Automatic Tea Brewing Machines

Is anyone aware of an automatic tea brewing machine on the market today other than the TeaMate? The TeaMate has been discontinued. Thank you!

Reply to
Cindy Wahl
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I know the TeaMate has been spoken of in this newsgroup before, but I never bothered to look up what it was.

"Automatic tea brewing"????

What a terrible idea. As far as I can tell the only reason automatic coffee machines exist is because of one particular type of coffee

*brewing method*, namely espressos.

There's no tea equivalent for espressos, as far as I know.

Cheers,

- Joel

Reply to
Joel Reicher

Sounds interesting... especially because it would make re-steeping easier. Just put more water in.

I have made some teas before in an old drip coffeemaker... and it will work but it makes a very strong cup of tea. I wouldn't dream of using it for good tea. The water in some coffeemakers is just too hot for many teas.

They had automatic coffee makers for years. You Brits (I assume you are a Brit, as you say "cheers") are mostly used to either instant coffee or espresso, but here in America we've had them all. The first were automatic vacuum brewers (for the more discerning), automatic percolators (for the average person... it makes strong but bitter coffee)... and later the automatic drip machine, which is what most folks now days use for coffee here in the US (and I believe they also use them in much of northern Europe, too- the drip method actually came from France).

It's my understanding that the vacuum method was used at some time to brew tea as well as coffee, from what little research I've done on vacuum pots.

People in the US are so sold on teabags that it would be an uphill struggle, though.

Reply to
magnulus

Sorry, wrong assumption. *grin*

An automatic vacuum brewer would be interesting to look at. Got any references? I use the normal manual kind for my coffee, and again I can't imagine what automation could add.

Is an automatic percolator really automatic? Are you talking about the electric things that keep recycling the water? Those are just like leaving a french press on a very low flame (if you could put presses on flames, of course...).

And again I can't see what automation adds. What's a `non-automatic' drip machine?

This I could believe, but I imagine the water temperature is too high for most teas.

Cheers,

- Joel

Reply to
Joel Reicher

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They've had electric vacuum brewers since the late 20's and 30's. Silex and Sunbeam used to make them. The last one to be made for the American market was in the 1970's.

Most reviews of the Santos say it doesn't brew a very strong cup of coffee compared to other methods, particular "manual" vacuum brewing. Others are quite happy with it. The automation means you don't have to stand around and pull the syphon off the heat when it's done brewing, the machine does this for you. Unfortuntely, you are stuck with a 30 second brewing, which is a bit short for a vacuum pot unless you grind fine (and doing this will result in coffee in the bottom of the cup). One solution might be to use a glass rod filter or cloth filter, which should be able to fit.

Yes, it just heats up the water and sends in up a tube and over the coffee, then back down. It's not really like a French press because the water boils and cools off repeatedly. Originally the idea was you brew coffee with them very quickly (usually there's a glass window, and you brew the coffee to the color you want)... but then people got cheap and used less coffee and brewed longer- the result can be bitter coffee without much aroma. Unlike other methods, the electric percolator really doesn't do much "automaticly" that I'm aware of- which is why most folks used stovetop percolators.

A Melitta one-cup filter. Not really a machine. You put the filter over a cup, put in the coffee, and pour water over the filter. Automation reduces the possibility of burning oneself, and also allows a person to finish getting dressed in the morning, or go get the paper, etc.

The water only goes up to about 190 F or so. That's actually a little cooler than what black tea requires, although it might be too hot for green tea. It's my experience that unless you pre-heat the water, it rarely gets above 170 F. The water appears to boil on the surface, but that's actually just pressurized air escaping.

I was looking for vacuum pot rods on Ebay and on the net (they are filters with etched glass at the bottom that the water runs around), and I came across a reference to the rods actually first being used for tea brewing.

Reply to
magnulus

As you say, I would call that an electric vacuum brewer rather than an `automatic' one. Rather like not calling eletric kettles automatic.

That was my thought too. In fact, the stovetop pots have such a different action that many people I know call them `whooshers'. To my mind they work more like espresso machines, and `espresso pots' is another name I've heard for them.

Interesting. If I can get my brewer satisfactorily clean (coffee oils are persistent), then I might try some blacks in it.

