the Tea Maker

I've had it for a few months now and it has totally transformed how I drink tea. Green tea brewed at the proper temperature is a completely different drink. If all you're after is a quick cup of Tetley, then this is a waste of money, but if you enjoy well brewed loose leaf teas, then you will love this. You can experiment and discover which brew times and temperatures suit your palate best. The kettle is very well built, easy to understand and operate. I've seen other reviews complaining about "rust" - it's not rust, but the tannins from the tea forming on the metal baseplate. These can be cleaned off using a kettle cleaning powder if you want to, but they're harmless. The design is quite innovative with the basket attached via magnets that slides up and down into the water. I now drink a lot more tea than I used to.

This product is great and produces consistent tea every time. Design is good and very sturdy (note that it's heavy, about 50% more than a metal kettle). Controls are good and function very logically and it is adjustable for different types of tea and different taste. I use it as a bedroom teamaker but it is really meant for kitchen use, hence the clock is only visible whilst setting it. and it is also quite large. I knew this when I purchased it though. When set, only one control is illuminated which should please light sleepers. I had no success with tea bags, even at the maximum set time the tea was too weak, so have reverted to leaf tea with no regrets and I get perfect tea which keeps hot for up to one hour and still retains its flavour. Minor niggles, the clock resets even with a very short power glitch (less than one second) which caused me to think it was faulty when I used it for the first time. A capacitor backed clock would not cost a lot and would be a great feature. Overall, a brilliant tea maker and I would not be without it. If Breville produce a bedroom version at about half the capacity and with a permanent clock, I will buy one immediately, in the meantime, this one is fine.

Have now used this almost daily for over six months so feel qualified to comment on it. Despite it's rather hefty price tag, we decided to buy it as our previous tea maker had broken just outside the guarantee period and could not be repaired! We followed the instructions carefully to start with but now rarely need to look at them as it's easy to use. It sits on a bedside table so we can have tea in the morning when we wake up. It's programmed to come on so that the tea is "brewed" by the time our alarms go off. The alarm, if you can call it that, is 2 quiet "pings", which sound when the tea is brewed and not when it starts to boil, which is great as you don't want to wake up before it's ready. As the tea maker is my husbands side of the bed, if I am asleep, it rarely wakes me up which again is perfect if I want to have a lie in. There is a "keep warm" facility which you can program in when you put the timer on (the night before) which enables you to snooze, if necessary, and still have hot tea. There are various programmes that you can choose depending on the type of tea that you want and you can choose to have your tea stronger or weaker as you prefer. As the tea is put into the basket (you can see it in the picture above the water) and is only dunked when the water has boiled, this means that you get a proper drink rather than a stewed one. We tend to use tea bags as it's easier for us in the bedroom but it's just as easy to use leaves. Easy to clean as well - not done every day, just emptied and then refilled, but cleaned thoroughly about once every fortnight to keep it in tip top form.

It's alright... Not sure why there is so much hype and raving about it here though. The build quality is good, looks good and well made, the glass is good and the little cradle inside is a nice aluminium that wont rust and feels great and well made. The whole thing is well made, the electronics and buttons are all good. I think it will be easy to clean too because it is just a big empty space with mostly glass and the metal bottom which you could rub any stains off or use white vinegar. The little cradle is easily washed in soapy water, I think a nail brush or similar will be good to get rid of any stains on that. You could also dishwash it. Also the mechanism to send the cradle up and down seems to be magnetic (electro-magnetic I think), so there is no motor that is likely to fail, so I think the whole thing will last. Apart from that though, it is really nothing special. The tea it makes tastes nice, but it is no better than making a cup of tea yourself with a kettle and a cup. The only difference is that the tea in the basket just gets left in the water for a while and then lifted out, so without squashing the bag with a spoon, it makes the tea taste more natural and less bitter. But if you like that bitter taste then you might be disappointed because you can't squash the bag with this device. You can set it to sit in the water for several minutes if you want a strong cup, and that tastes good, but it is never going to be as strong as a traditional cup of tea with a bag that you press with a spoon. In terms of taste, this is the only thing that is different with this machine than with making a cuppa yourself, so I don't know why people rave about it being a taste sensation. You could achieve the exact same thing yourself by pouring the water on a bag in a cup, let it sit for a moment and then scoop the bag out with a spoon without squashing it. That would give you the exact same taste as this machine. The only real advantages I see are: 1) you dont have to hang around while your bag brews in the water, waiting to take it out. The machine will lift it out after however long you set, so when it beeps, your tea is done. 2) you could have it set to come on in the morning 3) you could do quite a lot of tea in it, and it will keep the remainder hot after you drink your first cup. 4) if you like herbal tea that is better at a lower temperature, you can set this which most kettles can't do The thing is though, with the first benefit, the time you save not waiting while the tea brews, you use that time or more by setting the machine up in the first place. You have to rinse out the old tea, remove the little cradle and pop the lid off, rinse out the old loose tea or bags and clean it, put the new tea in the cradle, put water in and fit the cradle, and then set it to go. It's not exactly a hassle but it takes more time than just rinsing your cup. So there is no real time saving to using this. Also the third point of doing a lot of tea, this is really no different to just making a pot of tea. It tastes the same and achieves the exact same thing. This machine keeps it warm for an hour but a tea cozy could achieve a similar amount of time for a fraction of the price. The other two are unique benefits though. Being woken up to a fresh cup of tea is nice, as is having herbal teas that aren't harmed by being boiled. Personally I only drink chamomile or green tea anyway so the temperature thing is no advantage to me - I like it done at 100 degrees anyway. I also rarely feel like a cup of tea as soon as I wake up anyway so that isn't much use to me. For me the main reason I wanted it is so I can make enough for 3 cups and have it keep them hot so I can drink a few cups without 3 trips to the kitchen. For this the machine does a good job, but basically means I just bought a £130 tea cozy. For most people I don't think it would be worth it. For serious tea drinkers it is probably a must have. I am somewhere in between so for me it is, 'ok'.

