Barenostrum

Amanda says:

There isn’t much of a point to one because the tea bag is so convenient and widespread (while a “coffee bag” seems to face insuperable technical difficulties and is a niche product). The only thing an automatic coffee machine provides that a tea bag doesn’t is hot water, and you can always run hot water through the coffee maker and put tea bags in the pot (not the basket where you put the coffee!) to make tea.

Another obstacle to an automatic tea machine is water temperature. Coffee is best prepared at one temperature no matter what the coffee (not that autodrip machines reach it, but that’s a different problem). Tea, on the other hand, is best prepared at any temperature from 212 F for CTC black teas to 140 F for gyokuro green tea. Tea devotees often use a thermometer to get the water temperature right. Unless an automatic tea machine using loose-leaf tea (which is most of the point of an automatic tea machine) can produce a wide range of temperatures with precise control, lovers of Asian tea won’t go for it and casual drinkers will drop a tea bag into a microwaved mug like before.

However, BonJour has overcome all those obstacles to create an automatic tea machine that satisfies all tea needs. It offers customizable brewing time and brewing temperature, along with all the standard bells and whistles for a coffee maker. The only problem is that it retails for $300. People do spend triple that on espresso machines, but it’s still too rich for my blood. Once gourmet tea makers come down to the $30 range I’ll give them another look.

If you’re less fussy, there is a device called the “teasmade”, which is basically a teamaker attached to an alarm clock. Or the Mrs. Tea if you can find one (the company ceased production a few years ago).