Does a Quooker tap make proper tea?

[Flossyfloof]

Kitchen is being redone and I’d really like a boiling water tap. But I’m a tea drinker and I’m worried that the tea won’t be the same. If you’re a tea lover - what do you think of them?

We have a Quooker and it's fabulous and definitely makes great tea. We have a Zip Tap at work - that doesn't reach 100 degrees and the tea doesn't taste right.

No, we had one in the office and I'm glad I had the opportunity to try it because I would have installed one at home when we had our kitchen redone. The water isn't hot enough to make tea - Quooker are adamant that it's boiling, but it just isn't. However, they are very good for filling up a pan for say pasta because then it's only a minute or two on the hob for it to be at a rolling boil, and of course you can use it to fill up the kettle....
The other downside is that they are terrifying to use, alternately gushing or spluttering scalding water.

May I ask what people mean when they say they are “extremely fussy” tea drinkers? Is it the type of tea, the preparation, the ‘ritual’? I’m not originally from the U.K. so I’m fascinated by this aspect of the culture. 😁

May I ask what people mean when they say they are “extremely fussy” tea drinkers?

They mean they don't just throw a PG Tips teabag in a mug, and hence are tea conoisseurs. On the other hand, I can't help noticing that all of the people on this thread who claim that Quooker taps make fine tea also say they own a Quooker tap, which doesn't exactly suggest an unbiased POV.

Thanks so much. Really helpful! Whatever, I am going to try a cuppa from one first.

toilenstripes I consider myself a fussy tea drinker. Apart from individual taste, I think the essentials are

• reasonable quality tea or tea bags, doesn't have to be fancy but must of the English breakfast type
• water MUST be boiling
• boiling water must then be poured onto the tea, either in mug/cup/pot
• not too milky but that is personal preference

Basically what we call "builders' tea" Serving up a cup of quite warm water with a tea bag on the side to and no milk doesn't cut it!!

And for me, it's not the ritual of making the tea, but sharing tea, offering tea as hospitality and just drinking it on my own all holds an important place. In fact, I would choose tea if I could only have one drink for the rest of my life (apart from water), not wine or G&T! But I don't drink coffee at all which probably makes a difference.

Nope. Doesn't cut it.

We have one. It’s not Qooker, I forget the make. But it’s fine for tea and I love having the counter clear of a kettle.

I was dead worried about this but a quooker was a solution to lots of other stuff in the kitchen and tea is fine (brewed for 3 minutes round here, I have no idea if that masks any water issues). Coffee I decant the boiling water into a small metal milk jug and pour that over my freshly ground beans. I once fannyed about with a thermometer when we first got the tap, and that seems to make enough of a difference to the temp. The jug means you can bloom the coffee properly and all.

I love having the counter clear of a kettle

Just checked the make of ours, it’s Insinkerator. It heats to 99deg. And I find it perfectly good for a cup of tea, but I am a bag in a mug type of person.

I usually run it for a second or two before filling my cup. It doesn’t spluttler or splash as some other posters have mentioned.

We have a hot water tap, not Quooker, cant remember the name. I am not a big tea drinker, more coffee and herbals but DH is a massive tea drinker and he says there is no difference. However, he wanted the tap and I wanted a kettle so he wouldnt say anything different.

In the past times when we were allowed to be sociable and had people round no one commented on cold or lousy tea.

I think for the British making a cup of tea is a ritual and can quite understand the psychological barrier using a hot tap.

I think I am happy with the hot tap but I could equally live without it.

Stayed at a friend's house who had one, but was too thick to be able to work out how to operate it, so had to wait from her coming back in to have a cuppa. Tea was meh anyway as English water

In the past times when we were allowed to be sociable and had people round no one commented on cold or lousy tea.

In fairness, unless your circle is composed of unusually direct people, saying 'Gosh, this is a crappy, tepid cup of tea you've just made me, from that expensive tap you're so proud of' is not exactly a conversation-starter.

Exactly - I’ve never mentioned that my BILs tea is like warmed up dishwater as, hello, I’m British and therefore far too polite.

We had one in the office. The water just wasn't hot enough.

I once tipped a cup of tea into a plant at a friend's because it was so disgusting. But did I say anything? Good god no. It is such a rare occurrence that I still remember it clearly 10 years later

SIL has a Qooker tap. No, the tea is not nice. It has that sort of slight foam on top that you get in coffee machine tea. I think the problem is that the water is kept at boiling point - water for tea should be boiled afresh from cold; something to do with oxygen content, I forget exactly.

SIL claims to be picky about tea. She isn’t; she buys those nasty Yellow Label tea bags. I have to take my own when we visit.

I have told her directly that I don’t like the tea her Quooker makes! She can handle it. She’s Dutch.

I seem to remember that water that is boiled more than maybe twice, is not good to make formula milk as it concentrates the mineral salts. Probably what happens with Qooker tea

I've got an Insinkerator and it makes lovely tea. No metallic taste or anything like bubbles on top etc. As long as the filter is changed regularly it's brilliant.

I’m sceptical about these taps - not sure I want to drink tea made with repeatedly boiled water which has been in the system several hours.

I do however remember Cliff Barnes from Dallas having one back in the 1980s and being very jealous of it.

I have one and it’a great, no scum/foam on the water and it does come out at 100, I used a cooking probe to test it, sad I know.

I have a Quooker and live in a hard water area.We have a large water filter thingy in our cellar so that the water is filtered.I find the Quooker great for herbal teas which I drink a lot of but but when I want to make a nice pot of strong Irish Barrys tea in a pot it just does not taste right .The water is just not hot enough somehow and it tastes different so much so that I have actually stopped drinking tea .We have a Jura coffee machine so I'm not making coffee with the Quooker.

I remember Cliff Barnes hot water tap Puppy! In his glamorous condo!