Great tea maker, doesn't make tea
585156
This is a great machine. It heats the water properly, the basket of tea leaves goes down and returns after the correct steeping time, but there's no tea in the pot. Only faintly tinted water.

I can't figure it out, especially since there are so many good reviews.

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The manufacturer's customer service is excellent. They determined that this particular tea maker is defective and they are replacing it.
1997083
Great for boiling water for tea or coffee but do remember that there is NO whistle. got caught once or twice with water almost gone! The skinny spout is wonderful for delicately pouring water.
4368177
This works great for keeping water warm/hot for tea.  However, It has no on/off switch or start/shut of timer.  So you must be careful, to un-plug it after use and then plug it in for the next use.
3243542
I was so excited to get this little item for my office. It works well.  Heats up water to the desired temp in a jiffy.  The tea basket is easy to fill/use/clean.  And the problem?  The pot gives of a metallic aftertaste and taints the taste of the tea.  I thought it might just be a new appliance thing but I've been using it off/on for the past year and the aftertaste lingers.  It is too bad. Otherwise a great product.
2397324
This does indeed make better rice than doing it on the stovetop and I was very close to giving it 5 stars. The rice came out perfect the first time. It takes a bit over 30 minutes for fluffy perfectly cooked white  rice.  It is a less expensive appliance than some of the fuzzy logic rice cookers and is made in China.  Do note that the inner pot is as advertised: coated with some type of non-stick that must be handled gently.  That is probably the weak point of the whole appliance.  It also has a pressure valve inside at the top which needs rinsed out after use.  The lid does not detach and must be wiped clean after use.  The appliance emits significant steam and should not be used under a cabinet.  It did squirt some liquid out during cycling but this was easily wiped off.  I have not tried the little steamer tray but hope to us it for scallops or salmon and vegetables in the future.  The little recipe book is nicely illustrated but nearly useless for me.  I live rurally in the USA and most of the ingredients are "available at your local Asian market".  Well, probably the nearest one for me would be a 4 to 6 hour journey one way.  The recipes do look tempting and healthy.

I mainly wanted a cooker sized adequately  for 2 people that had both brown and white rice settings.  This fills the bill.  I note that according to the directions in order to use the steamer tray (to allow room) you cannot do a full pot of rice.  This is not a problem for the 2 of us.  There is no timer on this appliance so you have to be there to start it manually.  The upside of this is that I doubt there is a battery in the appliance.  Most of the other fuzzy logic cookers have a battery to run the timer.  This battery can only be replaced by returning the entire appliance to the manufacturer.  (Talk about planned obsolescence!). As this cooker has no timer, we won't have to worry about that.  This appliance does not beep when done but does switch to keep warm automatically after a white rice setting.  Also a light on the front indicates when it has switched to keep warm.

This pot has a slow cook setting for things like stews or soups.  This is not a slow cooker in the standard American sense as it only cooks for 2 hours according to the directions.  I have not tried this setting yet.

The rice you get from this will spoil you for other methods of cooking rice.  The last star was omitted because of the non-stick coated pan that seems to need VERY careful handling and the lid which is not removable making cleaning a bit problematic.  I would whole heartedly recommend this to those wanting a great tasting rice at lesser expense than some other models of Asian rice cookers.
3268496
i too looked high and low for the perfect tea pot.  this one was my second try at ordering one- the first was very nice but ended up being way too big when i got it.  this little pot is beautiful in shape/design, heavy, flat bottomed, heats quickly, and as others have said, makes a very unique sound when it reaches boil- pleasant, not harsh.  some have mentioned that the whistle didn't work/stopped working.  this happened to me also after about two weeks, but a slight tightening of the phillips screw under the lid is the fix- the whistle sound comes through the lid, not the spout.  also, i used tap water for awhile but quickly got white reside in the pot. cleared that right up with a soak in vinegar, and started using filtered water and it is staying clean and shiny now.  would give 5 stars but not until i see how the inside seam (which holds the bottom to the rest of the pot) holds up against rust, leaks, etc. over time, since with this kind of product and price point, i expect it to last a very long time.

EDIT:  ok, i have been -again- struggling to make the thing whistle on a consistant basis.  before buying this, i had been heating water in a plain old pan, but forgot it on the burner one too many times, and hence this order....

after almost giving up and dropping the stars from 4 to 1, i found a similar looking kettle on ANOTHER seller's site that informed that you must have the water level inside COVER the holes inside to the spout.  i just did this, and it whistles... fyi, the whistle does not scream, it only hums quietly, like a very distant train.
3844862
My wife believes that we have had this Back to Basics iced tea maker for about 10 years now. We purchased it way back then from Target. About a year ago the glass pitcher broke through no fault of the maker. My wife simply dropped it onto the floor. All the same, the pitcher was somewhat fragile as most glass tends to be. However, since we have had great usage out of this product and the pitcher broker due to user error, I will rate this maker at 5 stars. We love it!

I haven't yet found a great replacement glass pitcher but I'm not looking hard. What I have found, however, is a translucent plastic, 1-gallon, 10.25" tall Rubbermaid pitcher with a removable top that sells for under $4 at our local Walmart.

With this 1 gallon pitcher I have adjusted our tea bag usage to 4 family sized bags which each are intended to product one quart of tea. I then measure out 2/3 of a gallon of water in the pitcher (it has quart markings) and place about 1/2 of that in the iced tea maker and the balance remains in the pitcher for the brewing process which takes about 8 minutes with auto-shutoff. When I come back, I top off the pitcher to the one gallon mark and it is ready to drink. Quite easy.

