Jun 15
James’s Teaview Snapshot
 | "This set is well worth it if you need to make a tea for a group of people or want a warm pot of tea available all morning"
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I am a typical American ...œ I want things to be quick and convenient. In a way, this conflicts with the history and enjoyment of drinking tea. After all, preparing the tea is part of that enjoyment and has reached almost religious heights in some cultures. Most of us enjoy taking our time to make a good cup of tea. However, we do not always have time to enjoy the creation process.I have been looking for a convenient method of brewing tea at work; a way to steep a pot of tea and keep it warm all day similar to what is done with coffee. I stumbled across the Fujitronic Teapot & Kettle set at a bargain price. This set has a stainless steel tea kettle with a companion teapot ...œ with built in steeper basket ...œ that is on a warmer. This sounded perfect for my purpose.
A decent stainless steel tea kettle can easily run $50 to $100. Buy.com offers this set for $70 and at the time, Fujitronic offered $40 in rebates. I bought the set through Google Checkout and saved another $10 for a final price of $20. Although I hate the hassle of rebates, there was no way I could go wrong at that price. Without a doubt, the kettle is easily worth more than the $20-30 sale price.
The kettle works very well. It heats the water to a rolling boil quickly enough and has a heavy, sturdy feel. I had previously used a plastic electric kettle and prefer the quality and feel of this one. The teapot holds 1.5 liters (six to seven cups) and has a metal mesh steeping chamber in the middle. Using the system is straight forward; put tea into the steeper, add water to the teapot, then insert the steeper into the water. There is no press, so when steeping is done, the mesh chamber must be removed, the lid taken off, and put back on the teapot. This is the biggest hassle with the system, and a better way to remove the tea would make the system much better. I imagine that you could replace the teapot with a nicer one, as long as it was one that can be used on a warmer. This could improve the set dramatically, but obviously would increase the price. The warmer keeps the tea very hot.
This system works very well for black tea. It seems fine for Oolong as well. However for green tea ...œ and presumably white tea ...œ it is not a good system. Many people have noticed that green tea turns darker and bitter when kept warm in a pot. That seems to be exactly what happens when green tea is left in the heated teapot for much time at all. While this is true for black tea as well, the change is slight. It is very noticeable with green tea. Obviously, tea does not lend itself as well as coffee to being left on a warmer all day, especially green tea.
The bottom line: Definitely worth the price. Whichever price it is at the time, . Adding a good quality teapot with press would make it a great system.
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