Customer Reviews

Hamilton Beach 40911 2-Quart Electric Iced Tea Maker

5 star:		(257)
4 star:		(63)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

I drink tea like you breath air, but I'll bet my air against your tea that this is the maker you'll want.

We had a Mr Coffee tea maker for years. It was fine at first, but increasingly problematic.

First, physical weaknesses: The pitchers crack and warp slowly but steadily, so won't last forever. You can replace them for about ten bucks, but with shipping that's half the cost of an entirely new unit. And you can't put them in the dishwasher, so you'll probably want at least several up front anyway, so that you can clean them.

Second, cleaning problems. Unlke the Hamilton Beach tea makers, the Mr Coffee bags go in the brewing housing, which has to be removed and cleaned separately from the pitcher. And if you forget to do that, you'll have yucky (even moldy) tea bags the next time you go to make tea, even if that's within two days.

Hamilton Beach instead keeps the bags' brewing area inside the pitcher itself, which you can refridgerate and prevent yuck and mold from occuring. Plus, the Mr Coffee station drips TEA on the counter as soon as you remove the pitcher, whereas the Hamilton Beach only drips WATER since the tea process is all contained in the pitcher itself.

Further, the Mr Coffee series requires that the pitcher get very close to the brew housing station, with the tea just BARELY getting into the spout, or else you'll get tea dripped on the counter WHILE brewing. That messiness increases as the pitcher begins to warp and crack. Hamilton Beach bests that both by including a pull-out tray that HOLDS the pitcher in the correct position, and by having the tea drip directly to the center of the pitcher rather than milimeters from the edge of the spout.

Above all, the Hamilton Beach series simply makes better tea. It includes a dial that allows you to make weak, medium, or strong tea, and that's all automated. The Mr Coffee series has no such setting, but requires you to "close" the brewing area for a period and then turn a dial to "open" before it starts putting tea in the pitcher. That manual step both slows down the tea production, and risks making quite the mess if you forget to go back and open the dial.

(The reviewer who used 14 bags for 2 quarts is doing something insanely wrong. Above all, they're probably using individual bags. You'll definitely want to get a few boxes of "family size" bags. I use 3 bags for 2 quarts, and it makes as fine a tea as I ever had growin' up in Georgia.)

Finally, the Mr Coffee pitcher is a large and obtrusive ROUND cylinder that takes up lots of space in the fridge, even when there's only a glass or so left in the pitcher, plus a handle that takes up excessively additional space. The Hamilton Beach pitchers are instead elongated OVAL shapes, that fit in more places in the fridge, even in the fridge door, and are *shorter* so that you can put them on a shelf with a lower overhead.

Mr. Coffee: bigger mess, more manual, more cleaning, more risk, lower longevity, and lamer tea.

Hamilton Beach: no mess, no manual revisit, easy to clean, no risk, lasts longer, better tea, and more options when you make it.

No contest!

For years we have used the Mr. Coffee Iced Tea makers and have purchased two of them. This time around we chose to get the Hamilton Beach 40911 2-qt Iced Tea Maker. Even though I/we haven't used the feature that allows you to place loose tea in the basket for brewing we totally like the Hamilton Beach method of brewing tea over the Mr. Coffee. First of all the taste (using Luzianne Family Tea bags was superior to any tea we ever brewed using the Mr. Coffee makers. Also one very large drawback with the Mr. Coffee maker is that the basket, for the bags, sets inside the reservoir and maker and most every time you brew a pitcher and remove the basket you have leakage of tea down in the makers bottom which over time makes for a very ugly looking reservoir, where you put your clean water to brew your next pitcher. Because Hamilton Beach placed the basket directly inside the Pitcher itself there is never any tea that finds its way into the bottom of the tea maker. Also due to ridges in the bottom of the Mr. Coffee maker it's usually almost impossible to totally clean the pitcher and restore it back to the clean condition at the time you first used it. This feature alone makes the Hamilton Beach a better buy over the Mr. Coffee but I thought, before my purchase, that surely the two would make equivalent tasting tea but using both Lipton and Luzianne Family Tea bags the Hamilton Beach not only brews the tea faster but the taste IS Better. On the Mr. Coffee the strength of the tea is controlled by a sliding knob on the front of the maker whereas with the Hamilton Beach it is three rigid clicks of control on the bottom of the basket (mild, medium, strong), we usually use Medium.

