Breville BTM800XL Tea Maker & Kettle
This is a genuine splurge — and one I don't regret for a second. It heats water to a temperature you choose and shows it on the display, which makes it a tea maker six days a week and a bread tool on the seventh.
Buy NowWhy it earns its place
I originally bought the Breville Tea Maker for loose-leaf teas made from herbs I grow in the garden. What I didn't expect was how useful it would become for sourdough. Most recipes call for water between 85–95°F, and this kettle lets me heat the water to the exact temperature and see it on the display. No more guessing with a thermometer or waiting around. I get mixing faster and more consistently.
The basket lowers itself into the water and lifts itself back out when the time is up, which sounds like a gimmick and isn't. Loose-leaf herbs left sitting in hot water go bitter, and this is the difference between tea you meant to make and tea you forgot about.
I still use it every day for tea, but it's also become one of the quiet workhorses of my bread-baking routine. If you want precise water temperature without the fuss, this is the kind of tool that actually earns its place.
How I actually use it
On bake day it goes on before anything else. Get the water to the temperature you want, pour it into the bowl on the Escali Primo, and weigh the flour straight in on top of it — the water being ready first is what stops the whole mix from stalling.
The rest of the week it makes tea from whatever's come out of the garden. Herbs go in the stainless basket, the herbal preset takes it to boiling, and the Keep Warm holds the carafe for up to an hour so a second cup doesn't mean starting over.
Rinse the basket out while it's still warm. Dried herbs bake onto stainless mesh and get a great deal harder to shift once the thing has cooled.
Specs
- Brand
- Breville
- Model
- BTM800XL
- Capacity
- 1.5 L (51 fl oz)
What to know before you buy
The glass carafe is the weak point. Wash it in warm water, never cold onto hot glass.
It takes up real counter space. This is a 1.5-litre carafe on a powered base with a motorised basket above it, so it's tall, and it isn't something you easily tuck in a cupboard between uses.
What else I considered
A plain variable-temperature gooseneck kettle is the sensible comparison, and it wins on every practical measure except one. It's cheaper, it's smaller, the parts are replaceable, and it pours better.
What it doesn't do is steep. The basket that drops itself in and lifts itself out is the reason this stayed on my counter rather than a kettle plus a strainer plus remembering to come back — and if you weren't going to make loose-leaf tea daily anyway, the plain kettle is the honest recommendation.