Why I Love My Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Maker - The Little Machine That Helps Me Save Money
It’s summer time and here in sunny (and hot) Florida nothing tastes better than an afternoon glass of iced tea. If you haven’t noticed, there are quite a few bottled teas available now at the grocery store with all kinds of fancy flavors, from red raspberry tea to peach iced tea, and they can cost more than a buck a bottle. I’m not about to give up my flavored iced teas, but I have found a way to save money on them - I make my own tea using my iced tea maker.
I purchased a Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Maker a year ago when it was on sale at Target. It’s a nifty little machine that lets me brew my tea by the pitcher. With this machine I can replicate nearly any store bought bottled iced tea. I enjoy trying different combinations. Basically, I just watch what tea bags and flavors are on sale at the grocery store and stock up when the price drops (i.e. during a “buy one get one free” sale). I like mixing the Lipton Tea with a flavored tea such as Red Raspberry. I even make ice cubes from the tea so that it doesn’t water down the flavors and allows me to enjoy the full flavor of the tea.
Now you don’t need an iced tea machine to make tea at home. I just like the one I purchased because it is so easy to use and saves me time which helps remove the temptation to purchase the bottled teas. I searched the web for some more iced tea recipes to share, and here are some of the ones I found that you can make with or without an iced tea machine.
Honey & Apple Iced Tea - A fruity and sweet tea.
Peach Iced Tea - Made with peach nectar for a fabulous peachy taste!
Cran-Orange Ice Tea Cooler Recipe - This is a nice cranberry and orange flavored drink.
Strawberry Iced Tea Fizz - Wonderful tea with the taste of strawberries!.
Raspberry Tea - This is made using Equal as a sweetner so it is a “diet†version.
I’ve never used a tea maker. I’ve just made it in a pot on the stove. What’s the difference? How does it make it easier? (Yeah, I’m also one of those people who don’t get the idea of a rice cooker, either).
It might be a good buy, though. For some reason, my husband keeps buying the Publix sweet tea even though either he or I could make it ourselves. That stuff is good. It also helps that it keeps longer.
Meg,
Using the tea maker is a lot like using a coffee maker - it just makes it a little easier to brew in larger amounts. The unit comes with a 2 quart pitcher that you fill with water and then pour the water into the brewing unit. Add a filter and the tea bag, press the on switch, and in a couple of minutes you have a pitcher full of tea.
The tea maker really changed my life! Its just so much easier to make and no wait like you have with sun tea (I’m impatient). I also wanted to let the Starbucks tea lovers know that they are now selling pitcher-sized tea bags in their stores $4.95 for six - and a pitcher makes about 3 venti teas…so, you can get 18 venti ice-teas for $4.95!!! And they have their passion tea, green tea and black tea versions. Personally, I’m fine using my good old Lipton tea at home, but my husband loved Starbucks passion tea and was going no-caffeine, so this was a great solution for him!