The pitcher is easy to clean and can fit in the lower rack of our dishwasher. We place the plastic top in the top rack for safety.

I must say that the Rubbermaid pitcher fits almost perfectly under the dispensing arm of the tea maker. It is slight cockeyed but with no possibility whatsoever of falling over. The pitcher's base fits over the indentation in the maker's base where the glass pitcher would sit but this is no problem. The pitcher sits there very nicely and there is no chance of tea being spurted over the top sides of the pitcher.

I'll keep my eyes out for an appropriate glass pitcher but I'm in no hurry. For parties, we can immediately transfer the brewed tea to other glass pitchers that may not work for the Back to Basics iced tea maker but are nicer looking. Otherwise, I put the Rubbermaid pitcher with its top on in the refrigerator. FYI, I go through about 1 gallon of tea per day at a cost of about 30 cents per gallon.

FYI, here is a link to the Rubbermaid pitcher on Amazon.com:&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Rubbermaid-Clear-Pitcher-1-Gallon/dp/B00D8ORE2C/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Rubbermaid Clear Pitcher, 1 Gallon</a>
547608
very nice appliance- good clean look- wish you could set the maximum temp on it- but good to control temp for tea vs. coffee-
4691677
I picked this tea maker up at a local Linens & Things going out of business sale on a whim.  I had fond memories of a Krups tea maker I'd owned in the 1980s which made 32 beautiful ounces of tea, and since I kept breaking the glass pots I wasn't quite sure where the actual Krups machine had ended up.

Note that after buying the Zarafina I did some rummaging and found my old Krups machine, and found someone on ebay selling replacement carafes.  So I ordered one.  Now today I am looking on Amazon and I see a machine called the "TriniTea" which looks identical to my Krups machine:  I highly recommend that one for reasons I will get to below.

First of all any kind of tea maker like this is going to be a bit of a nuisance because of all the separate parts:  the part that holds the tea, the water chamber, the pot, lids for the tea part, water chamber and pot...you can see that there is a lot of faff going on when you use one of these things.

And for that reason alone I veto the Zarafina.  (My husband took it to work and makes tea in his office with it.)  It's just too much work for the very small amount of tea you get out of it.  Two cups of tea is not enough.  The Krups/TriniTea machines make four or 5 good-sized mugs at a shot, and for a big tea-drinking family like we are, that's worth fussing with the machine for.  (It's even worse when my English inlaws come to visit...tea nonstop, morning noon and night!)

Another difference between the two machines is that on the Zarafina you select whether your tea is bagged or loose...you select whether it's white, black, oolong, green, whatever...and you select whether you like it mild, medium or strong.  The Krups/TriniTea machine just lets you set a little dial timer for how long you want the tea to steep.  Seems much simpler to me.

The Zarafina is a solidly-built and attractive setup but it costs a lot for something that only makes 2 cups of tea at a time.  I wouldn't buy it again.  I emailed Zarafina asking them to make a larger-capacity machine and got the canned "Thanks for the suggestion" email.  We'll see.
1221525
I love this coffee, tea maker. We have used this same pot for several years and never a problem. We use paper filters. I cut 1/2 to 1" off of the top to fit. My husband just uses his full size. Works fine. I bought a red one and a white one. I think I would like to have this black one. This little pot is wonderful. This is the first review I have ever written, but wanted to say how nice it is. And it is small enough to travel with you.
720509
A solid Teapot, however, it doesn't get five stars since the tea leaf holder and press are actually plastic made.  I had an older press which I was able to use inside of this one.
1570864
OK, so what the box doesn't tell you is that you can actually add the loose leaf tea into the tea maker after it heats the water to let it steep. The tea maker has a filter that doesn't let the tea leaves go into the mug while pearing. I did that and found it way better then using another container to steep and go through the hassle of straining the tea. It's just boil, steep, and pour. Love it!!!
1217319
Plus is it makes great tea, but the glass pitcher BREAKS  and cost as much a whole new maker.  There needs to be a plastic pitcher that would work.
3062040
I love this coffee maker, the only thing I don't like is that once the water side gets hot, it just keeps boiling until it is out of water. So if you making tea you have to shut it off until you are ready for another cup.
1304423
I use this for tea only since I have a large coffee maker for coffee and don't like mixing the tea leaves and coffee grounds in the same dispenser. The last one we had lasted for a couple of years and then conked out. Works fast and makes the tea nice and hot. If you're a tea purist and need your leaves brewed for a certain time at a certain temperature, then this isn't for you. You fill your cup with water, pour it in the top, add your tea or coffee to the swing out filter, close it and turn it on. Brews in about 4 minutes and you can grab it and go. The plastic cup that comes with it seems more durable if you have a choice for the same price.
3886532
Got this as a gift for my mom and we used it Christmas morning to make tea. The only issue I found is that it makes enough for 2 cups, and if you're only making it for yourself, then by the time you get to pour the second cup the tea is overbrewed. And cleaning it is a little bit of a hassle. Overall we still liked it though.
4344563
I got mine second hand as a gift and it worked great for the year I had it until this weekend when it stopped heating the water.  From the other reviews here it sounds like this is a common problem AND that the unit contains BPA which I wasn't aware of.  As a bonus, the company has gone out of business so there's no replacing or repairing it so I'll probably end up selling the non-mechanical parts piecemeal so those with working units can use the spare cups, kettle, and tea strainer.

If not for the company being out of business and the BPA, I would've given it a higher rating.  It made great tea.