Even though we have well water and the quality is supposedly very good, I only like tea made with spring water. This house had a hot water dispenser but I got rid of it (well ok it was all down to the studs anyway) and didnt replace it for that reason.

That said, it sure was quick and easy for tea. I also liked it for rinsing things sometimes ... sort of sanitizing.

i AM a total tea snob (especially if you ask my 25 YO son. He is finishing up a grad program in London and I make him carry tea home every time he comes!). That son and most of my other children are serious coffee snobs (4 of them live in NYC - some in the restaurant business). My kitchen reno has been (mostly) complete for just a few weeks and I use the instant hot several times a day. I find it plenty hot. We also have well water and we use it unfiltered. This past weekend (while daughters were home helping me cook for a party) they used the IH for coffee in the french press for the first time, and every one of them thought it was great.

I can't speak to the energy issues but I can't imagine that they are significant in our case (very large house).

Hmm, I'm enough of a tea snob that I want the water to be boiling, so I can't stand tea made with water from those.

Writersblock, I thought that tea was supposed to be made with water just shy of the boiling stage?

And French Press is ideally made with water at around 195-200 degrees -- I usually boil in the kettle and let sit for a couple seconds. My understanding is that black teas need 190 degrees up to boiling (212). Green/white teas require lower temperatures.

Which all begs the question -- what temperature are owners of instant hot dispensers reliably (and "instantly") getting "in real life"?

My parents have had one of these for about 25 years and LOVE theirs. Use it multiple times a day for a quick rinse of fruit juice off of knives, rinse out a water glass, etc. Growing up, the point for heating water was that if you take 190 degree water, it takes about a minute to boil for pasta, tea, etc., rather than the several minutes you are used to. Now for hot chocolate with water (aaagggh, but some prefer it that way) or a quick throat remedy with lemon juice and honey, instant-hot is perfect.

I intend to get one, but am not sure about the pros/cons of tankless. Haven't done much research yet, and frankly, with my induction range coming, this is an area where we may skip it and save a few hundred.

Both tea and coffee benefit from water poured at a full boil -- the Brit saying is "bring the pot to the kettle" for that reason. In England, electric kettles are the norm. I solve this with a Braun electric kettle and a water filter with UV light so we know what we're drinking. Anyone who has done reading on bottled water may be aware that there are no standards -- that water may be no better than what you're getting out of the spigot.

I did have a KA instant hot water years ago. Never used/liked it enough to replace it. However, others love them. Suppose it's personal preference in the end.

I'm another in the kettle must be boiling for tea camp (though I could be convinced about lower temps for green and white teas).

IMHO, the best water for coffee is distilled (whereas, good tasting water can enhance tea).

I agree with Lithigin that the point of the instant hot is to have the water close to boiling to make boiling fast. If you have induction, a small amount of boiling water for a teapot or french press is close enough to instant, anyway.

Another tea drinker here. We have a new specialty tea shop in our town that sells loose tea in hundreds of exotic varieties. They insist that the water be boiling and I agree. I'm a bit less snobby when it comes to the water, but that's probably because the local water supply is among the best I've ever tasted.

MTNR -- I agree -- tea drinkers are not taken seriously. Outside of our lovely new tea shop, it is a constant struggle to get local restaurants to carry decent tea. Usually it's all herbal and when I try to explain that herbal tea (lovely in its own way) is not really TEA, I get a lot of blank stares.

I use my instant hot for both. The ISE brand gets water to about 200F I think (they are all adjustable of course, but I think ISE claims to get the hottest). It's fine for both coffee press and tea. I am not a tea snob. I am picky about coffee, however.

I'm sure it uses more energy than an electric kettle. Some put it on a timer so that it isn't keeping water hot at night.

I like it. My whole family likes it. My house guests who think I make coffee too strong like it to dilute their coffee. (I am embarrassed by them.)

We had one in a house about 12-13 years ago and always said we wanted one again. By the time we were doing this kitchen, I'd lived without it for about 10 years and questioned whether we really needed it at that point. I was ready to cut it from the plans, but DH said he really wanted it. Now that we have it again, I'm really glad we do.

