Article in NY Times on coffee: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/dining/23coff.html

If this is where mass market coffee is going, can tea be far behind?
This type of machine may never achieve the same popularity as easy
grab-and-go espresso that is popular now, but this article is
interesting for those of us who cherish the idea of brewing a perfect
cup of something. I love the fact that brewing tea is always a bit of
a mystery, and I love it when I do finally get that perfect cup.

On Jan 23, 9:02 am, cha bing yahoo.com> wrote:

I'm not sure if you've ever been to a Starbucks, but "The Least
Perfect Cup" is certainly NOT a major deterrent to customers. I can
count on two fingers the number of perfect cups I have ever received
in my life, one espresso and one regular cup of black coffee. Sadly
both establishments are now out of business.

Unfortunately, I think you are right. But I can imagine that a
momentary tea fad could change expectations about what people serve as
"tea", so that it would be possible to get something other than lipton
at restaraunts. Maybe some day, getting a pot of hot water and some
loose leaf tea at a restaraunt will not be so unheard of. I only say
this while keeping in mind that in the early nineties, canned or
instant coffee seemed to be more common than Starbucks in most places
in this country. Starbucks, despite its imperfections, is better than
what most people had before and I would guess that most people never
thought of coffee details such as bean roast or geographic origin
prior to the Starbucks era. I personally am not crazy about it, but
I'll sure drink it over chock-full-of-nuts, or even...

Plain looseleaf tea doesn't have enough "flavor" to appeal to the
masses.
You kind of have to pay attention to what you're drinking to detect
nuances etc. Most people dont/wont do that. They would take a sip and
expect a !BAM! here's the flavors on your tongue!
That's why RTD (USA) is mostly full of sugarized flavored bottled tea
drinks; or they push the "health" aspects of tea.
That's why most tea bars/cafes that "survive" have something more -
bobo tea, or tea mixed with fruits etc, or "herbal tea".

The nicest chain tea experience i had at Peet's Coffee

That machine in the NYtimes article is a vacuum brewer (not
"siphon"),
and it takes more time to brew than usual ,
this info is BS: "its genius is in its programming," <-- the only
programming a vacuum pot needs is having coffee, water put in it,
turning on and then off of the heat. the rest is done by the hot water
rising into the upper chamber, then when cool, it will fall back down.
a commercial 4 group espresso machine is cheaper and has more
programming and complexity than this contraption.

On Jan 23, 9:02 am, cha bing yahoo.com> wrote:

It's annoying that they don't say how this machine should
be better than any standard vacuum coffee maker. My guess
is that flame is more easily controlled, and may be
programmed to stop after a time, or maybe even programmed
to increase or decrease in power automatically?

On Jan 23, 8:02 am, cha bing yahoo.com> wrote:

My feeling is that any tea I brew myself is "perfect," but ant
commercially brew tea is not. Toci

Dominic,

Seven Cups Tea House here in Tucson comes close to your idea. I
especially like the large (to me anyway) selection of Asian pastries.
Things I don't see in other places. The atmosphere is very relaxing,
with traditional music and beautiful furniture and decor. I'm
pleasantly surprised that we have something like that here when other,
much larger, cities do not.

As far as the "siphon bar" goes, this strikes me as more of an
affection/conversation piece than a superior method for brewing
coffee. Now, what I know about coffee could fit in a demitasse (with
plenty of room for milk), but as with tea, I think "keep it simple
stupid" applies. I'm don't see what benefit the halogen lamp has over
other heating methods (a gas flame can be regulated instantly), but it
certainly looks cool.

Alan

On Jan 23, 7:34 am, "Dominic T." gmail.com> wrote:

We are often approached by inventers with a new tea brewing idea, and
occasionally have taken on development of their brainchild. Look
however at the ratio of patents to successful commercial devices to
divine the prospects of getting one to work acceptably.
In the 1990s normally savvy Unilever perceived a market gap for the
high speed tea bar and spent an unbelievable amount of cash developing
the "T-Bird" auto brewer. Their Ch'a Bars had this glass and shiny
metal monstrosity on the counter as "theatrical sight and sound
display" that visually high-speed-automatically-brewed your tea before
your very eyes ("Turbo brewing under two illuminated wings using a
pulsing jet of water"). The Agony of the Leaves could be seen and
possibly felt as brewing time was accelerated to match the consumers'...

Guess what happened to the first "real" (i.e. knowledgable, honest,
high quality & NOT foremost profit-oriented) tea-shop I found in
Germany about 15 years ago? After having an eye-opening experience
there with an outstanding Darjeeling I went back a couple of months
later to restock and all I found was an empty store... It's a sad story
that seems to repeat itself.