Not if you wait long enough. As far as I've observed it, when brewing begins there are three layers in the bottom chamber: water, air, and water vapour. The water vapour is on top, being hot. Once the water level has cleared the bottom of the pipe, the air is the next to go up, being displaced by the water vapour as the remaining water in the bottom chamber boils. Eventually, however, the air is exhausted and water vapour begins travelling up the pipe. At this point the upper chamber liquid rises to its maximum temperature.

If you wait this long (perhaps 1 minute), you also get a much more effective vacuum in the bottom chamber.

Cheers,

- Joel

Reply to
Joel Reicher

I should have added that these stages can be clearly observed in the bubbling behaviour of the top chamber. It's air when the bubbling begins, but that subsides. The water vapour is, at this point, hitting the top chamber liquid and condensing, raising the temperature of that chamber. When the temperature is sufficiently high, the vapour doesn't condense anymore, and begins bubbling through, so you get a second stage of bubbling.

Cheers,

- Joel

Reply to
Joel Reicher

I have something called Mrs. Tea. You put the leaves in the top, pour the water into the teamaker with a filter and 5 minutes later, you have tea. Even comes with it's own teapot

Reply to
Richard Bornstein

Percolators are like vacuum pots, except the water runs back down to the bottom.

Moka pots actually pressurize the bottom using steam, then it blasts water through the grounds and stays in the top, producing something like espresso (indeed, this is exactly how early espresso machines worked). Like a vacuum pot, but with a bit more force.

Reply to
magnulus

The thing that makes them unlike vacuum pots is that the brewed drink, once it has come down to the bottom, will get heated and probably boiled again, which spoils many kinds of drink.

Cheers,

- Joel

Reply to
Joel Reicher

Jumping in here rather late, but...

My mother, a coffee-drinker, switched from stovetop to an automatic percolator. It had a dial setting to select weak to strong brews and when it finished perking in accordance to what was set, it quit bubbling the water up through the tube and simply kept the coffee warm.

Reply to
Bluesea

there's a new product out there called tea spot.

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Its a tea pot with a timer in the lid, that once you select the type of tea you are brewing it will automatically lift the teas back into the lid so it doesnt steep too long. Pretty nifty idea. don't know if this counts as an automatic brewer.

Reply to
Mike Thadman

If it was bubbling the coffee at all, it was ruining it. Brewed coffee should not be boiled, and in fact coffee grains shouldn't brew at boiling point unless you're using an espresso machine, where the contact is very brief.

If coffee is boiled, the resulting brew is extremely bitter, but I know many people equate such bitterness with desirable `strength', and mistakenly associate the bracing flavour with more caffeine.

Cheers,

- Joel

Reply to
Joel Reicher

On Sat, 16 Oct 2004 06:49:56 GMT, Joel Reicher cast caution to the wind and posted:

According to Industry standards, extraction temperature should be 186 degrees F. That is where most commercial brewing systems are calibrated, plus or minus a degree or 2.

Mike Petro snipped-for-privacy@pu-erh.net

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remove the "filter" in my email address to reply

Reply to
Mike Petro

Off the subject of tea slightly, but I've found the best coffee is made with a french press. Just like with tea, the grounds/leaves have the most surface area to volume ratio when allowed to roam free and then filtered at the end.

Steve

Mike Petro wrote:

Reply to
Steve Hay

Sorry, if you were confused by my choice of words. I've always thought of the water rising through the tube and hitting the lid as bubbling because of the sound made. What I meant was that the coffee maker quit perking.

Here:

It had a dial setting to select weak to strong brews and when it finished perking in accordance to what was set, it simply kept the coffee warm.

Reply to
Bluesea

I recommend you try vacuum brewing then. In effect it's just like a press, but better. The temperature of the water is kept at its optimum for coffee brewing while the grains and the water mix, just as in a press, and filtering the grains out subsequently is simplicity itself, but I won't say how it happens. That would be spoiling the fun. :)

Cheers,

- Joel

Reply to
Joel Reicher

As far as I know it *is* bubbling when it goes up the tube. An expansion of some liquid into gas is the only thing that can send it up.

Now I'm not sure what you see as the difference between going up the tube and "perking", but this is getting too OT. :)

Cheers,

- Joel

Reply to
Joel Reicher

Difference? Well, "...bubbling up the tube" was wasteful blather that prompted you to respond as you did and since I don't even like coffee, this is OT for my life as well as this ng. I'm gonna quit while I can :D.

Reply to
Bluesea

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