The Best of Tea

If you are a tad bit — lets call it ‘perfectionally oriented’ — when it comes to your tea, you want to make sure you are steeping your precious leaves in the ideal temperature water for the ideal length of time.

Until now, I would frequently use a cooking thermometer to monitor my tea’s water temperature and steep time. It worked, but was somewhat of an awkward solution; the thermometer’s probe would often plop out of the water if not positioned correctly, and the temperature setting had to be readjusted constantly because it was designed to trigger the alarm when the temperature rises — not falls.

Fortunately, I have discovered a neat device designed specifically to measure your tea steep time and temperature. It’s called, appropriately enough, the Taylor Connoisseur Tea Thermometer & Timer. It has a probe that is placed in your water like a typical cooking thermometer, but instead of the tangled mess of a cord that is usually attached, you have the temperature read-out and controls on top. These are connected to a silicon covered grip which holds the thermometer in place. It is a great solution and for about $20 well worth it.

If you’re interested Amazon has it for $25, but one of their retail partners has it for $20. I haven’t seen it cheaper anywhere else.