Saturday, January 8, 2011

Cheaper to replace??? Seriously??

I like iced tea. Not just any ol' iced tea. My iced tea. 
My mom's is a close second but it needs to be sweeter.
My poor ol' Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Maker is getting old. 
It came with 2, that's right 2, pitchers....3 quart; fabulous!  


 Well, both pitchers now have cracks in them and leak.



What to do, what to do? 

I was just going to order a new pitcher and be done with it. Oh nooooooo! A replacement pitcher costs more than getting a BRAND. NEW. MACHINE. Really?  Is everything in today's world so disposable? Why do they make fixing something more expensive than buying a new one? I don't want a ''new'' one!!

I am used to my machine. I know what settings to have it on, how many tea bags it takes, how much water to add after it has perked for a little while. I have the perfect balance of sweet to bitter, brown to white, water to ice. I don't want to have a new machine break me in; to take the time to learn all it's fussiness until that perfect pitcher of tea is achieved.  I just don't!! (picture me stomping my foot in a mock fit, okay, maybe a little bit of a real fit)

For now, I will just persevere with my tiny leaks and wipe off the counter top after I pour the tea into another pitcher (good ol' rubbermaid) until I decide on a new and pretty and possibly red (or some other bright color they offer at the beginning of the summer season) or order a new pitcher to go with my beater machine.

Regena's Sweet Tea

Fill the machine up with water as far as it will go. I use the 3 qt. mark on the pitcher.
Fill a 16oz water bottle with water (1/2 liter)
Use 7 teabags in the basket. I use the strong setting and cover the overflow hole with a tea bag so the unsteeped water doesn't filter into the pitcher and make the tea weak.
press start
After the pitcher has an inch of tea in it, pour the reserved water into one of the holes around the top where the baskets rests and down into the reservoir.
In the hot liquid, add 1/8 cup loosely packed brown sugar and 1/2 cup white sugar. Mix like crazy.
After perking, add ice into the tea until it reaches the bottom of the pour spout. Stir. Drink up!!

Think I have a tall one now!!

..


5 comments:

  1. We drink gallons of tea here too. One large pitcher for Jose (too sweet for me) and one large pitcher for me (green tea...much less sugar). Our Mr. Coffee tea maker broke too. I was planning to get another one when I realized that I have one of those 90 second water boiling kettles. Just plug it in and instant(almost) boiling water! So now I put the tea bags into the large rubbermaid pitcher along with way too much sugar and brew it right in the pitcher. No machine to store in my tiny kitchen. No extra pitcher to clean. Works for me :)

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  2. I had the same thing happen with mine....but found a brand new one at a yard sale for 3 bucks :-)

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  3. I have bad yard sale karma. My aunt, that's a whole nother story. she has fabulous luck!! But it's a good thought, I'll keep my eyes open

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  4. I had one that broke too! I loved that tea maker but couldn't find another like it. I got another but it's just not the same and I can't use the big 3 qt pitchers with the now one. Ugh! I don't like change.

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