The Perfect Tea Every Time

April 4, 2014 By Leanne Vogel November 4, 2018

I really enjoy tea.

When Kevin and I built our home a couple of years ago, we specifically created space in our kitchen for a tea cabinet. The cabinet is reserved for my 7 antique tea cups, 2 vintage tea sets and about 60 different teas. From green, white, herbal, black, oolong, maca, you name it.

Sad to say, I’ve never owned a kettle. I know, right? How does an avid tea drinker NOT have a kettle? I guess it just wasn’t a priority for me. I didn’t see the value in purchasing an appliance that boiled water. When I wanted a cup of tea, I would just put water in a pot, boil it, pour it in a teapot, steep, and be done with it.

While Kevin and I were trying to organize our wedding registry, someone mentioned asking for a programmable tea kettle. I’d never heard of such a thing but, with a little investigation, I was convinced that I needed one. I am constantly complaining that my green teas taste burnt and my herbal teas aren’t steeped enough.

So, I did what any tea-loving bride would do: I got a programmable tea kettle before the wedding. I’ve never been good with waiting for presents.

Because I’ve enjoyed each and every Cuisinart appliance I’ve ever purchased, I went with the Cusinart PerfectTemp Programmable Tea Steeper & Kettle. The reason I chose it over the Cuisinart PerfectTemp Cordless Kettle was because the tea steeper could do just that – steep loose leaf tea, which, I have a lot of.

I also got a regular Cuisinart Cordless Electric Kettle to do a tea comparison as I’ve never made tea using kettle water so wanted to be accurate with my review.

When I boil water in a pot on the stove, the handle gets really hot and I burn myself nearly every time. You’d think I’d learn. With the Cuisinart Cordless Electric Kettle, that didn’t happen. And surprisingly, the water boiled faster than if I were to boil on the stove. But the tea? Tasted the same – burnt, ew.

The Cusinart PerfectTemp Programmable Tea Steeper & Kettle, though, is a whole bunch of awesome.

What I like about it…

• loose leaf tea chamber that moves up and down (so you can keep it up while the water boils, then drop it down when it’s ready to steep). The chamber can be replaced with a regular cover in case you’re making tea with a tea bag.
• ability to set the water temperature to the type of tea you’re making – no more burnt tea leaves!:: ability to set the tea steep time (the kettle knows the best steep time for each tea so you don’t have to think)
• “keep warm” setting to stabilize the temperature for another 30 minutes or more

What I don’t like about the Cusinart PerfectTemp Programmable Tea Steeper & Kettle…

• the loose leaf tea chamber is difficult to clean. The lid doesn’t come off as effortlessly as one would hope and it’s a bit awkward filling it up.
• it doesn’t hold enough water. Just 5 cups. Which may SEEM like a lot… but I like to make lots of tea at one time.

All in all, though. If an avid tea drinker like myself told me that they were boiling water for the tea with a pot or average kettle, I would tell them to save up the $99 and simplify their tea experience with this Cusinart PerfectTemp Programmable Tea Steeper & Kettle.

I’ll never go back to stove top tea making. You can count on it!

Are you a tea drinker? How do you prepare it?

This post was sponsored by Cuisinart Canada. All opinions expressed herein are those of Healthful Pursuit Inc. and are not indicative of the positions or opinions of Cuisinart Canada. Thank you for supporting the brands that I choose to feature here.

This entry was tagged: green tea, tea