We enjoy "Sweet-Tea" being from the South and anyone that makes good sweet tea knows you sweeten it while it's hot at the time of brewing. Our method is to first fill the pitcher to the line and fill the reservoir and refill the pitcher to the same water level and then add 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups of sugar and stir with a whisk until very well mixed. Once the tea is brewed you have to stir the tea again but you get perfect sweet tea every-time. If you enjoy tea, even if you never considered an electric tea maker, the Hamilton Beach will be one purchase decision you will not regret. Having two Mr. Coffee makers before this Hamilton Beach I don't see myself ever purchasing another Mr. Coffee unless they make many changes to their product and even then taste is the final decision maker. I HIGHLY recommend the Hamilton Beach model and would gladly buy it again even if it was higher priced than the Mr. Coffee, it's totally worth it.

Like many other reviewers, I was moving on from a Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Maker. There were many reasons for my retiring the Mr. Coffee, most of which are mentioned in other reviews, but primarily because the little spout that dispenses tea from the brew basket on my Mr. Coffee stopped dispensing. It was about 4 years old. RIP, Mr. Coffee.

Thanks to this new iced tea maker, I did not grieve long! Based on the sensational reviews that I read here, and the fact that the reviewers noted the same problems with their Mr. Coffee's as I did, I purchased this one and received it last week. I've spent the last week perfecting the process and am totally satisfied with the product and with the tea.

Good points:
It is very easy to keep clean. Because only water goes in the tower, there's no need to worry about cleaning it with soap and water. I often felt the need to clean out the tower of the Mr. Coffee because the brew basket leaked into it, and was always careful with the cord. No such problem with this one.

Having the brew basket inside the carafe has completely eliminated the leaking I noted with the Mr. Coffee. I have Corian counters and often found the need to scrub them after brewing with the Mr. Coffee due to leaking.

As another reviewer noted, the tea is dark and vibrant as soon as dispensing starts. With the Mr. Coffee, it did not retain the water and tea long enough for brewing to truly to get underway. I always used the Mr. Coffee on the strongest brew setting just to get medium-bodied tea. Not so with this Hamilton-Beach. I use the medium and get medium tea.

The size is a plus. The water heating tower is small enough to fit in a cabinet, and the carafe is small enough to fit easily in the fridge with all the other beverages. The Mr. Coffee carafe was large and unwieldy.

My favorite feature so far with this model is that I can use loose tea in the brew basket without using a coffee filter. There is a built-in mesh filter in the brew basket. I prefer loose tea (the quality tends to be better than the tea you find in bags) and this just simplifies the brewing process for me.

All in all, I am very happy with this purchase and would recommend the Hamilton Beach Electric Iced Tea Maker to any tea lover.

I have brewed 2 or 3 pitchers of tea a week with this thing for almost a year now and it still runs just like it did on day one. It couldn't be any simpler to use, there are markings on the pitcher that tell you how much water to pour in and how much ice to add. Set it down, press a button and in a few minutes you have a fresh pitcher of iced tea. Clean up is a breeze as well.

I've had the Mr Coffee model for a couple years and have been completely satisfied/content with it. I left it at my parents over a holiday intentionally.

I moved from the Mr Coffee to the Hamilton Beach. Having that long term experience with the Mr Coffee brand made me realize very quickly how much more *thought* was put into the design of this device. Everything positive I see here I concur with. Just from reading, I was apprehensive about having the tea bag part in the lid of the pitcher. It really is a great benefit, and is still easy to empty/remove after brewing.

The plastics seem a bit higher quality, and the extendable pitcher holder makes you confident that the pitcher won't slip away from the unit while brewing.

