Breville Tea Maker

This morning I made a pretty good cup of coffee. I didn't want to take any chances of being disappointed so I looked up on the internet "how many tbsp coffee per ____" google filled it right in. I knew it was something like 1 for 6 oz. or 2 for 8, but those numbers were getting jumbled in my mind. First, I thought I had my answer: 1 level tbsp per 8 oz. Then someone wrote that both Alton Brown and The Silver Palate say 2 tbsp per 6 oz. So I went to Alton Brown's site and he says, 2 HEAPING tbsp per 6 oz. So I measured out exactly 18 oz. of fresh water for the kettle and put 6 heaping tbsp of the coffee I had on hand-- a probably sort of old, unopened, non-one-way valve, pre-ground bag of that Jim's, though probably great quality, maybe not supremely fresh-- in the French press-- (the one that this girl unloaded to me on the curb about 3 years ago on her moving day! Along with a rug and a broom and a plant maybe). It has those chocolatey undertones that I like. I liked learning from Alton that it's better to do more grounds than less and add hot water at the end if you don't like it as strong, because if you do too little grounds that means overextraction, and overextraction = bitterness.

The reason I started this post though, was because while having my coffee and ruminating on the enjoyment of a precise process, I was thinking about that with tea because I usually drink tea and only occasionally coffee. I sort of like leaving the coffee up to my partner in crime, there's something satisfying about him being really good at it (though I might be too now) because he likes it so much, and making it for the both of us, and me being the tea master, because I like it so much. My body or mouth just can't really handle coffee everyday. I've seen those hot water heaters that heat water exactly for the type of tea you're gonna have. xxx° for white tea, ___° for green, etc. This morning I found this, and man I would love to have it:

It's gotten nothing but really good reviews. Not only a water heater but also a brewer. $300.00!! I'm lusting over an expensive material object that may not be entirely necessary. This is what "progress," innovation, desire, demand, and other economical terms that I don't know, lead to. While I don't necessarily want everything to be electronic in my life, this is an interesting study in "What is simplicity?" I have no qualms about getting an automatic tea maker that may make beautiful tea (excepting if it was made with slave labor, and the production fumed out toxic gases, etc.etc. Quite possible. And then if it broke, it would never decompose in the landfill, but maybe 1,000's of years from now, anthropologists and schlepping survivors of all major catastrophes could use the carafe to gather water from the few and far between water resources when the earth is almost all dried up. Ok, diarrhea of the mouth/stream-of-consciousness typing.) But funny, because at the same time I am thinking about getting this electronic tea maker, it makes me want to be up in the hills of a foggy, green countryside, with a real tea master, using mortars and pestles, and wearing robes while scuffling about in a wooden open-aired structure, doing whatever tasks needed to be done for the day, at a nice, slow pace, sitting on rugs. I'm dreaming away the day.