We use ours for tea (black and green (not much white, but if you fill the cup and then add the tea, the water will have cooled a few degrees), occasionally for thermal pots of drip coffee --usually the decaf when we make it for a crowd, and some hot chocolate (although the best hot chocolate is made with steamed milk from the espresso maker). I use it for all our iced tea -- which we drink year round, and that couldn't be easier. I brew it concentrated and dilute with chilled filtered water and I can have it ready in the time everything else makes it to the table. I also use it to soak pans with blackened guk on the bottom or do an extra hot rinse on some things.

I did use it just the other night to make a quick cook on some pasta for my son when the younger one ate all that I had cooked and they both needed to leave quickly for a performance. I don't generally use it for large pots for the whole family.

Agreed, boiling water for tea. I also like to drink my tea while it is very hot. I hate going to someone's house where they have made tea and placed it in a tea pot. It quickly ends up lukewarm and blech! I recently "stole" my husbands travel mug, which he had previously used for coffee. It took about 2 weeks to get rid of the ligering coffee aftertaste. I hate coffee!

I always carry a few of my own tea bags in my purse and when friends/restaurants don't have any teas I like, I simply ask for a mug of boiling water!

As a fellow coffee snob, and someone who plans to put in an instahot during the remodel, there is no way, no way, I'd use that water for coffee.

I prefer using the Clever Dripper over a French Press. The Clever Dripper produces French Press style coffee, but you also get to control grind (with a french press you are limited by screen size) and since you can use a paper filter, will make a cleaner cup (perfect for bright coffees) at the expense of a little body. (So fans of coffee body over varietal brightness will want to stick with the french press).

I use Chef's Choice Smart Kettle to heat the water to specific temperature (and it will hold it there for you for 20 minutes or so before turning off). Depending on the coffee, I use a temperature between 200 and 208. Remember that pouring the water will lower the temperature more, so you have to have it heated to hotter than you want the temp at initial steeping time. Most instahots only do 190 degrees. Not enough, IMO.

To give you an idea of my coffee preferences, other than Clever Dripper, we use a Technivorm for large amounts, our grinder is a Mazzer Super Jolly, I roast in a HotTop and we used to use a Brewtus temp-controllable espresso machine -- though now we prefer drip-style at home and espresso drinks to be made by folks at Barefoot Coffee, Redberry Coffee, Verve, or Ritual (Bay Area places). I've also judged at regional barista comps. That should give similar coffee snobs a good benchmark on our background and level of snobbiness (I used to frequent coffeegeek 5+ years ago, but rarely now).

Black Tea boiling except for Darjeeling which should be about 170 to 180. Oolong 190 to boiling. Green tea about 170 except some higher grades can be up to boiling without being bitter. White Tea about 170 and Japanese green tea 140 to 160. A lot of the time, water temps are determined by the grade of tea as well as how much oxidation there is. Too hot and its bitter.

So if your local tea shop says boiling water on everything then turn around and leave because they don't know what they are doing.

We get instant hot at 190. Consistently. I wouldn't put my tongue in 190 degree water so I don't know if you can actually tell the difference between 190 and 212.

I don't know how much of a tea snob I am, but I do agree with MCMesprit about herbal tea in restaurants :)

Mostly, I drink Bigelow Earl Grey, which has natural oil of bergamot, not bergamot flavoring (ick) so that's the snob part, I guess. I like boiling water, right into the cup, with one tea bag, but at mom's we do make a pot at a time. Somehow, instant hot water sounds more like soup, than tea...wow, now I really DO sound like a tea snob! LOL

Seriously, whatever works for you and your family, and is most convenient, is probably your best choice!

mtn -- do you know the hardness of your well water? Ours was so hard it destroyed all the plumbing fixtures in the house. We wouldn't have kept them anyway but it's so hard we had to install a whole house softener or there goes the nickel. It's been great and done its job though I'm going to put in a bypass for the dishwasher eventually.

