ingenuiTea

While intrepidly exploring the bowels of USENET on Saturday, August

30, 2008, Square Peg rolled initiative and posted the following:

Problem? No. Experienced it? Yes.

The infuser in the new model is easily removable for cleaning. The most common way to get leaves out of such a unit is to shake it over the trash can. This often causes the infuser to slip.

I just always make sure to get it back in place before steeping, knowing that it has a tendency to come loose.

That said, the removable infuser makes it much easier to clean than the earlier model, which I also have.

That shouldn't happen. The infuser screen keeps the leaves away from the valve. If you've got leaves around the rubber ball serving as a valve, you've got an infuser issue.

I do occasionally experience a valve that doesn't completely close. However, this isn't due to tea leaves blocking the valve. It's from not making sure the valve is seated before pouring water.

The "lifter" for the valve can sit crooked in the bottom of the device, meaning that the valve doesn't close and water goes straight through.

We only have one infuser, and it cleans out pretty well with baking soda and a little water (and elbow, or finger, grease).

If you're worried about flavoring your tea, I suggest you look into getting separate ingenuiTEAs. I periodically have to scrub the patina of black tea off the inside of our units (again, baking soda, water, finger) as we tend to the darker side of teas.

I would think that this would flavor your tea as much as the infuser, though I could be wrong.

I've never regretted our purchases, even when I've made messes with them. User inattention is my biggest challenge.

It's size. The advantage to a larger model is that you can always use less water.

I would be more likely to empty the whole thing into the sink including the infuser, then rinse the infuser and the leaves into the disposal.

That's what I thought. I bet the infuser wasn't seated properly or came loose.

I would think that that could be detected by noticing whether the unit continues to dispense liquid after being removed from the cup. I would probably set it on the counter for a few minutes before cleaning. If there a puddle, I need to check the valve.

Yep, that's probably the right way to go. The infuser is probably less of a factor than the entire pot.

Do you know if the infusers are the same? The Adagio website does not show an infuser on the 32 oz model page, but when I selected the replacement infuser from the 16 oz page, it specifically said that it was for the 16 oz unit.

The Adagio website is not well designed. It has a lot of irregularities and incomplete information.

There are several demo videos on YouTube. Here's the best one:

While intrepidly exploring the bowels of USENET on Saturday, August

30, 2008, Square Peg rolled initiative and posted the following:

Here's another one, just for information's sake.

I've only seen them at a tea shop in Minneapolis, and I used to use one regularly that I got from that shop. But it's 2-part construction made it ill-suited to the workplace.

I prefer the ingenuiTEA. And I find that it works well for multiple steeps.

Hell < Square Peg, You have stated that you are new to teas, and when I was really new and finding out all the stuff you will learn I really wanted to buy lots of tools. And pots, and strainers and yixing, and bone china and lovely gaiwans of many sizes and all, tea bags, tea socks, tea sets cups with strainers, glass teapots with strainers Jenaer or from the asian market or the world market. Every place has their thing, and so does each and every person. I cannot tell you how much money I have spent on utensils but know now I SHOULD have saved most of it just for nice tea. In the end.. this am I got up, went to the cabinet, chose an old coffee mug that I have hundreds of, put a mesh strainer(poly) in the cup and poured hot water in my tea, took out the strainer and put it in another cup, drank my tea and then poured new hot water into the

2nd cup (that has the leaves) drained it and put the strainer back in the first cup. and then go on and on till the leaves were exhausted. Funny I do this on the counter top of the cabinet that holds my gaiwans, teapots sharecups,strainers teapots and mountains of teaware. Sometimes I even brew in a pyrex measuring cup (for volume) Or just put this same little $4 poly strainer in a teapot and steep, take out the strainer and pour. On days I want to feel special or am tasting I just go for the gaiwans. This was just my story. If you are really into the tea experiment you probably will try everything. (like I did) I have learned this... The more complicated the device is the more apt it is to malfuncion, The more expensive it it, will maybe be more prone to break (like gaiwan lids) The simpler the device is to use, will end up being the one used most often. BTW I have one of those also and it is hidden in the bowels of my tea cabinet. Jenn enjoying golden lily oolong in the cup, smooth and delicious

Interesting. That one did not turn up on any Google searches.

Yep, the ingenuiTea does seem like it would work better.

Thanks for the comments. I agree that it is way too easy to get carried away with gadgets and tools. This is coming from a recovering DIYer (do it yourselfer). For years, I could never park my car in the garage. ;-)

I started my tea adventure with a simple Chatsford 2-cup teapot with a removeable infuser. I'd heat water in the microwave or on the stove. I did a little experimenting without the infuser and then pouring the tea through a strainer.

The biggest problem was measuring the tea accurately. I decided to abandon volume (teaspoons) and go by weight because the leaf density varies so much. I had a baker's scale, but it only went to 1 g, so I bought a little tea scale that will weigh to 0.1 g. This helped a lot.

Next, I found that I preferred to sip it slowly while working at my desk. This caused a problem of keeping it at the right temperature. The tea would be too hot at first but then too cool after a few minutes. I bought one of those coffee warmers, which worked OK.

I then discovered that one cup was not enough. This exacerbated the problem of keeping it hot. My solution was a thermos bottle. I bought a 500 ml glass Thermos. The Chatsford pot was now too small, so I started brewing the tea in a 4-cup pyrex measuring cup. This worked fairly well.

The next problem was water temperature. I started drinking more greens and I had trouble getting the temperature right. I didn't think that just waiting awhile after boiling was accurate enough, so I bought a little candy thermometer. But it was still difficult getting it right, especially in the microwave. I just ordered the Digital Kettle Pro from Tea Treasures. This is the unit purchased by Natarajan and reviewed on 8/18. The alternative was the utiliTea kettle from Adagio. I chose the DKP because (a) it is digital, (b) it will hold a temperature, and (c) the good review by Natarajan.

My plan is to play with this new toy for awhile and then invest in a larger teapot. I am looking at the ingenuiTea or one of the glass teapots such as the one from Adagio. Then I need a larger thermos. Thermos makes a 34 oz stainless model that should be just right. Then I can make up to 4 cuos of tea in the morning and be good for most of the day.

So, that's about it for the gadgets. If I get a lot of free time on my hands, I may get into clay pots and the like, but I think I will be happy with this setup for awhile.