Quote:
Originally Posted by Stitchawl
Enjoying the first black tea of the day! I overslept this morning and am quite happy about it!
Amazing! There must have been something in the air yesterday. I was looking at a French Press at Starbucks yesterday afternoon. (While their tea is nothing to write home about, I've become addicted to their Chocolate Chunk Cookie!)
I guess I just like gadgets so the press grabbed my attention. But looking at it closely I noticed two problems (that were mentioned in Betty's video.) The lid is plastic, and tea really REALLY picks up a foul plastic taste easily, and second, cleaning it would be difficult. The tea oils and tannin coat my mug with a thick brown layer if it doesn't get washed regularly with a powdered cleanser. And as my mug is usually filled all the time, it suffers from not getting washed regularly. By the third day the flavor of my tea is really off, prompting me to give it a good scrubbing.
While it will be easy to clean the glass surface of the press, how can one get into the wire mesh of the plunger to clean between the wires? I've tried several different 'soakers' over the years, and nothing seems to do the job well enough. Bleach removes the color but not the problem, as do denture soaks. Baking soda removes objectionable smells, but not the oils. Only scrubbing with a cleanser gets the job done for me.
Betty, Astra, let us know how you folks make out with it.
Stitchawl
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I can answer the cleaning part of it! I saw a review of this cheap Ikea one compared to the Bodum one which commented how much easier this one is to clean. I don't know about any other kind, but on this one the plunger part just unscrews from the stem and separates into three parts: The top metal plate with the holes, the filter screen, and the bottom metal ring. It just takes a couple of seconds, and you are able to thoroughly clean all parts. I don't know that it's any particular advantage to use it, but I did make a good cup of Earl Grey in it. I don't intend to use it for coffee -- it's cheap enough that I'll just get another one for coffee if I think I need it.