takeya flash chill tea maker

[amezri]

Well. I haven't written anything useful (or not whining) in a while, so how about a review of a tea gadget thing I just got? :D

My new Takeya Flash Chill Tea Maker arrived today! My brother showed it to me and I had to have one. Two-day shipping from Amazon FTW! It's a pretty awesome contraption that makes brewing & chilling iced tea easier and it only cost about $20.

The first thing I did was to figure out how to take the whole thing apart so I could wash it. The only piece that might get tricky is the infuser basket, but the sprayer on the kitchen sink seems to work well...at least for a first cleaning. All the other parts were very easy to clean with a sponge and rinse with hot water.

For my first pitcher of iced tea, I chose Everybody's Tea by daunt. I kind of dislike this blend as a hot tea - hot citrus is a no go for me - but I liked it cold with some sugar, so I thought it would be a good choice. And... also a way to use up more of the bag since I wouldn't be brewing single, hot cups.

In the booklet that comes with the tea maker, they tell you to use 10 Tablespoons of loose leaf tea to make 2 quarts of iced tea. That seemed like a ridiculous amount of tea, so I ended up putting in 7 Tablespoons. After brewing, that was still too much; next time I'm going to use 5 Tablespoons instead (8tsp for cold brew).

Anyway. Tea in the infuser. Fill the pitcher half way (or a little more) with hot water - whatever the correct temperature for your tea is.  Attach the infuser to the lid and place it in the pitcher - don't close it all the way. I am not sure about steep times for brewing a concentrated tea - for black it is the same as brewing a cup. Experiment I guess? :\

Once you're done steeping, take out the infuser and remove it from the lid. Add in your sweetener (I did 4T cane sugar and 3T white sugar) and fill with ice. Then screw the lid on tight and shake that sucker until your ice is melted and your sweetener is dissolved.

Ta-da! You now have some tasty iced tea! (And yes, Everybody's Tea makes a fabulous iced tea. The citrus & vanilla combo is really yummy once it's icy cold.)

I did find that the infuser basket was kind of annoying to clean out and I suspect it might get kind of gross after a few uses because it's so difficult to scrub (and it feels kind of delicate). However, once it gets more stained, I plan on using my travel mug cleaning trick - HOT water, a scoop of dish washing powder, and let sit overnight. That usually gets the coffee/tea stains off anything with little scrubbing afterwards.

Comments

[alorarose.livejournal.com]

This looks so awesome, but so many parts... Right now I use a large pitcher to make my iced tea and I brew it overnight (I like really strong iced tea). Less cleaning... This looks like too much cleaning effort, LOL

[amezri.livejournal.com]

You don't have to take it all apart I guess? I'm kind of OCD about cleaning things, so I love that it all comes apart. Also, the air tight seal is great to keep the tea fresh and, in case you need to, you can lay it sideways in the fridge.

My next brew in this pitcher is going to be an overnight cold brew. :D I'm thinking chocolate mint maybe...

[alorarose.livejournal.com]

Oh man, chocolate mint sounds amazing.