Yes, you read that right. My Adagio triniTea has officially given up the ghost. It started yesterday morning when it wouldn't decant all the water from the heating chamber to the steeping chamber, and ended last night when the steeping chamber refused, despite all coaxing, to give up it's brew into the carafe. Ironically, it's been two years to the month since I bought this handy little machine, and it's served me well with no complaints all that time (including twice daily use for the past several months). So while I'm somewhat sad to see it go, I don't feel like it was a waste of time or counter space at all. It might be fixable, but I'm not really sure I want to spend the time/effort on it. And while the space was well-used, I'd like those few inches on my counter back to do other things with now.
I've decided not to replace it either. Despite the convenience factor, it still never brewed tea as well as other, non-plastic vessels. If ever there comes another tea machine that steeps without plastic coming in contact with the water or leaves, I'll consider trying it. But for now, I'm going back to steeping in teapots and cups. Granted, this takes a little more planning, but I've been "training" myself to make tea before work and at lunch (instead of at work) for the past few months, so this morning when I got up, and knew I had to put the kettle on, it wasn't really any big deal. I just planned accordingly for more involvement in the tea-making process. As you can see above, I just steeped my tea this morning (Harney & Son's "Florence") in my trusty stainless-steel lined travel mug with a metal basket, and while it was a bit strong (I'm out of practice with this method, apparently), it worked just fine. I'll repeat the process at lunch (maybe even squeeze in a cup of Matcha, since I'm heating up the kettle anyways).I considered buying an electric kettle, and may still at some point. But for now, this works just fine, and doesn't take up any more counter space.
In other news, I ordered my tea gifts last week - Harney & Son's tins of Holiday (black tea) and White Christmas (white tea). Everyone seems to like H&S teas, even if they aren't "connoisseurs", so they're usually a safe bet for stocking stuffers & small gifts. I have a couple of the small "tag-a-long" tins coming too, just in case something pops up that I need a gift for.
What tea gifts are you giving for Christmas this year?
I gave home-prepared teas to family several Christmases ago. I enjoyed the experience but don't have time to prepare the teas this year.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you can start a holiday tea exchange among tea bloggers...
Did you try contacting Adagio about it? You might be able to send it in for a replacement. It's worth a shot.
ReplyDeleteWow, Georgia - homemade tea blends? I've never done that (don't really think I have the time), but it sounds like a wonderful gift!
ReplyDeleteMaybe next year, if I can keep this blog rolling that long, I'll think about the holiday tea exchange. Sounds like a great idea, but a lot of work too (I've run exchanges before on forums, and it's not all that easy). :-)
Rachel, thanks for the suggestion. The fact is, I'm trying to cut my plastic usage down, for both health and environmental reasons. The triniTea, handy as it is, is almost all plastic in construction, and it has a plastic brew basket that really doesn't do as well with brewing the tea as glass, ceramic, or clay. So while I may be able to get a replacement, I'm choosing not to - instead, I'll stick with non-plastic brewing utensils (I even found an all stainless steel brewing travel mug that I'll post about later). Better for me, better for the earth, better for taste (in my opinion). :-)
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI was looking at your tea blog and wondering if you would consider blogging about a new project/website we have. www.52teas.com is a project of Zoomdweebie’s Tea (www.zoomdweebies.com) where “We’re Nerdy About Tea!” Zoomdweebie’s is a true microblender of teas. We have over 200 varieTEAs that we blend, flavor and package by hand on site in our shop in Wichita, KS. In order to showcase our blending talents, we have created 52teas.com where we are creating a different limited edition custom blend tea every week. The best part is, we are asking our customers to sign on to our forums and tell us what THEY want us to blend. So we really are, “Suggested by you; blended, flavored and packaged by us.” All of these short-run tea blends are available on the website for just $7 for 2-ounces (20-25 cups) including shipping to anywhere in the U.S. We also offer six week, twelve week, six month and full year Tea-of-the-Week plans which customers can sign up for and receive our Tea-of-the-Week in the mail every week.
I believe that what we are doing is unique and interesting and that tea drinkers everywhere would be interested in hearing about it. We are still a small company and don’t have the resources to do a lot of advertising to share our products and services with tea drinkers, so I am sending out a few emails to some tea bloggers and asking you for a little editorial consideration. Anything you can do for us would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You,
Frank Horbelt
Zoomdweebie’s Tea
52teas.com
Hi!
ReplyDeleteWe're here to invite you to visit our tea blog, "From Black to Green and All In Between":
http://teaquilibrium.blogspot.com/
We hope you enjoy it!
~The Teaquilibrium Team