IngenuiTea

[adamkgourley]

Does the ingenuitea warm the water or what? or do I need a kettle to warm the water. That's kinda weak...

[yresim]

It has nothing to do with being weak. The ingenuiTEA costs $19. Electric water kettles start at $20, and home-size ones range from $20-40 (depending on size & speed). That is $20 or more for something that just boils water. And, if you want a temperature-variable model (so that you can make water for non-black tea automatically), you should expect to pay $50 or more.

The ingenuiTEA will not warm the water up for you. That's not what it is made for. The inginuiTEA is a tea pot that uses a unique filter, so that your leaves can fully expand while infusing. You could theoretically get the same effect by steeping your tea in a normal tea pot, and then pouring it through a filter into your cup.

The ingenuiTEA will go in the microwave, if you desire. However, I would recommend against it, since microwaved water has a tendency to taste flat (and thus, to produce tea that tastes flat).

If you desire a complete tea maker, Adagio makes the triniTEA. This will heat the water and steep the leaves for you. Unfortunately, they are sold out of version 1, and version 2 won't be out until the end of summer.

Many of us are hoping that version 2 of the tea maker will offer temperature variability (like the utiliTEA electric water kettle).

~Yresim~

P.S. A tea pot is merely a pot that you put hot water & leaves in to make tea. To heat the water, you would use a tea kettle. Granted, there are some tea kettle/pot's (tea pots that double as a tea kettle). However, the majority of tea pots that I have found would not do well on the stove.

[EvenOdd]

The ingenuiTea is simply a teapot of sorts. No more, no less. It allows you to steep the tea in a vessel, and automatically strain it when finished steeping.

[teaspoon]

Uhhh... weak? At the risk of sounding really snitty in my current bad mood, what would be so pathetic about the ingenuiTEA not heating the water? Why should it heat the water? Seeing as how it is, in fact, a teapot. And I think the postscript of yresim's post explained what a teapot is quite sufficiently. To add just slightly to that explanation, the ingenuiTEA in specific is a rather convenient teapot. I use mine every day. The only complaint I have is the difficulty of getting out the used leaves, but it's no more difficult than any other infuser, and if you have a garbage disposal it's not even difficult at all. *rant over*

~tsp

[procarel]

I really like the ingenuiTEA a lot. Iuse it every day for all kinds of tea. When it comes down to just making a good cup of tea you can't beat it. I have a wide variety of teapots (glass,ceramic, Yxing,iron) and each one is special to me but the ingenuiTEA is the most convenient and most often used of them all. As far as cleaning it out after use I just put the strainer basket thing in the sink and swirl the leaves out. We don't have a disposal unit but that would be the easiest way to clean it out. I would highly recommend geting the ingenuiTEA and if you can only afford one I'd get the large one.

[adamkgourley]

I appreciate those who are being gentle with me. I think the rest of you "tea snobs" are weak....

[klemptor]

I'll have you know I could bench-press ten of you, Mister adamkgourley. If indeed that is your real name.

(Kidding, of course. But the others are right in pointing out the difference between a tea kettle and a teapot.)

[Molly]

I love my ingenuiTEA. I have the 32oz which I use with the Bella pitcher for iced tea. I generally fill it with warm spring water and heat it in the microwave until it just begins to boil, drop my tea of choice in to steep and voila! Tea!

It's easy to clean out too and I love that it strains the tea when placed on top of the pitcher or a glass and keeps the loose tea out of the liquid.

I definitely recommend it. And if you are opposed to microwaving the teapot with the water in it, you can get an inexpensive tea kettle to boil the water at Target or Walmart to use in concert with the pot.

[adamkgourley]

seriously, thanks everyone. That clears that up for me.