Our well water tastes good but when I see all the dirt in the filter I want a second filtration level. Can't do it at my main sink the way I have it in the city but I'm going to pop out a soap dispenser and insert a cartridge filter in the mudroom.

Hi Rococo, No, I don't know. I was in the midst of unpacking boxes and barely got anything the guy said straight. I do want to have him back because I notice spotting all over the faucets, a problem ive not had before but sure is annoying.

Well, I am glad to hear I was not imagining something about true tea fanciers saying the tea should be just short of a boil, in some circumstances. I agree Im not sure how one would know.

We have a fabulous local organic bakery and they serve tea quite nicely. The only thing that amuses me is they bring a small pot with the infuser in and the timer ... but by the time it reaches the table it is over-steeped in my book!

PS Lavender, I have always thought Earl Grey tastes like perfume ... sometimes distastefully so. Then once in a while I have had an Earl Grey that was quite nice. Now I know why the difference!

Johnny, thanks for pointing out the difference between the Japanese and other green teas. That explains a lot! I've only made green teas (never Japanese) with boiling water, out of habit, and they've been fine, but as I said before, I could be convinced that less might be better. :) Your explanation of the Darjeeling also explains why I learned to pour the water and then dunk for that, as opposed to pouring the water right on the leaves for most teas. (I'm something of a tea snob by taste, but not a well educated one.)

My tea snobbery runs more to loose teas and proper tea storage, and proper infusers. Not a big fan of boiled paper. Not a fan at all of tepid water poured over a paper full of stale tea in a restaurant. No thanks. :) Never aluminum for infusers!!!! Stainless is okay if it's scrupulously clean, stainless mesh is better but harder to get scrupulously clean, heavily glazed ceramic is best. A rolling boil is necessary to get the tea to be tea.

That said, it occurs to me that there may be teas especially cut or prepared for teabags, which are created to better yield their essences while wrapped in soggy paper. They may release better at lower temperatures and be fine with just what the instant hot yields.

Funny about the green tea. Had some at a Japanese restaurant the other day. I didn't care for the temperature/flavor.

Johnny, do you use an instant-read thermometer to get the temps right for the various teas? Good to know why my regular green gets bitter sometimes (I thought it was tea quality).

mtn -- water hardness strips from the hardware store should tell you how many grains of hardness you have. Anything over 7 can be a problem. I increased our hardness level on the softener for the dishwasher for a few months and now I have staining on my Kallista and Rohl sink drains. Looks like white film and very tough to remove.

Thanks, Rococogurl, I will do that.

And as for the rest of you, I doff my teaspoon. I have a lot to learn about tea!

PS DH's iced tea "recipe". Buy the clear containers of Poland Spring. Pour out about 1/4 cup. Drink it. Place 12 tea bags in the neck; for general consumption of iced tea, we are Red Rose fans. Roll your own if it's for you. Place in fridge. Wait 12 hours. Remove bags. Clear, perfect, easy tea. The whole family loves it, sans sugar even!

I like my black tea to be very strong. Therefore, I usually fill my cup with water from the instahot and pop it in the microwave for 1 minute to get it back to boiling. If I'm not going to do that, I pre-fill the cup with water from the instahot to warm up the cup, dump that and then refill so the water ends up close to boiling.

When putting the cup in the microwave, I put a wooden skewer (a plain wood chop stick also works but may need to be shortened to fit in the microwave). The wood surface gives a place for bubbles to start forming so that the water doesn't super heat. If you have a smooth cup and don't do something like that, the water can superheat and then boil up almost explosively when you jostle the cup taking it out of the microwave or when you put the tea in.

I find getting very hot water is more important when using loose leaf tea. Bag tea leaves are often in finer bits and will produce strong enough tea in a little cooler water. (But sadly, not in the tepid water that is sometimes in the "hot" water pot at a meeting in a hotel.) With a few exceptions such as Fairmont Hotels and Peet's, tea drinkers are an afterthought. I don't like tea with flowers mixed in - no Earl Grey for me - and some places think they have met the need to provide tea by having a bunch of herbals plus Earl Grey and perhaps some other teas contaminated with non-tea flavors.

