Where to find >3-min sandglass?

Using an egg timer to brew black teas has really made a difference over just wandering off for a while. (Electronic timers don't seem to fit the aesthetic.) I've only found 3-minute timers in kitchen shops. Would really like a 5-minute "hourglass" that I can mark for 3.5, 4 and 4.5 minutes. Anybody know where to find such an item? Google didn't turn up a US source, but I might have set the search too narrowly.

Thanks-

DM

Reply to
Dog Ma 1
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On 12 Oct 2003, Dog Ma 1 posted the following to rec.food.drink.tea:

Well, I'm guessing by the above comment that the microwave timer is out and you're looking for mechanical. :)

Here's a Sunbeam mechanical timer. Not exactly pretty, and this page is actually a criticism of the timer:

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There's a couple of timers on this page. The chrome and black one is kind of nice:

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Three problems I can see you facing. 1) Digital timers are everywhere. 2) Mechanical kitchen timers tend to cover a full 60 minutes, which makes gradiations between the minutes difficult to set. 3) The 1 hour timers seem to all require you to turn it past

15 minutes to "arm" it and then back down to periods less than that.

Tough question. Good one, but tough.

Derek

P.S. The above sites were provided with full knowledge that you may well already have seen them.

Reply to
Derek

Here?

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They seem to have everything from a cute (but useless) keychain 5second 'hourglass' to a huge 2 hour one and just about everything in between. The 'useful' ones are kind of expensive or what they do, but they're shipped from CA (so at least it's a US source), and most of them are quite decorative.

I especially like the antiqued italian hanging hourglass because of the attention to detail (like the 6 beads on the wire so you can tell how many times you've turned it ), though I'm aware it's not the one you're looking for.

--Leigh

Reply to
Leigh Claffey

If you have no luck finding the hourglass timer, I'd like to suggest a mechanical, digital read-out timer I found at Radio Shack. It counts up or down, can be set in 10-second intervals,up to 13 hours. It automatically resets to the last setting (in case you want the same amount of time again) but is easily cleared to zero by a reset button. I used it in my tea class and really like it.

It looks like an egg, flat on the bottom. Twist bottom to set time. I'm checking mine for a model number. All I find is a catalog number 63-934. Powered by one AAA battery. I think I paid $7 for it.

My local store is out of them, or I would have several more.

Martha

Reply to
McLemore

Ito En

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sells a timer that is a wooden triangular prism with 1, 3, and 5 minute hourglasses set on the sides (one on each side). However, it's rather expensive ($25, not including shipping). The site appears to be that of Ito En North America (maybe Ito En NY), so it would be a US company.

ZBL

Reply to
Zephyrus

It's actually a Japanese company. I used to buy matcha au lait from vending machines in Japan. I knew many who thought it was sacrilege to drink matcha with milk and sugar, but I liked it :-). FWIW, I also like matcha served the traditional way, wagashi and all.

rona

Reply to
Rona Yuthasastrakosol

People's views probably differ on how critical +/- 20% is brewing time, but if you're view is that it *is* important, I would suggest considering something other than an egg timer, or testing the egg timer so see if you're actually getting the timing you're expecting.

I won't bore you with the details, but I was in the psotion of having my staff test the accuracy of a egg timer product a few years ago and we found that timers labeled as "5 minutes" averaged at 3:40. When we confronted the manufacturer about this he said the product was labeled incorrectly and should have been identified as a 4-minute timer. Even then, it was about

10-15% off.

Just a thought. I use a digital.

Warren Liebold

Reply to
Warren C. Liebold

Check out this link:

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they have different timers, all for decent pricing (considering that hour or *minute* glasses/sand timers are considered *specialty* or

*novelty* items these days. This is a US source

BTW, I used the search keywords *sand timer* in Google and got lots of appropriate hits.

Catherine K.

Reply to
Catherine

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