I bought this as an Xmas gift for my parents, they are some of the world's most frequent tea drinkers so what better present! To start with the top line summary: When used properly Sage genuinely brews the perfect tea, it's a hefty price tag for a glorified kettle but as the bloke who sold me my bed said: "think about how much of your life you spend in bed; why wouldn't you invest a small fortune?" Likewise for those people who drink several cups of tea a day I think it's fair to say this item is a worthwhile extravagance. What they loved: The keep warm setting that ensures your tea remains at the optimal temp for an hour. The automated mechanism does everything except load the tea Looks fantastic in any kitchen sturdy and durable, certainly well made Beep to notify you when it's ready What they didn't like so much: You can't fill the kettle more than 3/4 or as soon as it starts to boil it prematurely starts brewing the tea as the bubbles spill into the tea basket the measuring guide, instead of being on the front, is on the handle which seems stupid as you need to cover it to hold it under a tap. All in all, this is a niche product that the average tea drinker would probably choose to pass on in favour of something 90% as effective for a quarter of the price, but it's clear this product was not designed for the masses and it is pretty great if you are into this sort of thing. Not my cup of tea but I can see why a lot of people would love it.

We have had this Tea Maker for a few months now so feel able to review it fairly. It just happens to be the best thing since kettles were invented. We drink green tea for health reasons, but occasionally have dandelion or nettle so we ordered a second basket and lid for the heavier smelling teas. The Customer Service at Sage is excellent. Your water type does matter and we filter ours through a normal Brita jug which gives a better cup of tea, much less staining and no limescale deposits compared to water from the tap. Also, water type will affect tea strength, so do experiment. You get a packet of descaler in the box, but do buy the Tea Make Cleaner as well as it is worth it (one sachet every 3-4 months). The Keep Warm facility is excellent as it does not stew the tea. This kettle may seem an extravagance but we don't drink coffee so it compares well with coffee maker prices. Also, if you buy good quality leaf tea and want to make it properly, it does away with a separate tea pot and thermometer as well as a kettle. Now..... if only it would weight the tea as well......

My kitchen looks like a SAGE showroom. I've found all their product from breadmaker, to coffee machine. They are allvery good at what they do *but* they do need looking after *and* you need to read the manuals to get the most out of them. This is no different. Undertand how it works and be prepared to clean and service it and you'll be fine. DON'T use tapwater in this machine unless you live somewhere like Scotland or somewhere the water quality is good. Simply use good quality bottled water like Buxton or Highland spring. This will stop the build up of limescale etc. and ultimately you'll get a nicer tasting tea. The brew is simple. Follow the instructions and make sure you select the right amount of loose leaf tea for the quanitity of water. Make sure you select the correct type of tea from the brew and temperature selector and you'll get the automatic lowering of tea into the water at the right tem and then left for just the right amount of time. To be fair it is a bit of theatre but it does work very nicely and it does mean you don't forget about the tea etc. and ruin a good cup by over stewing the leaves.

I just love Breville / Sage products, they are made so well. It's not just the solid construction I'm referring to. The design is so well thought out. For instance, just take the tea basket on this thing, it is as if they etched it out of a solid block of Aluminium, no seams visible, doesn't creak when pressed. To top that, how do youattach it to the stainless steel pole it somehow magically descends and ascends from? Magnets! That is such an elegant and practical idea. They used it in their smart grinder ( love that too!) And it works so well in this one It's almost as of Jonathan Ive is designing these things... Aluminum, magnetic, beautiful and practical Then you have the auto start function that pulls our the basket when the brew is done and even keeps it warm for uptp an hour, I love it! There one touch convenience to select black, white, green, oolong, herbal.. and if you need more customization, they have an option for that too. The tea ? It is good, not " life changing"... Did you really expect that? But the convenience is fantastic! It’s been three years and it still works just fine. It’s made in China.