Green tea I make directly out of the insta-hot - filling the cup and then adding the tea leaves so they come into contact with slightly cooled water.

My family usually drinks espresso so the question of whether the instahot is hot enough for drip coffee doesn't arise for us.

Green tea is really good, if you get jasmine, with lots of flowers in it. Very nice :)

I like specific water temperatures for certain teas and coffee, which the instant hot water dispense cannot of course do. Also all of the ones I've seen only make it up to 190 degrees, and I'm aiming for 200 for coffee. Also, for me, it's more important to have clear filtered water. The hot water dispenser doesn't filter it (I don't think.) So I prefer the electric kettle and the filtered water dispenser. If I had an induction cooktop I'd just use that (with a thermometer.)

enmmm, our hot water dispenser is a water filter plus a water heater. There are two levers - one for unheated filtered water and one for hot water. That is pretty common though there are also instant hot water taps that don't filter.

Okay, one more tea minutiae question.

When on occasion I heat tea water in the m/w, i get a little trace of foam around the edges. I always sort of assume it is a tiny amount of soap residue. So I tend to rinse cups and glasses before using them, but I still get the trace of foam. What is it?

Another SF coffee snob here (though since we're on the other side of the Bay from zartemis, we're Blue Bottle devotees. ;)

Here's why we didn't get an instahot:

- When we make coffee, we mostly drip, and occasionally use a vacuum brewer. Vacuum brewer goes on the stove anyway (as does the espresso pot on the rare occasions that we make that) so for either of those, it doesn't make much difference time-wise whether we start with cold or hot water. For drip, we pour a little bit of water over the grounds, stir, and then pour a little more and repeat, so the electric kettle (or any kettle) is far easier than a faucet would be---we'd end up filling a kettle from the faucet and then pouring it, so at that point, why bother.

- No one is home in our house during the day. This is important because it means the only time an instahot would get used is at breakfast for coffee, and very occasionally during dinner prep (maybe 2-3 days a week? steaming veggies or boiling pasta). Meanwhile, the heater would be keeping that water warm and ready for us all day long, wasting a lot of energy. If someone were home and drinking tea or coffee throughout the day (or even if we needed it every day at dinner or did after-dinner coffee), this would make much more sense, but doesn't happen to be our situation.

An electric kettle was the perfect solution for our household; it takes just over a minute to heat the water, which is close enough to instant for us and far faster than the stovetop. (We brew with water just under boiling.) Though ours is a basic kettle, the same manufacturer (Breville) makes one that has multiple temperature settings so you can choose different water temps, which could be handy if you want to brew things at different temperatures.

I consider myself a coffee snob and also drink a lot of tea, and prefer an electric kettle to prepare both. I use the instant hot water at work, and find the tea doesn't taste as good. I had one in my other house and used it frequently- never correlating the bitterness to the temp of the water.

I recently purchased the Cuisinart perfect temp kettle to replace my old single temp one, and was amazed at how much better tea and coffee tasted with the proper temp! I love the convenience of the instant hot, but agree that the proper temp is the way to go.

Hi All, I can't tell you how much I've appreciated you all sharing your advice. The message I'm getting is that although the instant hot may be a great feature, to make good coffee or tea I am just as well off sticking with my electric tea kettle.

I did see that Insinkerator makes an under counter instant hot with water filter on which you can set the temperature as you wish.

Anyone use the new aeropress for coffee? Went to BB&B and they sold out in 2 hours! Is it that good?

For Tea.. I use a Target brand electric kettle. I use regular tap water but let the water run a little first. I always pour a little boiling water into the cup first and throw it out (or the teapot if I have a few people drinking tea). I always let the water come to a good rolling boil. I like my tea strong but with a lot of milk. Mtn.... that foamy liquid could be that the Teabag and Water did not brew properly, maybe because the water didn't come to a fast boil?

artemis78: we like BlueBottle too! Though SF is rare trip for us, but we always get some when we visit the Ferry Building farmers' market. Wouldn't miss it!

