thermometer rec?

I'm also looking for this... I bought a Cuisipro some weeks ago. It's not accurate at all... According to what I read on some espresso group, the dial (see

I have also read that (from

Most manufacturers have more than one product line. Taylor is a well respected product but has an economy line which you're likely to find at a housewares store.

Calibration is a good feature if you have a good standard to calibrate with. Ice water and boiling water are handy but not always accurate. One good standard is a lab grade mercury filled thermometer with 0.1 degree C accuracy. These are hard to come by (even before 9/11). Lab supply companies are reluctant to sell to individuals for obvious reasons.

Another is to buy your thermometer from a vendor who can supply a NIST certificate (extra cost). This certificate ensures that a qualified metrologist has calibrated your thermometer and it should be good for a year.

There's no inherent difference in accuracy between a digital and analog thermometer. Fast response time is a function of construction and CAN be achieved with either.

A supplier of good dial thermometers for milk frothing and other coffeegeek applications is Mannix

Ummm...OK. call me ignorant, but why should that matter that it's within a tenth of a degree for national security purposes? Wouldn't a thermometer like that be useful for candymaking too or somethng? Sorry if I'm dense but I don't get it, seems a bit silly to me. Or do you mean the "lab grade" part?

Melinda

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Actually, the 0.1 degree accuracy is not important at all... The point of the one who wrote this on coffeegeek.com is that those thermometers are accurate (they will not indicate 80 degrees if the water is at 95 degree, which is, believe me, quite common with a lot of those dial thermometers, even the one that aren't cheap). And as you know, the difference in brewing tea at 80 degrees vs. at 95 degrees is quite important...

I think the national security issue is the "lab grade" mercury.

different teas call for different temps; especially some of your greens. depending on how tender the leaves are, it could ruin the batch entirely if the temp is too hot.

Mydnight

-------------------- thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

calibrate

i don't see any reason to be concerned with calibration. you'll have to play around with your teas' steeping temps regardless. you'll have to figure out that you like a particular tea steeped at temperature x and this other tea at temperature x+20; it doesn't really matter then if x0. the thermometer needs to be accurate, but it doesn't seem to matter much if it's calibrated.

cheers! chuck

Very simple to check these things - two tests:

1. Put ice approx 50/50 in water and let it stabilize for several minutes measute the WATER (not ice) temperature. It must be exactly 0 C (32 F)
2. Measure the temperatiure of boiling water. It mut be exactly 100C (212 F). That is if you live approx at sea level. If not - its should be less 2 deg F or every 1000 feet of elevation.

If your thermometer passes, most porobably its -OK one. But there may be another test you want to go throu. Take as much water that would take approx 2-3 min to get boiled on your stove. Put a thermometer in it (not touching the vessel) and tart heating. Watch the thermometer and throw it away if it moves even with a single jerky movement or acceleration. It must be very smooth.

I use a computer digital thermometer (two for $25 at CompUSA). they have almost zero mass sensor with a long wire. Zero mass makes it very fast and sensitive and long wire allow me to sticj the thermometer above my stove and just put the sensor inside a hole in the teapot lid (or under it).

Sasha.

Sure it does, if you want your tea knowledge to be connected to a standard independent of a thermometer that may break tomorrow.

You can see two pocket digital thermometers at:

hth

Is this the thermometer that you have?

Yep. there are two of them there as you can see. You can easily take them separately out of the metal frame (they just snap in) nd use to your heart desire.The price was $25 when I bought it.

Sasha.

But she's right - 0.1 Degrees - Who can taste that? Even +/-1 Degree should be well enough for brewing tea. The temperature of the water that hits your tea is so much dependent on other factors. Temperature of air, temperature of the pot, from which height you pour the water, and maybe a lot more dependencies. What good is it to know then that the temperature in the kettle was exactly 81.231 Centigrade?

I agree with you that +/- 5 Centigrade will make a difference in taste, maybe even +/-3 or 2 (depending on how sensitive you are). But Melinda asked

And I think she's right there. Buying one that is good for +/-1 Centigrade is well enough - I use one of the 'old style' non-digital alcohol based thermometers (mercury would be more cool, though - also more exact ^-^) and I never had problems. Save the money and buy some good tea instead.

ciao Patrick

No it is not, even with cheap ones.

The coffeegeeks need special thermometers because they need an immediate measurement while they froth the milk. For your tea water, you can wait 15 seconds to read the temp before pouring (with milk it's enough time to miss the frothing).

Kuri

If they use milk in their coffee, wouldn't they be newbies rather than geeks?

But seriously, I'm relieved to hear that accuracy good enough for the beverage I favor can be had without a battery.

/Lew

Well, I'm badmouthing about coffee and milk, because I cannot drink that (unable to digest it). In fact, I must confess I've spent the afternoon making macha ice-cream with an ice-cream yoyo. And that was delicious and terribly fun. Ah, that's good to be 6 yr old again ! You don't need a thermometer for the ice, you hear it when it's done, it no longer make the liquid noise in the yoyo. I'll bring tons of macha at my parents' next week. They don't drink any tea in my family (except my aunt), but surprisingly they are all crazy about macha ice-cream.

Kuri (that buys the Xmas toys in double, one for the kid, one for her)

I think that thermometers are nice but only necessary for green teas. Black teas I control by time: let the kettle boil, switch off and wait - every minute is about 1 centigrade (I assume a simple kettle, thin walled plastic or stainless, not a thick-walled iron thingy). Pouring the water into a cup can take up to 10 centigrade off the temperature. For most blacks I just use boiling water, for Oolongs I wait a bit, depending on brand. For greens it is another matter, there I have an alcohol-filled thermometer. JB

I must be an idiot. I seem to be able to make various types of tea without using a thermometer at all. Sometimes I stick my finger in the water, but that's about it.

I use a $5.xx instant-read thermometer from the kitchen gadgets section of Wal-Mart. It's in 2-degree increments and is fine enough for me and my green and white teas.