Bodum Assam 51-Ounce Tea Press
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Bodum Assam 51-Ounce Tea Press
Customer Review: Perfect Teapot
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an amazing tea pot. It is beyond anything I could have dreamed of. Yes, the pieces are plastic, but what's wrong with plastic? The pot is glass, the handle is very secure, all the other bits are very sturdy to my handling. To the reviewer who gave this a negative review because the handle melted.. it's not supposed to be a kettle for stove top use, are you mad?
I had been using a ceramic teapot for almost two years and got tired of the endless dripping, the stains where the ceramic was not glazed, and the impossible-to-clean-without-a-pipe-cleaner, spout. Then I found this, and it amazes me that it went undetected for so long. First of all, it meets my priority requirement: it does not drip. It is also very easy to clean for those of us who must hand wash. Even though it is glass, the pot does not seem to get colder any faster than the ceramic one did. I really like that if you're like me and occasionally make a pot of tea but forget about it, you can come back to it and pop the whole pot in the microwave (after you remove the metal plunger bit) instead of heating each individual cup.
Regarding the plunger, I only use bagged tea so I have no issues with tiny tea particles escaping. The product directions say to be careful about the bags getting caught between the plunger and the wall of the mechanism, but I have never had this happen. The plunger really does do what it is supposed to, in keeping separate the water with the tea from the rest of the pot. There is no need to fish out the tea once you lower the plunger. I've left the tea bags in there for several hours, come back to my tea, heated it up and it wasn't at all over steeped.
I love this tea pot!
Customer Review: good starter pot for loose-leaf tea drinkers
Summary: 5 Stars
I just got into drinking different types of tea, buying loose leaf, etc. I think this is a great starter pot. The clear pot lets you easily see how strong the brew is, something you really can't do in a colored pot. The only 'problem' is that the holes in the plastic infuser basket are a little large, and it allows the smaller granules of broken tea leaves to get out into the tea water. I have a bit of 'sediment' in the bottom of every cup, but it's not a terrible deal to leave that little sip left in my mug.
as for a poor pour (yuck yuck yuck), i only had that problem once, the first time I used the pot. I put too much tea leaf in the pot, and when i pressed down to stop the brewing, i found that the stopper didn't go below the last row of holes...that time when i poured, the stopper and top started to come off. After that I started using less tea...the stopper goes below the holes, and I've not had any pouring problems since.
I read the recommendations to get a Chatsworth pot with a nylon or metal mesh infuser basket, which would omit the whole 'sediment' issue, but all my shopping searches have yielded all ceramic pots. i have to admit, the clear pot is spoiling me!
Customer Review: nearly perfect
Summary: 5 Stars
This tea pot, like their French-Press coffee pot, is made of `magic glass' - it doesn't seem to break. I'm hard on things and usually need heavy-duty models just for every day survival. I've had this tea pot for - maybe 8 years - unheard of for things around me. The glass just doesn't seem to break. Others have spoken about how you use it to make tea - a brilliant idea. But here's the other cool thing: when you get a `presentation' tea like say a `peony' tea that opens into a flower or say, a sea-shell tea like peets.com sells that opens up into an oyster looking shell with a string of jasmine flowers as `pearls' floating above it - you can SEE the magic unfold and enjoy the beauty and art of the tea unfolding if you leave the infuser out and just let the folded tea do what ever it does.
The ONLY down side is that the cap won't fit on the tea pot if you take the infuser out. But I have never found that to be a problem. The tea MAY cool a bit faster - but not so much so that it bothers me. The fact that it is glass and has outlasted so many hand thrown ceramic tea pots I've had speaks to it's wonder and durability. Like I said, this is made of magic glass.
Customer Review: Bad design, or my particular one is defective?
Summary: 1 Stars
I was pretty shocked by so many high ratings for the large tea pot. Maybe mine is defective? It's such a simple mechanism; I did not notice any missing or broken pieces so it isn't defective but is poorly designed.
The plunger in the lid doesn't stay 'up.' Put tea in the infuser, pour in water, put the lid on, and the plunger immediately sinks due to its weight and presses the tea to the bottom of the infuser where there are no holes so the water stays just water, never becoming tea.
The problem is a bad design where there is nothing to stop the plunger from sinking. Another bad aspect of the design is you cannot use the lid without the infuser, the lid rests on the infuser and would fall into the pot if the infuser weren't there. This means this tea pot cannot be used as a general-purpose pot with a lid.
I would never buy this pot had I known of these problems.
Two good things about this pot are it's glass and plastic so if you remove the lid (with its metal components), the pot can be microwaved. The other good thing is it came with a cork trivet.
Customer Review: The best way to brew a good cup of tea
Summary: 5 Stars
I've experimented with a few different ways of brewing my loose tea- pyrex, tea strainers, tea balls, ceramic teapots- and have found this to be the best by far.
The Bodum maintains the temperature better than pyrex (I like over 200 degrees for my black teas), while still allowing you to see the tea as it's brewing. It's much easier to clean than a teapot- you just take out the center cannister and rinse it into the garbage disposal. The center cannister acts as a strainer- allowing the water from the teapot to mix with the loose tea leaves. When the tea is done, you press a plunger on the top of the pot and it stops the tea leaves from circulating with the water in the pot- a very ingenious design.
You can then pour the tea without needing to remove the center cannister. I usually pour my cups of tea immediately and then, later, once the tea is consumed, return to clean the center canister. Leave the mess until later.
I'm so happy with my Bodum that i'm tempted to get another for the office.