Does anyone know of a good variable-temperature tea (or coffee) warmer? I'm mostly interested in something like an electric thermos with digital controls.
I do a lot of desk work. I like to brew a pot of tea (4-5 cups), pour it into a thermos, and sip it while working. The main problem with this is keeping the tea the right temperature -- both in the thermos and in the cup.
Since the thermos loses heat, I usually fill it with tea that is way too hot to drink. Then I have to let the cup cool a bit, but not too much. Sometimes I get distracted and it gets too cool, so I add a little to warm it up. Back and forth. And I have burned my tongue once or twice.
I've tried a couple of the little cup warmers. They work fairly well, but not great. None have temperature controls and most are under-powered. Some reviewers suggest that part of the problem is that safety laws limit the power because of burns and fire hazard and idiot consumers.
Several manufacturers make Electric Thermal Pots. The reviews say they can be used to dispense coffee or tea at a party. Most of them are bigger than I need for desktop use, both in volume and footprint. It's not clear how fine the temperature control is.
This one by Panasonic is one of the smaller one at 2.2 quarts. It says it has 4 keep warm settings, but doesn't say what the temperatures are.
Does anyone have any experience using something like this to keep a pot of tea warm?
I have a Pino Digital Kettle. It's fantastic for heating water. It has a digital setting that will hold the water at any temperature from
140-204 degrees.
I use it all the time to heat the water, but have never used it for the tea itself. The pot is stainless steel. Is there any downside to keeping hot tea in a stainless steel pot for a few hours?
If not, I'll just buy another one and use that.