kaismom - not to tell you what you should like or how it should be made but, in tea circles it generally acknowledged that only black teas get steeped with "boiling water" with the exception of "bagged" black tea. Most of the others get bathed in much cooler water, especially green teas which generally get steeped in 175 degree water or thereabout. Well below boiling. SO, these hot shots could even be fine for tea snobs not making a pot from loose black teas. Some of the heaters even get real close to boiling, too so they'd be fine for non purists wanting a fast cup, which is pretty much the point of an "instant hot water heater" ! A much bigger variable in a good cup is the water quality and the steeping time. Besides, people use these for instant cider , hot chocolate, filling the pasta pot for a quicker boil, gassing up the hot water bottle, and a few other things. I'll agree with you that these things are not really for the ritualistic tea connoisseur. (S)he is probably not going to to even consider this anyway as a cup is just as much about the "process" and the vessels as it is the nectar.

Should be minimal, but if you only need the filtered water for cooking and drinking a dedicated faucet may be the way to go. You don't want to filter water that you don't have to. Lots of luck. .................................... "If all else fail, read the directions"

it makes sense to think about this now and not later. it makes sense to protect your coffee machine. Your filtered water can feed a supply that then itself branches to the fridge AND to the bar tap / coffee tap. Where the water supply branches to go to the fridge is where you can put a filter behind the scenes, or anywhere else near the fridge, near the sink, or in an unused space around there, even on the far side of the fridge. The additional elbows do not reduce flow by anything significant. It's the filter that will reduce the flow, but this is not a concern for the two lines you are discussing. some people have a filter on all the cold tap in all the faucets, including those faucets that mix with hot water. In that case, they want a higher flow (not a reduced flow) so it's either a cheap filter that doesn't remove much, or it's a 2-tank system. That is what i have seen or heard. anything i write out is given as background information, not a recommendation to take any action. You could have two filters in line: one cheap, one expensive. The cheap one intercepts the bulk stuff; the expensive one does the higher quality job it is supposed to. Cheap might mean a GE bought at HD for 2 or 3 of your cute $20 bills. Expensive might mean the kind of filter that costs many times more than that, and which you can only get from a high end kitchen showroom, and only if you ask. You could put an RO rnear the bar / coffee spot, instead of running RO water through supply lines. (less chance of leaching minerals out of the pipes on the way to the spout). If anyone local tells you that RO is not needed with your water, they may have a very strong point. RO may be overkill, but a high end filter may be good. This is another subject. I don't know what Toronto water is like, speaking minerally; I have heard that it's taken from somewhere deep in Lake Ontario and therefore always really cold even in summer. I suppose that Some of the people who work in high end coffee machine sales or kitchen fixture sales will be able to guide you about minerals.

As far as I'm aware, it's the flow rate that needs to be compatible so you should check specs for your faucet. I wish I could be more help but maybe someone will weigh in.