Customer Reviews

2QT Elec Iced Tea Maker

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ok, I have had a Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Maker for years...Probably 6 or so. My Grandparents had one as my Grandpa loved iced tea. So for my 18th birthday, they gave me one. Its so easy, and makes good iced tea. I read some of the reviews and this is what I have to say about some comments...

I have made iced tea on the stove, and yes its good but that is also time consuming. The pitchers are dishwasher safe, and so are the lids. A review mentioned that you have to fill it up with ice. Thats what the instructions say, but fill up water to the ice line, and it works just as good. The point of the ice is to make it cold right away. I have dont it that way, and I had to add more ice or water like the person said. So I use all water, no ice and it works just fine. Its warm, but add ice and it cools down. This way, you can also add sugar and it will disolve while its brewing...Makes for some good sweet tea.

Anyways I was looking at getting one for my sister who had one, but it got lost in a cross country move. She loves her too!

This is great! Its a great wedding gift too. I reccommend this very much.

I have owned 2 of them one for 11 years. I bought another one because it was just as cheap to buy a new one as to buy replacement pitchers. My suggestion to people is don't put the ice in the pitcher use water and use ice in your glass to cool down even more. My family drinks at least a pitcher a day if not two especially on summer days. It is quick and easy and I love mine. If you have water staying in your unit run some vinegar through the unit it cleans out all the minerals and then run a couple of pitchers of water through. Cleans it out every time. Hope you found this helpful.

Mr. Coffee's Iced Tea maker is an appliance that I only recently acquired. But in a short time, I have become as addicted to this device as I have to the caffeine contained in the beverage it produces. The reason? Simplicity and speed. With this appliance, all you need are three things found in most any tea lovers kitchen: water, ice, and of course, tea bags or loose tea. You don't need measuring cups. All you do is fill the pitcher to the line marked for water; pour the water into the reservoir; fill the empty pitcher with ice up to the line marked for ice; place 6 to 10 regular- size tea bags in the brewing basket; and press the start button. In about 5 minutes, you will have 2 quarts of freshly brewed iced tea, chilled and ready to drink.

On the negative side, there are a few things about this device that could stand to be improved. First of all, there is no sugar dispenser. You can add sugar directly to the brewing basket (sprinkled over the tea bags) but this can get messy and it doesn't guarantee that all of the sugar will dissolve and make its way into the pitcher. Second, you need to know that this appliance doesn't offer any means to control the steeping. The water is heated in the reservoir and is then transferred to the brew basket where it then soaks through the tea bags and drips into the pitcher. There is no way to control the steeping and allow the water to soak up more tea. And third, the plastic pitcher is prone to staining and needs to be cleaned quickly.

Overall, though, this is still a very good appliance. I used to snicker when I would see this device in a store because I couldn't understand why anyone would waste his/her money on such an unnecessary piece of equipment. But now that I have one, I can understand why this appliance is popular and continues to sell so well. It makes a great addition to any kitchen where iced tea is a popular beverage. It's simple, easy to use, and it brews a full pitcher of tea in minutes. Now that I have one, I would never give it up!

I've had my "Mr. Tea" for 5 years, and I love it. Not that "regular" iced tea is difficult to make, but this thing takes something easy and makes it easier. You add water, teabags and ice, and in a few minutes you have a nice big pitcher of chilled iced tea.

Some tips:

Several cups of ice are needed per pitcher, so an automatic ice maker is a big plus.

For sweet tea with no stirring, I put some sugar into the pitcher, then brew the tea. I then add the ice to the pitcher after the sugar dissolves in the warm tea.

For quick spiced tea, add spices to the brew basket along with the tea bags. (I put ground spices into a coffee filter to keep the tea from coming out gritty. You can also use whole spices like cloves, cardamom pods and cinnamon sticks.)

Sugar (or anything sticky, like fruit) added directly to the brew basket can really gum up the works. Put that stuff into the pitcher instead.

I received this Iced Tea Maker as a gift from a friend. I have to say that I always made iced tea the old fashioned way--and yes, it's not terribly difficult to do.

The real plus to this little gadget is that it makes the clean up so easy. Everything is self-contained. Pour the water in, and it dispenses directly into the pitcher.

If you do not have an automatic ice maker, I really recommend getting an ice bucket for your freezer. You'll need it, because you need to add about 4-5 trays worth of ice per pitcher of iced tea. This is probably the biggest downside. Like other reviews have mentioned, you can just fill the pitcher up with water. You just have to be careful that the pitcher doesn't overflow or back up into the steeping basket.

I also highly recommend using filtered water, as I think the resulting tea tastes much better. However, that is just a matter of personal preference, and it probably doesn't really affect the performance.

I've owned one of these for years. I love iced tea, but rarely made it because it's such a pain to make...until a friend gave me this appliance.
Now, there's always iced tea in my fridge--and much superior to the instant stuff you get at fast food places.
This appliance is simple to use: Fill pitcher to line, pour into heater, put tea into steeper and push button. After a few minutes, you have concentrated hot tea. Add ice and water, or just add water and refrigerate as I do.
Inexpensive and works well.

I have had this tea maker for about a month and can't stop using it. It is simple to have freshly brewed iced tea. The only draw back is that it only makes 2 quarts at a time. I have found that if you add sugar to the seeping basket, you can have sweet tea.

Pros:

-Tea Bags are in the cup at the top offering good steeping and easy disposal
-No need to boil your own water and make iced the old fashioned way

Cons:
-The water container only holds a certain amount of water. You have to put lots of ice in the container - then the hot water melts it and you have to add more iced just to fill up the pitcher
-Not dishwasher safe
-The sugar issue - I like really sweet iced tea so I have to put it in the pitcher after the tea is brewed

I'm still iffy if I am going to take this back or not.. (It is available at Linens and Things even if Amazon does not have it). But the old way of making tea I have the tea bags in the pitcher and have to scoop them out. I'm iffy about this one.

Iced tea is SO easy to make. You boil the water, put in some tea bags wait fifteen minutes and add to cold water. TADA Iced tea. Now with this extra piece of crap taking up space in my cupboard I can pull it out, waste electricity and have iced tea in the same amount of time as if I did it without the maker. This is totally useless. If you can't figure out how to make iced tea on your own without a maker, i just feel sorry for you. It is the most useless thing I've ever owned and that includes my own funnel cake maker YIKES!!!