Zarafina Tea Maker Suite with Ceramic Tea Pots, Cups, and Serving Tray

Zarafina Tea Maker Suite with Ceramic Tea Pots, Cups, and Serving Tray | Only for the Serious Tea drinker

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Zarafina Tea Maker...

	Zarafina Tea Maker Suite with Ceramic Tea Pots, Cups, and Serving Tray Zarafina Zarafina, 2006 average customer review:based on 63 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Excellent Tea Maker for Most Types of Tea

This is a wonderful, although expensive, gadget that has made my life a little easier. I drink a lot of tea (herbal teas (tisanes), red teas (Rooibos) and traditional black teas), both loose and bagged, and the Zarafina works well with all of them. I had been looking for something to make tea making more convenient and looked at several different products before deciding on this one.

Some of the other products I looked at were a couple of carafe, kettle and tray systems (no timer to remind me to take out the tea bags, I constantly forget), tea presses (same problem), a tea maker that dripped water through the tea (not appropriate for tea), pod systems (can't use my own tea) and another tea brewing system. Comparing the features of the two final candidates, I selected this one because it has more options for temperature, type and strength control, a sleeker design and all of the parts are easily replaceable through Zarafina. I balked for a couple of weeks at the price, but finally took the plunge. And I am SO glad I did.

I make and drink several pots of tea a day, and this makes it so easy and convenient. If it weren't so expensive, I'd own two of them, one for home and one for work. As it is, I bought another tea pot ($14.99) and just carry the tea maker back and forth to work every day. I've shared some of the tea with my co-workers, and they agree it is some of the best tea they have ever had.

Cleaning is a snap, either just rinsing between uses or the occasional wash in mild soap and water. There is a small amount of residue that builds up on the bottom of the steeping chamber when I brew a more viscous blend, but the stainless steel bottom is easily cleaned with a delicate scrub sponge.

Zarafina has addressed the problem of water inadvertently getting into the electrical connection by proving a cleaning cap for the connector. You can get one free by calling or emailing Zarafina. Thank you Zarafina!

*UPDATE* The steeping chamber and infuser basket were getting pretty dingy and brown despite trying a wide variety of cleaning methods - until I decided to try the Mr. Clean® Magic Eraser on them. The Mr. Clean® Magic Eraser removed all the tea staining from the transparent plastic without scratching, and returned the metal and mesh sections to shining silver with just a wipe. My tea maker now looks like new again.

*UPDATE*2* Had an odd leak I couldn't figure out - somehow tea was getting into the bottom part of the tea maker and leaking out the bottom. A bit of research found a tea leaf stuck in the dispenser in the bottom of the steeping chamber. It didn't cause the steeping chamber to leak, but it did cause some of the tea to shoot out at an odd angle when dispensing. Poked it out with a toothpick, rinsed well and the tea maker is now functioning normally again.

I do use tea filer bags with most of my loose tea because no matter what kind of loose tea I use, some always seemed to escape because of the gap in the top of the infuser basket lid around the string cutter. Tea filter bags solved that problem handily.

*UPDATE*3* Magic Eraser Duo Pack works even better for cleaning the Zarafina. Also for some reason the Duo doesn't shred like the original Magic Eraser so they last longer.

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Only for the Serious Tea drinker

Brewqs a fool-proof two cups of tea. Black tea comes out smooth and without any of the bitter or acidic undertones one can get from an improperly, or hastily brewed cup of tea. Although seemingly scientific in method, you wait not long for your tea to dispense. I recommend this if you drink tea regularly and use filtered water to brew the tea.

Here's another five-star review to bolster the rest...

Today, I had a chance to use my new Zarafina, and it is superb!!!

There's a lot to be said about brewing the proper cuppa.

When I was in Great Britain, I was very surprised on how HOT the tea water was -- absolutely scorching!!! Took at least five minutes for me to venture a sip without scalding the tongue. But the high water temperature really does make a difference, especially with loose tea.

I've brewed water on my own and used the heated water from the office water cooler -- the tea was nothing compared to what the Zarafina did. What a HUGE difference.

I do like the 16 oz capacity -- I like to drink various teas a day... depends on what my stomach and brain are recommending.

A large part of my tea collection are the fruit melanges -- strictly fruit, some herbals, but a lot of dried fruit. The tea company recommended brewing times of 7-10 minutes. I used two heaping spoons and kicked the Zarafina on loose black tea mode and the intensity to STRONG. Perfect!! And it did not take that much longer to brew.

What I did like most is that the teapot included hardly dribbles -- I cannot afford a multi-colored stained desk.

So if your tastes in tea are that immense, this is the perfect system to have. And a fresh brewed cup is certainly better than what comes out of the thermos -- not to knock those who do -- It's just that I tend to break those thermos bottles in a day, but not the pot. Go figure.

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Absolutely love it...wish it made more tea!

I got this for my husband, who is an avid tea enthusiast, for Christmas. This is a fun, convenient and handsome appliance. Even the packaging is so tastefully done. The teapot and cups are really beautiful and the machine itself looks nice on our counter. More importantly, we buy really high-quality loose teas, and the Zarafina makes perfectly brewed, delicious tea. We've tried it on both the green and oolong settings, and it's just great. It's so convenient to fill it up, push the button, then go about your business as the little tea maker heats up the water, infuses the leaves, and pours it into the teapot. My only "complaint" about this dandy little machine is that it does not make enough tea! It can only make two cups (literally, 16 ounces) in one cycle. So if you drink a lot like we do, you'll find yourself repeating the process everytime you brew tea. Still, it's so easy to do and it's so fascinating to watch it work that we have gotten over this minor issue.

I'm sorry to say, however, that we had used our tea maker a total of three times when something seems to have broken and it would not hold the water in the steeping chamber. You fill it up, slide in the pot, and the water immediately pours out into the pot - even before you can add the tea or even plug the machine in. Not to worry, though! The lovely customer service rep at Zarafina actually pulled out a machine to follow along with me as I explained my problem on the phone, and since neither she nor her supervisor could figure out why I was having this problem, she concluded that she should send me a totally new machine. It's so rare to encounter this kind of service, and even though it's a bit troubling that the machine broke after only three uses, I'll chalk it up to a fluke with this particular machine. The best part is that I don't have to ship my original machine back, which means I have a duplicate set of teapot and cups so my husband can take the machine back and forth to work, just as another reviewer suggested.

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Extra unit

Great tea maker.After a couple of weeks of use when I poured the water in it, it would immediately run into the cup.The rep said they would send me a new unit because of this leak.So they sent a new one 2 days later...in the mean time the faulty one started working again which I am still using to this day. They also said they would send a UPS sticker to me for shipping the first one which I never received.So after a couple of weeks I called them and they said to keep the unit and just use it for parts in the future.When the second unit came I used it one time to see if it worked in which it did and put it back in the box. So now I have 2 of these and will sell the second one they shipped out to me for half price ($75.00) if anyone is interested.If I don't receive any responses I will just sit on both of these knowing I have 2 tea makers for the $149.00 price.

Thanx
David

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