The 10 Best Tea Makers in 2019

Just as tea comes in all flavors and a range of colors, so do tea makers. From the simple diffuser ball for a tea glass, to a four cup teapot or even the larger capacity iced tea machine or electric tea maker, these are just some of the many options available for brewing up your favorite beverage.

Things to Consider Before Buying a Tea Maker

A tea maker is a common way to describe any kind of vessel that is used to brew tea. This includes the basic one cup ball diffuser right through to electric tea infusers and iced tea makers, as well as everything in between.

A ball diffuser can be ideal for an occasional tea drinker, although these types of tea maker can limit the size of tea leaves that can be steeped. There are also infusers that sit on top of your mug or glass as well as cups which contain an in-built infuser.

The teapot is the next simplest form of tea maker, and with many now offering the option to place loose tea into a diffuser or tea basket rather than straight into the pot, these do reduce the odds of stray tea leaves in your mug. Teapots are often better suited to brewing for more than one person, or for those who enjoy multiple refills.

Although the French press is typically seen in the hands of coffee stalwarts, it is also an ideal tea maker. As with coffee, the leaves go in the bottom, hot water on top and then you can push down the filter when the tea has reached the color/brew of choice. If you prefer this way of brewing tea you may want to use a separate press from your coffee as coffee residue in the press may affect the taste of your tea, especially if you drink lighter white or green teas.

Electric tea makers can help to make brewing more scientific, as these allow you to alter the temperature depending on what type of tea you want to brew. This can be a lot more accurate than taking a guess and switching the kettle off before it boils. A number of electric tea makers tend to have functions such as keep warm, auto shut-off and timers but like the traditional teapot, the capacity of these are better suited to brewing a larger quantity of tea.

Brewing Tea

Generally, one teaspoon of loose tea per cup of water per person/6 oz. cup is usually enough. The water should ideally be freshly drawn and filtered. Water in a tea kettle which has been re-boiled a number of times has less oxygen content and this will actually make your tea ‘flat’. The fresh water should then be boiled at the best temperature for the particular tea you are drinking.

In terms of temperature, black teas should be brewed at around 212°F and usually left to steep for between four and six minutes. Similarly, most herbal teas are fine at this boiling temperature unless recommended otherwise.

Oolong is better between temperatures of 180°F and 190°F, but will often require more brewing time than a black tea. White teas and green teas are best suited to lower temperatures of between 170°F and 185°F. A green tea may only need steeping for a couple of minutes, whereas a white tea may need as long as six minutes. 

Larger leaves that are a looser blend will give you more of a complex brew than a typical tea bag, but you will need to spend more time ensuring they brew correctly.

Tea leaves can expand between twice and five times their dried size once they go into hot water. You need to make sure that the infuser has enough room for larger leaves to unfurl and for the water to circulate around them. If this does not happen properly, the tea will lack flavor. This is one advantage electric tea makers have as they are a lot bigger, it means they have the larger infuser chamber for leaves to move around in.

The Ice Tea Maker

An iced tea maker brews loose tea or tea bags and allows the tea to drip into a carafe full of ice to cool it down. The main advantage of these iced tea machines is they make iced tea very quickly, unlike when you have to make it yourself.

Making iced tea in a maker is usually straightforward. Once the tank is filled with the correct amount of water – filtered is best – then you can add your tea to the brew basket. If you are using loose tea you may need to add a filter, although many models now include a permanent filter. To make around three quarts of tea, between eight and 12 teabags or three to five tablespoons of loose tea is usually enough. If you want to make sparkling tea, then only fill the water reservoir halfway so you can add seltzer to the pitcher once the brew is finished.

You can then fill the pitcher with ice and any other additives such as sweetener or lemon and place the pitcher onto the machine, making sure that it is in full contact with the drip feed. Some iced tea makers allow you to set the desired strength of brew, so you will need to set this correctly before you turn the machine on.

Once turned on, the tea will drip through and then shut off when complete. You can either drink the tea straight away or store in the refrigerator for later. The machine can then be unplugged and cleaned ready for its next use.

Cleaning Tea Makers

Cleaning can be done by hand, or if some components are dishwasher safe then you can put them through the dishwasher. You can just wipe the base of electric tea makers over with a damp cloth.

Tannins naturally occur in tea, and it is these that give tea its astringency and some of its antioxidant capabilities. There are more tannins in black tea. You will often see tannins in the form of the brown deposit that will build up in any tea maker used for teas that are high in tannins.

Tannin stains can usually be usually be removed by filling the pitcher or kettle with water, adding lemon juice, boiling and allowing it to soak overnight. You will need to rinse and re-boil a few times the next day to remove all traces of the lemon juice.

You can use the same solution in an iced tea maker; just run a few reservoirs of water through it before setting it to brew again.

Similarly, you can use one part of vinegar to one part of water and leave to soak for around an hour to remove any hard water deposits. Depending on how easy it is to clean inside your tea maker, you can also rub some baking soda around it on a soft cloth.

Generally, if you live in a hard water area then it can be helpful to clean after every 40 uses or so as this will prevent too much limescale from building up, which will affect how will your tea maker works.

Conclusion

In this article we have taken a look at a variety of tea makers available, as well as the pros and cons of these different types. We have offered some useful tips for using your tea maker, such as how much tea to use and what temperature to boil it at, as well as how to clean those pesky tannin and hard water deposits from it.