Using an egg timer to brew black teas has really made a difference over just
wandering off for a while. (Electronic timers don't seem to fit the
aesthetic.) I've only found 3-minute timers in kitchen shops. Would really
like a 5-minute "hourglass" that I can mark for 3.5, 4 and 4.5 minutes.
Anybody know where to find such an item? Google didn't turn up a US source,
but I might have set the search too narrowly.

Thanks-

DM

On 12 Oct 2003, Dog Ma 1 posted the following to
rec.food.drink.tea:

> Using an egg timer to brew black teas has really made a
> difference over just wandering off for a while. (Electronic
> timers don't seem to fit the aesthetic.) I've only found
> 3-minute timers in kitchen shops. Would really like a 5-minute
> "hourglass" that I can mark for 3.5, 4 and 4.5 minutes. Anybody
> know where to find such an item? Google didn't turn up a US
> source, but I might have set the search too narrowly.

Well, I'm guessing by the above comment that the microwave timer is
out and you're looking for mechanical.

Here's a Sunbeam mechanical timer. Not exactly pretty, and this
page is actually a criticism of the timer:

http://www.baddesigns.com/timer.html

There's a couple of timers on this page. The chrome and black one
is kind of nice:

http://makeashorterlink.com/?V28E15F26

Three problems I can see you facing. 1) Digital timers are
everywhere. 2) Mechanical kitchen timers tend to cover a full 60
minutes, which makes gradiations between the minutes difficult to
set. 3) The 1 hour timers seem to all require you to turn it past
15 minutes to "arm" it and then back down to periods less than
that.

Tough question. Good one, but tough.

Derek

P.S. The above sites were provided with full knowledge that you may
well already have seen them.

--

Does it seem strange to anyone else that grass roots promotion of
"Take Back Your Time Day" encourages people to give up more of that
precious 'time' to which the day supposedly is dedicated?

Dog Ma 1 wrote:

> Using an egg timer to brew black teas has really made a difference over just
> wandering off for a while. (Electronic timers don't seem to fit the
> aesthetic.) I've only found 3-minute timers in kitchen shops. Would really
> like a 5-minute "hourglass" that I can mark for 3.5, 4 and 4.5 minutes.
> Anybody know where to find such an item? Google didn't turn up a US source,
> but I might have set the search too narrowly.
>
> Thanks-
>
> DM

Here?

http://www.delpozzo.com/hourglasses.htm

They seem to have everything from a cute (but useless) keychain 5second 'hourglass'
to a huge 2 hour one and just about everything in between.
The 'useful' ones are kind of expensive or what they do, but they're shipped from CA
(so at least it's a US source), and most of them are quite decorative.

I especially like the antiqued italian hanging hourglass because of the attention
to detail (like the 6 beads on the wire so you can tell how many times you've
turned it ), though I'm aware it's not the one you're looking for.

--Leigh

Once upon a time, "Dog Ma 1" (reply w/o
spam)> wrote:

>...Would really like a 5-minute "hourglass"

If you have no luck finding the hourglass timer, I'd like to
suggest a mechanical, digital read-out timer I found at Radio
Shack. It counts up or down, can be set in 10-second
intervals,up to 13 hours. It automatically resets to the last
setting (in case you want the same amount of time again) but is
easily cleared to zero by a reset button. I used it in my tea
class and really like it.

It looks like an egg, flat on the bottom. Twist bottom to set
time. I'm checking mine for a model number. All I find is a
catalog number 63-934. Powered by one AAA battery. I think I
paid $7 for it.

My local store is out of them, or I would have several more.

Martha

Ito En (www.itoen.com) sells a timer that is a wooden triangular prism
with 1, 3, and 5 minute hourglasses set on the sides (one on each
side). However, it's rather expensive ($25, not including shipping).
The site appears to be that of Ito En North America (maybe Ito En NY),
so it would be a US company.

ZBL

"Dog Ma 1" (reply w/o spam)> wrote in message >...
> Using an egg timer to brew black teas has really made a difference over just
> wandering off for a while. (Electronic timers don't seem to fit the
> aesthetic.) I've only found 3-minute timers in kitchen shops. Would really
> like a 5-minute "hourglass" that I can mark for 3.5, 4 and 4.5 minutes.
> Anybody know where to find such an item? Google didn't turn up a US source,
> but I might have set the search too narrowly.
>
> Thanks-
>
> DM

"Zephyrus" > wrote in message
om...
> Ito En (www.itoen.com) sells a timer that is a wooden triangular prism
> with 1, 3, and 5 minute hourglasses set on the sides (one on each
> side). However, it's rather expensive ($25, not including shipping).
> The site appears to be that of Ito En North America (maybe Ito En NY),
> so it would be a US company.
>
> ZBL

It's actually a Japanese company. I used to buy matcha au lait from vending
machines in Japan. I knew many who thought it was sacrilege to drink matcha
with milk and sugar, but I liked it :-). FWIW, I also like matcha served
the traditional way, wagashi and all.

rona

--
***For e-mail, replace .com with .ca Sorry for the inconvenience!***

"Dog Ma 1" (reply w/o spam)> wrote in message
...
> Using an egg timer to brew black teas has really made a difference over
just
> wandering off for a while. (Electronic timers don't seem to fit the
> aesthetic.) I've only found 3-minute timers in kitchen shops. Would really
> like a 5-minute "hourglass" that I can mark for 3.5, 4 and 4.5 minutes.
> Anybody know where to find such an item? Google didn't turn up a US
source,
> but I might have set the search too narrowly.


People's views probably differ on how critical +/- 20% is brewing time, but
if you're view is that it *is* important, I would suggest considering
something other than an egg timer, or testing the egg timer so see if you're
actually getting the timing you're expecting.

I won't bore you with the details, but I was in the psotion of having my
staff test the accuracy of a egg timer product a few years ago and we found
that timers labeled as "5 minutes" averaged at 3:40. When we confronted the
manufacturer about this he said the product was labeled incorrectly and
should have been identified as a 4-minute timer. Even then, it was about
10-15% off.

Just a thought. I use a digital.

Warren Liebold

Dog Ma 1 wrote:
> Using an egg timer to brew black teas has really made a difference over just
> wandering off for a while. (Electronic timers don't seem to fit the
> aesthetic.) I've only found 3-minute timers in kitchen shops. Would really
> like a 5-minute "hourglass" that I can mark for 3.5, 4 and 4.5 minutes.
> Anybody know where to find such an item? Google didn't turn up a US source,
> but I might have set the search too narrowly.
>
> Thanks-
>
> DM

Check out this link: http://www.exclusivegifts.com/html/hourglass.htm
they have different timers, all for decent pricing (considering that
hour or *minute* glasses/sand timers are considered *specialty* or
*novelty* items these days. This is a US source

BTW, I used the search keywords *sand timer* in Google and got lots of
appropriate hits.

Catherine K.