting on your kitchen counter, you get unexpected company, offer to make them some tea…and voila! They’ve now seen an ugly tea stained glass kettle instead of the beautiful, clean glass tea kettle that it is! I’m sure you’d be a bit embarrassed.
So keep your glass clean and free of stains! A few years ago, Breville came out with a highly rated organic tea cleaner that has tea lovers very happy. It’s called Revive Organic Tea Cleaner.
It removes and prevents tannin tea stains inside the Breville Tea Maker, and when you use it regularly, it also can help to prevent limescale build-up. It’s organic, phosphate free, and biodegradable. It comes in the form of simple to use tablets.
And from what I’ve read in some reviews, it works great on stainless steel too.
Please note: the revive organic tea cleaner is very popular and sometimes temporarily runs out on Amazon. If you find that to be the case when you click over, I know that you can also find it at Wal-Mart and Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Unless they’ve run out of it there too 🙁
Be sure to only hand-wash the glass pot itself as this is not dishwasher safe. It has working parts that can be damaged in the dishwasher. However, both the lid and the basket are fully dishwasher safe for easier cleaning.
When it comes to cleaning the base, you should only use a damp cloth to clean it. Consider this a typical hot plate, full of electronic equipment that will be damaged if it is submerged in water. The base should not get too dirty anyway as it will not come into contact with any liquids.
One Caution
The only possible downside to the Breville Tea Maker is that the holes in the basket may allow a small percentage of tea flakes to make it into your pot of tea.
This is really unavoidable no matter what method you use for brewing tea, so it should not be considered a deal-breaker.
If you are finding that a lot of tea leave parts are getting into the brew, you might consider trying different leaves to see if the cause is inferior leaves which are breaking up more than they should.
What Is the Warranty on the Breville Tea Maker?
Breville will back up their product!
Breville offers a minimum of at least a one-year limited warranty, which is valid from the first day you purchase their product. If you find a defect in your purchase, its material or its workmanship during the time it is under warranty, you will be able to arrange a product return with them.
They will ship you either a replacement which is identical to the product you purchased or a comparable alternative. In most cases, Breville will deliver it to you without any additional shipping charges.
Keep in mind that some of their models might have a warranty period of over one year on either the product itself or its individual parts, so it is necessary that you consult their warranty for the particular product in question. There, you will be able to read the complete terms and conditions.
NOTE: DO NOT RETURN YOUR BREVILLE PRODUCT TO THE STORE!
Click on this link which will take you directly to Breville’s warranty page.
Conclusion
The perfect cup of tea does not have to be elusive. With Breville’s amazing little machine, you can have a customized cup of tea with all the full flavor and aroma of your tea leaves.
CLICK HERE NOW TO GET THE BREVILLE BTM800XL ONE-TOUCH TEA MAKER AT AMAZON!
Never will you have to settle for tasteless “hot water.” With the Breville Tea Maker, every cup of tea is a relaxing, soul-nourishing, flavorful experience.
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