From a taste perspective, I don't notice much of a difference. The only downfall for some may be that this is a 2 quart instead of a 3 quart pitcher. Good for small batches, not as good for larger ones.

Short version: Good looking, easy to use, stores easily, and makes great tea.
If above doesn't convince you, read on for details.
1) I chose the Hamilton Beach because I thought the shape would fit in the refrigerator easier and it does. With the pitcher storing over the base, it also fits more easily in a cabinet or moves to the back of my counter when I need the space.
2) Easy to use & no filter required - it has a built in mesh filter. Lid locks in place. Push the button on the handle and it comes off at the back hinge making clean-up a cinch.
3) It looks nice.
4) Mmm. . . Great tasting tea in minutes with no fuss.
PS. Bought one for my sister, who says she likes it better than her Mr. Coffee.

I drink a lot of iced tea in the summer, but don't like having to constantly brew it in a teapot, then chill it, etc: too much work. After seeing a friend get an iced tea maker as a gift, I read the reviews here on Amazon and based on the fact that this model got the most positive reviews, I chose it above the others--and am I glad I did! It works like a dream, and makes having fresh-brewed iced tea on hand all time so easy!

You just fill the base with water, fill the pitcher with ice, stick your tea bags in the basket, choose your brew strength, and press the button. It starts brewing instantly, and is done in about 10 minutes, immediately yielding a large pitcher of cold iced tea. (Which is a convenience when you need tea ready right before dinner or when you have a summer party and people drink so much tea that you need to make more quickly.)

I've had the unit for a month and have used it about 10 times. I have never experienced even the smallest leak of the sort that reviewers of other models complain about. It's also pretty easy to clean: there are 5 washable parts, but they wipe easily and quickly with a sponge under running water.

If I had to list drawbacks, I'd say that the plastic basket stains easily from the tea bags (but mostly washes clean--just don't let it sit or the stains will be harder to remove). Also, it's not compact: because the pitcher is flat and wide and designed to take up less space in the fridge or fit in a fridge door (a definite plus), the entire unit when brewing is very long and wide on the counter. This is not a problem if you push it close to the wall and work in front of it, and it's only for the 10 minutes or so that it's brewing.

These are minor drawbacks compared to the unit's amazing convenience and efficiency. If you drink even just one or two glasses of iced tea a day, this is not one of those kitchen gadgets that you'll use a couple of times and then relegate to the attic or the basement. You'll use it all the time and continually be amazed that it cost less than $20 but works so well!

I like this tea maker a lot, but it really doesn't brew the 3-5 minutes necessary for full flavor. I'm making fruity herbal teas and even on the "Strong" setting, the tea is pale and tasteless.

But I found a solution to making stronger tea. Rather than using tea bags or making my own tea bags (to make cleanup easier), I'm using loose tea or pouring in the contents of opened tea bags. As the herbal leaves swell with water, they block the built-in filter, therefore slowing down the drip time. That gives the tea more time to brew, and results in a much more flavorful tea.

We have been a Mr. Coffee iced tea maker household for years. We've purchased many and also purchased many replacement pitchers. They make wonderful tea (guests have commented how good it is) but the pitchers crack at the spout from the heat of the tea making process. We decided to try this hamilton beach model after reading the fabulous reviews and ordered two. We opened one to try it and made quite a few batches of regular and decaf iced tea.

The design and execution of this maker are quite nice. Streamlined and sleak maker and pitcher, I really wanted to like this because it looked great. Better design like a slide which pulls out to hold the pitcher in place and the tea has no way to drip outside the pitcher.

The problem is that the iced tea it makes is not very good. At first, I thought it was weak and added more bags, which made stronger tea but without the tannic taste that tea should have. I am surmising that the water is not as hot as the Mr. Coffee and so the tea does not actually "steep".

We are discarding the opened one and returning the other. After deciding that we would go back to Mr. Coffee, I have found that they now have a new redesigned pitcher meant to go in the dishwasher and am guessing that it will not be prone to the cracks the others were. Back to great tea!

Makes excellent Iced tea quickly! Easy to use, convenient shape for refrigerator storage.