I was at the thrift store yesterday, and found a Sunbeam Coffeemaster! I had no idea what it was, but I looked it up when I got home and, lo and behold, it's a completely automatic coffeemaker that works on steep time rather than drip or percolation!
How this machine works is the water in the bottom reaches a boil and sublimates to vapor, but having nowhere to go, it builds up pressure until the liquid water shoots up into the upper chamber. As both chambers are made of chrome-coated copper, which absorbs a lot of heat, the boiling water drops dramatically in temperature as soon as it hits the upper chamber, lowering it to tea-steeping temperature (at least, black tea steeping). After about 3 minutes (which is adjustable with the aid of a thermostat), the liquid drops back through the filtered tube, due to the cooling and subsequent contraction of the lower chamber's space. The thermostat occasionally kicks in and keeps the liquid at serving temperature.
My model steeps for 3 minutes and 4 seconds (consistently, no matter how full the pot is), at 190-205 F. This seems to be the perfect steep time/temp for my breakfast tea, so as soon as I make or find a filter, full steam ahead!
Has anyone else ever tried one of these with tea? They seem to be the ideal solution for a heavy-duty, long lasting automatic teapot. I got mine for $4 with an old, hard, but still functional gasket. No filter, but cheesecloth can fix that.
Jul 19th, '12, 13:24
Posts: 44
Joined: Dec 14th, '09, 19:48
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Springfield, OR
Jul 22nd, '12, 16:18
Posts: 44
Joined: Dec 14th, '09, 19:48
Scrolling: scrolling
Location: Springfield, OR
Re: Vacuum pot for tea brewing?
I have results! I bought a pack of Melitta disc (percolator) filters and a bit of diaper flannel for comparison between cloth and paper filters. If I can track down an appropriately sized metal filter, I'll make sure to give that a try as well.
My findings: I love this thing! I've brewed Adagio Irish Breakfast and TeaFountain Scottish Breakfast in it now, and they turned out amazing. I did a side by side comparison with the IngenuiTEA (at same temperature and brew time), and the Coffeemaster produced a thicker, richer cup of tea that tasted more like tea and less unpleasant. I suspect the bubbling action has something to do with it.
If you are on a budget and looking for a way to quickly and easily brew a great cup of breakfast tea (or anything else for ~3 minutes at ~200 F), I can't recommend this machine more. It was an amazing find.
My findings: I love this thing! I've brewed Adagio Irish Breakfast and TeaFountain Scottish Breakfast in it now, and they turned out amazing. I did a side by side comparison with the IngenuiTEA (at same temperature and brew time), and the Coffeemaster produced a thicker, richer cup of tea that tasted more like tea and less unpleasant. I suspect the bubbling action has something to do with it.
If you are on a budget and looking for a way to quickly and easily brew a great cup of breakfast tea (or anything else for ~3 minutes at ~200 F), I can't recommend this machine more. It was an amazing find.