 Can't Live Without It |
| Review Date: April 1, 2006 |
| Reviewer: David A. Lessnau, USA |
EDIT (11/18/2006): I just wanted to add that Mr. Coffee sent me a free replacement pitcher after I emailed them about this problem. If this pitcher also cracks, I'll update this review.
EDIT (11/01/2006): It's now been exactly seven months from my original review and now I'm sad to say that I was wrong. Even though there didn't seem to be any difference between the materials and workmanship of our new TM3 and our old TM3, the new pitcher has just cracked. I've uploaded a picture to Amazon so you can see what I'm talking about. At first, I thought it was just a seam in the pitcher that I hadn't noticed before. But, after making a batch of iced tea, I had a small puddle on the countertop (which is a new thing). Since the crack is right in the pour spout (which is how the hot tea enters the pitcher from the brewing area), some of the freshly brewed tea seeps through the crack instead of falling into the pitcher. A sad day. I'll be contacting Mr. Coffee to see what they have to say.
Original Review (04/01/2006): We've use a Mr. Coffee TM3 (TM3.5 from what I can make out on the bottom of the unit) Iced Tea Maker for YEARS (at least 5, but more like 7) without trouble. Finally, after all that time of constant, daily use, the pitcher started developing some minor cracks. So, we replaced the whole thing. Outside of some minor differences in the plug, this version is identical to our old version (the bottom plate still says TM3.5). It's interesting that the recurring motif in all these reviews is that the pitcher cracks. When we first got our old unit, we too had that problem. After looking at how we were using the thing, we figured out that the cracking was because of how we added ice to the pitcher: while holding the pitcher's handle, we just shoved the other end of the pitcher under the ice maker. The problem was that we were using the pitcher itself to apply the pressure needed to trigger the ice maker. We bought a new pitcher and used our hand to trigger the ice maker, not the pitcher. That pitcher lasted us all those years.
Because of the prevalance of the "cracking pitcher" reviews, I'll keep an eye on this and see if anything is different. But, since everything looks identical to our old unit (down to the feel and heft of the materials), I don't anticipate problems. Based on all those years of happy use of the identical model, I rate this at an Excellent 5 stars out of 5: I couldn't live without it. |
Works great
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| Review Date: July 6, 2006 |
| Reviewer: Mary L. Hill, Los Angeles, CA |
| I've had this icedtea maker for three years and it still works great. It is quick and easy to use. When I have a summer barbecue, I can make several pitchersfull without taking much time away from all of the other busy things that have to be done when I am feeding a lot of people. I'm going to buy another one for iced coffee. |
Summer & Entertaining Favorite
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| Review Date: June 3, 2007 |
| Reviewer: NuJoi, Chicago, IL United States |
My best friend got one of these before me and I was in awe. I've had mine for some years now and it is fantastic! Instant iced-tea? This is a Southern girl's dream! I make traditional sweet tea, but please don't think you are limited to the traditional. When I made Middle Eastern food, I used this to make mint tea for my guests. I often mix herbal and black teas to keep my people guessing.
I didn't like the results I got when I used loose tea, even with a coffee filter. Bagged teas work just fine. I've found that doubling the required amount of tea and brewing with the nozzle almost fully closed work best. You can supposedly put the sweetner in the compartment with the tea bags. I prefer to sweeten after the tea has brewed.
Clean up is easy, I throw the appropriate parts in the dishwasher with some Dawn Plastic Booster to remove any staining. My only complaint is that I wish this came in black, so I could leave it on the counter. |
HOT (cold) tea!
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| Review Date: June 8, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Geoffrey F. Beneze, Tempe, AZ USA |
2/24/08 Update
We've lived with our Mr. Coffee Ice Tea machine for 9'ish months. With most items, you find that experience may alter your initial impressions. In this case, I have to say that the five star rating remains steadfastly too little, this machine warrants, easily, an 8 or 9. To date, we've had no leaks anywhere, save by my own doing (overfilling, bumping the full machine, etc). Aligning the spout and "base notch" is trivial and one would have to work to misalign it.
Granted, the carafe and top tend to stain. This is the nature of Tannin. However, contrary to the misconceptions of many, the stain is not "dirty" or unsanitary. The design of the lid makes it difficult to clean the stains off. The carafe requires elbow grease and Scotchbrite, but comes clean with no problem.
We use both bagged and bulk teas with great success and in a large variety of flavors and styles. I still find Earl Grey my favorite (both hot and cold). This thing has made at least one pitcher of tea a day since we purchased the maker (5/07) and on many of those days, more than one. We're still using the original pitcher (albeit a bit limp now, but I have a spare waiting). It's hard to imagine any other product from which I've received such value per dollar.
My family and I are still, even more than after the initial purchase, extremely delighted with this device. If the need ever arrises, it will be replaced instantly.
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We've had it about a month and I love the thing. Fast and easy. It took a bit of experimentation to get the brew strength the way we wanted it, but that's normal.
It cleans easily, is simple to use and brews quickly.
I'm delighted. |
lovely little tea maker!
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| Review Date: May 25, 2007 |
| Reviewer: ak, |
I read all the reviews people gave this thing and put it on my wishlist. My mother actually bought it for me. I use it every day and love to try different kinds of tea combinations. Using white, green and black teas.-- then flavorings. Yum!
I have absolutely no problems with mine. The person complaining of leaking, that sucks. It sounds like a series of unfortunate events.
My little tea makers works perfectly. At first the directions confused me. It tells you to "close" the little latch on the top, but I got worried about the water and how it would get down into the tea pot. So I kept it open, until I realized there's a small opening the tea will travel down once the tea level in the strainer gets high enough. The directions didn't say that. I can also be kind of ditzy.
Anyway, great product! I love mine and it's already paid for itself in the week I've owned it! |
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