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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 405 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
548 of 557 found the following review helpful:
 Perfect tea for this Georgia boy Jun 07, 2006
By Ellis Godard
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!
114 of 114 found the following review helpful:
We made not only the right choice but the Best Choice! Nov 03, 2006
By Gary B. Kendrick
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.
60 of 61 found the following review helpful:
YAY! May 09, 2007
By Luna Zee
"Luna"
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.
30 of 31 found the following review helpful:
Great iced tea maker Feb 15, 2006
By Bill Bibly
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.
29 of 31 found the following review helpful:
Don't know what you're missing Apr 11, 2007
By THATCH
"RST"
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.
See all 405 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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The
Importance Of Lighting In Interior Design
by Jessica Ackerman
Everyone knows how important
paint color, furniture choices and artwork are to
interior design. One aspect of design that is often
overlooked, however, is lighting. Lighting not only
affects the brightness of the room, but it can also
change the way a paint color looks, cast shadows in ways
that make the room seem smaller and have an impact on
the presentation of art work.
There is no light like
natural light. If you are buying, building or
remodeling, opt for as much natural light as possible.
Oversized windows and skylights are two ways to get the
most natural light. Of course, not everyone is in the
position to be able to do that, so you'll have to work
with what you have.
How much natural light do
you get in your room? If the room in question faces
north, you won't get as much natural sunlight as you
would in a southern facing room. Rooms that face south
get bright, natural light throughout the day. Rooms that
face east will only have good natural light in the
morning hours and western facing rooms will have the
most light during the afternoon.
Once you are familiar
with how much natural light is in each room, you'll be
able to make informed choices about what additional
lighting may be necessary. Keep in mind that rooms with
little or no natural light will need artificial lighting
- even during the day - in order to look their best.
Here are some types of lighting to consider.
1. Accent Lighting
Accent lighting is
perfect when you want to showcase a piece of art or a
special piece of furniture or other item. Since light
draws the eye, it will bring attention to the features
in your room that you wish to highlight.
2. Hanging Light Features
Chandeliers and smaller
hanging lamps can be beautiful as well as functional. A
trip to the local home improvement store will quickly
show you how overwhelming the choices can be. You'll
want to select lighting that blends in with your
existing dÃÂécor. For example, a crystal chandelier in a
country themed dining room probably isn't the best
option. If you don't choose carefully, your lighting may
stick out like a sore thumb and become more of an
eyesore than a lovely accent.
3. Recessed Lighting
Recessed lighting is a
good choice for a room that needs extra light throughout
the day. Because the lighting won't interfere with the
existing decor, it can work in almost any room. It
provides abundant light without taking up a lot of space
or interfering with other aspects of the room.
4. Lamps
Using lamps are a way to
add not only additional lighting, but also punches of
color. If possible, see how much light the lamp gives
off before leaving the store. Many lamps serve as
decoration more than as a light source and give off very
little light. If you love the lamp, but it doesn't give
off quite enough light, consider changing the shade
which will usually solve the problem.
When decorating your
home, remember how important lighting is, and give it
the same thought and attention you give to the other
details of decorating your home.
About the Author
Jessica Ackerman is the
featured author at Wall DÃÂécor and Home Accents. Shop today
for great deals on
metal wall sculpture ,
home
accents and more unique wall dÃÂécor products.
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