The insinkerator heater with its top temp of 200 degrees seems nifty, but the large number of scary 1 star reviews on amazon keep me away.

I'm thinking of getting the Waste King version (Quick & Hot), same one Costco sells and maybe putting it on an appliance timer.

If you could plug into 230V, a kettle would take 1/4th the time. (solution: import a European kettle?)

In previous threads people have been positive about instant hot water dispensers.

To heat water, all methods consume the same amount of energy.

mtnredux: a little trace of foam around the edges is not soap. Nature imitates soap and other things we consider artificial.

Uninformed and a smidge particular, I am surprised how many folks make tea in a cup - I always make tea in a pot (I have an individual pot for when it is just me). I always warm the pot (would you call this tempering?) by pouring a little boiling water in and swishing it around (I have a stainless french press for coffee and they recommended the same process). I use loose tea and a strainer when pouring. Black tea should steep to get a nice rich flavour IMO. To me tea never tastes as good made in a cup (I do turn my nose up at tea made in a cup - an affectation well known and often mocked by friends and family).

Johnnyl53,

Thanks for the info regarding water temperatures for different teas. I should have been more specific. Although our new tea shop sells hundreds of varieties, I exclusively buy black tea for my morning pot. So their advice for me is in agreement with yours -- boiling water for black tea. Next time I go, I'll query about white teas etc...

Caryscott, me too! I guess I kind of like the whole ritual of filling the kettle, placing it on the gas flame, warming a pretty teapot and cups while waiting for the whistle, then pouring the boiling water over the leaves. It's all a tiny bit time consuming but a pleasant part of the experience.

Then again, I'm planning on an instant hot for those rushed mornings when I want something in my cup fast and won't obsess on its perfection.

And Mtnrd, I can put up with quite a lot, but I can't help thinking there should be a special level of Hades reserved for the managers of those places that serve us tea tainted with coffee residue.

I have an instant hot, but I use a kettle on the stove to boil water for tea and coffee.
I get Blue Bottle coffee via a monthly subscription - love it!

Caryscott, when I make tea in a mug at home, I have a tea infuser that sits in the cup and fills almost the whole mug. It is similar to the Bodum YoYo, but a different brand. It allows the leaves to float around freely and brew with the water like they would in a pot. They aren't squished together as in a tea bag or small infuser ball. The results are the same as when I brew in a pot and I don't see any reason to have a separate vessel when I'm only going to drink one mug. My husband even made a tea cozy for my mug so that it can keep very hot while brewing on a chilly morning.

Mtnrd and nutherokie - I agree about the serving of coffee tainted water for tea! I'm at hotels for meetings at least once a month and so many of them do that. Occasionally, the water is even slightly brown. Most of the time, it is clear but has a distinct stale coffee odor. Yech!

mtnrdredux, not sure about the tiny bit of foam, but is your water fairly hard? Perhaps it is due to hard water. I've noticed when making tea some places with very hard water like parts of the San Jose area that there is a bit of scum that forms at the top. The tea doesn't taste very good either like the hard water keeps some of the flavors from brewing into the tea. If I lived in a place with water like that, I wouldn't use an instant hot faucet to make the tea. It would need to be bottled water instead of tap. I don't think the filters remove that.

I'm with Cloud_Swift. A heavy mug with a good infuser gives equal results and is a lot easier to clean than a teapot. Just as bad as tea served with coffee taint is tea served with old tea taint. I'm also a glaze snob. If the glaze is porous enough to stain, it's porous enough to make the tea taste muddy. I could be convinced that Asian unglazed teapots with green tea only get better, as I have been convinced by you all about the water temperature for Japanese green tea, but I have my doubts...

Earl Grey.

If you are fan.. try one Earl Grey and One English Breakfast bag mixed together in the brew... It doesn't have such an edge but you still get the Earl Grey taste.

Hey, cool!!! Another coffeegeek member here and live in bay area ( SJ)!
Love blue bottle....also have all the coffee gear - behmour roaster,vibiemme super domobar and my rocky burr grinder.