Adagio VelociTEA Tea Maker Review
Good ol’ Adagio has come up with yet another way to brew loose-leaf tea!
3/10/2021- A year since my last update, and my VelociTEA is still going strong!
I have had no issues with the mechanics, and it still works just as well as the day I bought it!
I love it, it is a work horse. I use this at least 3 times a day, more on weekends. I love that I can get up on Saturday and Sunday morning, push the button, (because I fill it with water the night before), and in minutes I have perfectly boiled water, or whatever temperature I need for the type of tea I am making.
I drink a lot of iced tea, and I make a full pot of my favorite, blueberry black, every day. I use a heaping tablespoon of loose tea, run it on a black tea cycle, and it comes out perfect every time. Just strong enough to pour over ice.
My other tried and true is ginger/turmeric tea. I make this when I’m feeling like some bug is trying to infect me. I just coarsely chop fresh garlic and turmeric (which I keep frozen) and add it to the tea infuser. Add a few peppercorns, about 6 -8 too, it helps the bioavailability of the good stuff in the turmeric to absorb into your system. 
I fill the pot with water to the max and brew it on herbal. Comes out perfect. I don’t measure the spices, but I probably use 2 tablespoons or more of ginger, a bit less of the turmeric. I like it strong. If I really need an immunity boost, I also add a cinnamon stick. Add a little honey when you drink it if it’s too spicy for you. This keeps well in the fridge for a couple days.
If you’re an avid tea drinker like myself, this pot is a necessity.
The other thing I wanted to add is how to clean it.
I recently started getting into making my own vegan cheese and citric acid was one of the ingredients in some of the recipes. I got a bag of the stuff, and found I really didn’t need it for the cheese. I read that it’s a great cleaner, so I filled the pot with fresh water, added a tablespoon of the citric acid crystals to the infuser, and set it to brew on black tea. After it was done, I poured out the water and rinsed the pot and everything well, I filled the pot up with water again, and set it to brew to rinse out the insides. It didn’t come out perfectly clean like when it was brand new, but there is definitely a difference. Usually manufacturers tell you to clean tea and coffee makers with white vinegar, but this is better, it rinses clean and there’s no after taste.
I own a variety of tea makers, since I am a tea collector, and I just had to try this one to add to my collection!
I’ve been very satisfied with all the Tea Makers that I own, but when I saw this one, I just had to try it! The VelociTea is like a coffee percolator in that you fill a basket with tea leaves and fill the vessel with water. Press a button, and it “percolates” filling the bottom of the vessel with the brewed tea. The design pumps water up from the base up into the infuser basket, where the tea is steeped. The basket is nice and big, giving the tea leaves plenty of room to expand. The brewed tea filters back down into the kettle at the perfect strength for the variety you are making.
Taking it out of the box, I added it to my counter with my other favorite kitchen toys! This thing is so cool! I have to admit, I’ve been sort of jealous of coffee drinkers, where they can make a pot of “Mr. Coffee”, and their coffee stays hot on the coffee maker. Well, I have one now, for tea!
With the VelociTEA. You can make 1 cup to 40oz.of freshly brewed tea, any kind, in under 10 minutes, and it keeps it hot for one hour. That doesn’t seem like a very long time, but it works. Any longer than that, and the tea will get bitter.
Actually, I think that’s awesome, because, in a little hind site, if you make yourself a pot in the morning, and forget to shut it off when you leave for work, it will shut itself off and you don’t have to worry about it! Not that I think that is a good habit to get into, but now and then you can feel safe about it. Also, you can set it up before you go to bed the night before, and just hit a button in the morning while you get ready for work, and have fresh, hot tea with no fuss. I love it!
I have been using the VelociTEA now for 2 years, and I am very pleased with it.
The tea quality is great, not bitter, and it stays right at the correct temperature. I love that the tea is brewed correctly, and never over brews.
It is timed to make the perfect pot of Green, White, Oolong, Black, or Herbal tea. Each has its own thermostat and timer. I have tried all settings, and they all work! I also love the boiling water button. It will heat water to any tea temperature you desire, just select the setting you want.
I would recommend the VelociTEA for anyone who drinks tea regularly.
When I ordered my VelociTEA, I didn’t like the directions that came with it. The instructions were very basic. They were not step by step, and the process was not explained at all.
They didn’t mention amounts of tea’s to water, and I did have to experiment with the amounts before I came up with the right amount for my usual teas. I found that directions are lacking in other Tea Makers that I’ve purchased from Adagio also.
I couldn’t find instructions on the website to fall back on either. So, I played around with the proportions of tea to water to get it just right. It took me a couple tries to figure it out. I know this sounds a bit ridiculous, and the amount of tea is on the packages of tea themselves, but I never “percolated” tea, and a little guidance would have been nice. I like some of my tea flavors black, (no sugar or milk) and I had to play around with the amounts to get the taste just right. I found that I needed to add 1/2 to 1 tsp of extra tea for a full pot.
Once I got the regular tea measurements figured out, I decided to try a recipe of my own.
check out DIY tea recipes such as my Ginger Turmeric Root Tea. Make a full pot, (the Max level) on the Herbal Setting, and keep it in the fridge. I used to make this in a pot on the stove, this is so much easier! I can’t wait until summer to try fresh mint and lemon balm tea. I grow loads of herbs in my garden. I love herbal iced tea in the summer. 
Also important to mention, the cover has a lock and unlock feature, and there was no mention that you need to have it locked while its brewing, and that you should remove the infuser when brewing is complete and replace the cover. The cover in unlock, allows you to pour the tea. I almost burned my hand pouring it with the lid off the first time I used it. I was not warned about this!
The only other “con”, which isn’t really a con, more like another warning, is that the kettle itself is heavy.
This is because the pump is located at the bottom of the unit. It’s not extremely heavy, but an elderly person may have problems lifting the vessel when its full. It’s also a bit awkward rinsing it out as there is quite a large lip on the top.
It’s going to come in so handy this summer for cook outs. My family drinks a lot of iced tea, and this will make it easy to make a lot to have on hand for a crowd.
I would love to hear from you, if you’ve also tried the VelociTEA.
Please leave me a comment. Thanks! Jeanette