Customer Reviews

Finum Tea Control 0.8, Black

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Lots of little things make this not work as well as you might hope, and ultimately make it nothing more than a gimmick.

1: The holes are too few to get a good circulation around the tea leaves
2: The too-few holes are also too large and let lots of leaf bits through, more than my mesh filter equivalent
3: The too-few, too-large holes get stems and leaves stuck in them and are difficult to clean, a problem made even worse by:
4: The edges of all the plastic bits are sharp right angles, making cleaning the inside of the filter literally painful.
5: The little bit by the top of the filter where the black(or colored) plastic meets the clear plastic gets a tea leaf stuck in it every single time I make tea.
6: The "control" mechanism, by nature of the flimsy plastic bits, constantly misses a large number of tea leaves that just float around anyway. Defeating the purpose of the whole device, or at least minimizing the benefits
7: The tea leaves that do get cordoned off by the "control" mechanism still sit in hot water unless you pull the whole filter mechanism out, meaning your next infusion has all the bitterness you might have saved from your first infusion.

I'm replacing it with another regular teapot with a mesh strainer. Too much gimmick and hassle for not much payoff.

I've been drinking tea my whole life and have recently become somewhat of a tea snob. I've been looking for a teapot with an infuser for a while. When I saw that this teapot had a way to stop the steeping process, I was enthralled.

I drink tea throughout the day and I drink the lighter Chinese teas. I don't like the bitterness of tea that has been oversteeped. The greatest thing about the teapot is that it really does keep the tea warm for 2-3 hrs in room temperature. For boiling hot tea, I usually keep my thermos handy with boiling hot water and pour 2-3 cups of hot water into the teapot at a time. (Good tea leaves are reusuable for at least 5-6 pots in a day.) I'm so happy to have such a aesthetically pleasing teapot on my desk at work and not having to use the lower grade tea in the teabags anymore. The infuser is also large enough to allow leaves to fully open and get the full flavor. The tea balls work somewhat but this works perfectly.

As a coffee man, I have precious little experience in brewing good-tasting hot tea. Consequently, when I wanted to expand my hot beverage horizons a bit, I was left with a cup full of the bitter leaves of disappointment--using a regular teapot, I can't make a good cup to save my life. I bought this product from my local coffee shop to see if it could offer any help in the way of making tea.

Immediately after removing the pot from the box, I could see evidence of quality. The glassware reminded me of the stuff we used in my organic chemistry lab, which is to say that I found it sturdy and aesthetically pleasing. Its instructions explained (in clear but translated English) a fairly simple process. The first pot of tea I made with it was as beautiful in taste as it was in color.

I can't speak for experienced brewers, but for a novice to intermediate who wants to make the process a bit easier, this seems to be a good way to go.

This is a lovely teapot -- good design, nice capacity. And as another reviewer said, it does not drip from the spout when pouring. I take one star off the features because you have to pour the hot water in slowly. The holes in the infuser are very small, so if the infuser has a pot's worth of tea leaves in it the water doesn't filter through very quickly. On the other hand, this also means the leaves don't escape the infuser, so it's a reasonable trade-off.

Something to consider is that because of the shape of the spout (it goes almost to the bottom of the pot) the water rises up the spout as the pot fills, which means the first tea you pour out is really weak from the spout. You can pour it back in and get a cup of fully steeped tea, but it's just something to take into account.

Bottom line though, is this pot is just too fragile for everyday use. The glass is very thin. We were pretty careful, but within a month the top edge was chipped.

It would probably be okay for occasional use, so two stars.

Smart alternative press design, however, being that the steeped leaves remain in the pot after steeping it's important that it actually works. I don't know whether my product is defective or not, but after twisting the knob to end steeping I'll leave the pot with half left for maybe 30 minutes. When I return it almost always tastes oversteeped and bitter. I don't see any obvious leaks, but judging by the size of the small holes it doesn't seem like it would take much to leak into the main pot. This is disappointing because I see no obvious way for me to fix this by myself. I also emailed Finum for information on the kind of plastic they used for the infuser and never received a reply. This is my only teapot. I really tried to like it, but if it ruins your other cup, what's the use?

edit: extremely disappointed, just made a full pot with the door closed. This doesn't work.

Not only does the filter part work very nicely, as advertised, but - and this is critical for the Irish member of our household- the teapot pours beautifully. You would be surprised at how many teapots have been rejected in our house for poor pouring! Very simple idea, well executed. Give it to the tea drinker in your life...

The product makes very good tea, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to make hot tea. My only small issue with it is that the instructions warn against sudden cooling of the glass. This is a bit inconvenient for me since I use the tea pot to make ice tea. I let the tea and the pot cool for a little bit before putting them in the refrigerator.

I adore this teapot. The leaves have lots of room to steep, you get to watch them unfurl, and once you turn the lid to stop the brewing, your tea stays tasty. One pot can last me a while without getting bitter or over-steeped, and it holds the heat quite well. Easy to clean, too.

This is the best brew method I've found, so far. Brew with a timer and you get perfection for white, green, black, and herbal teas. This is the answer for those seeking really good tea!

after using this tea maker for some years and, since some of my friends appreciate full-leaf teas as much as I do, I have even purchased it as a present from time to time. The Tea Control mechanism allows me to brew the tea at home and in my office without any spillage, avoiding an otherwise awkward handling of strainers or teabags. And the taste of my teas couldn't be better.