Of course, tea means different things to different people in different situations, and expectations vary according to taste and experience. Tea drinkers who perhaps have less refined and demanding taste buds and are used to very ordinary, standard, rather bland tea may be perfectly satisfied with liquor that has been brewed by steeping a teabag for perhaps 20 seconds in near-boiling water. They may have no wish to expand their horizons and are not tempted to try something different or of better quality. For them, a variety of machines that brew and dispense fast and convenient cups of tea (in usually about 15-20 seconds) using ‘teapods’ or ‘fresh release’ foil sachets are available for use at home, in the office, hairdressers, car showroom, cinema foyer, etc. Several of the big tea blenders and packers now offer a variety of pods that are designed for use in a range of espresso-type machines from brands such as Flavia, Senseo, La Piccola, Keurig, Astoria, Braun and Bosch. These pods and sachets usually offer predictable flavors such as English Breakfast, Earl Grey, spicy Chai blends, various green teas, and herbals such as chamomile, peppermint and rooibos.

But discerning tea drinkers find the liquor that dribbles out of these machines into the cup totally unappealing. Admittedly, this is not necessarily the fault of the machine, and the quality of the tea in the pod or foil sachet carries a large proportion of the responsibility.

Taste tests carried out on some of these products (by removing the tea from inside the pods and sachets and brewing them in the traditional manner using teapots and boiling water from the kettle) produce liquors that are just as disappointing and poor quality as when dispensed from the machines. What are the criteria that drive manufacturers to buy and customers to choose such teas? Is it price, size of leaf, perceived consumer preference? It is certainly not quality and flavor! And it is obvious that these fast-brew, automatic machines are selected as out-of-home hot drinks dispensers (as an easy, lazy option) by procurement managers who have no understanding of and no interest in offering an acceptable cup of tea (or coffee, come to that).

However, there is one machine that has successfully adapted espresso technology to the art of tea brewing and really does deliver very good quality tea liquor for use in tea lattes and frappes, iced teas and tea cocktails.

The Teapresso, a Taiwanese-German invention made by Klüb Manufacturing Corporation, was launched several years ago in countries such as Taiwan, China and Japan where high beverage sales demanded a high-powered, fast and efficient brewing system and today, teapressos are also operating very successfully in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Canada and the US. The machine is available as simply a tea-brewing machine, or as a dual coffee and tea machine, thus making it the ideal option for use in bars, cafes and restaurants that wish to serve both beverages.

"Purchasers of teapresso machines are buying them for two reasons – for the plethora of lattes and iced teas they make and to demonstrate their seriousness and dedication to quality and service," exlained Brendan Waye, a Canadian-based tea consultant who has been using and demo-ing the machine since it was first launched. "Anyone can create and develop a unique expertise using a teapresso."

The machine looks good on the counter, takes up little space, is easy to operate and makes the preparation of modern, interesting tea drinks quick, easy, efficient and as theatrical as the brewing of cappuccinos and lattes, macchiatos and espressos. Brewing times and temperatures can be adjusted to suit each individual tea, the porta filter can be filled with quality, loose leaf tea, with a gauze, pyramid teabag, or with a specially-designed pod. However, Waye prefers not to use pods.

"I have yet to see a good pod – I have focused on loose tea, broken leaf and CTC," he said. "I train teahouses who have a wide selection of loose leaf teas and tisanes to customize their beverage offering and get better results by using a little more leaf, a slightly different extraction time and the right temperature. The machine does an amazing job forcing the essence from the leaf without damaging it."

The shot of tea liquor that pours through the filtering system can be served straight or blended with ice, fruit, yoghurt, ice cream, milk, etc to produce an interesting range of customized tea-based drinks. According to Waye, "Customers who were consuming tea lattes before the teapresso arrived have said the drinks are now significantly better. The teapresso opens up the doors for teahouses and tea bars to create an endless array of drinks that are all tea or infusion based and do it quickly! The tea bar can now compete drink for drink with the hippest coffee bars."

Ever since the Teasmade became available in the 1930s, inventive tea companies have been trying to build a machine that brews good black, green, white and black teas without the use of kettles, timers and thermometers.

The results of some of their efforts have now given us more modern versions of the Teasmade (which have really only changed the look rather than the function of the machine and the modern style is in fact much uglier than the sleek art deco creation), the TriniTEA electric teamaker, the Zarafina tea maker, the Breville tea maker, and the Fine T machine.

These last four all address the crucial need for temperature and timing control but vary in the number of settings and extra features they offer and the amount of time taken to heat the water and deliver the tea.

The TriniTEA electric maker from Adagio looks like a filter coffee machine and has three controls – the power switch, one for steeping time, the other for water temperature. It’s very simple to use – pour enough water for up to four cups into the top chamber, measure a suitable quantity of tea into the steeping chamber, select the correct settings for the particular tea being brewed, and press the power switch.

The clear, bright liquor flows into the teapot without any loose particles of leaf and with good clean flavor, and a hotplate keeps the tea warm until the machine is switched off. After use, it’s easy to clean since all the parts – infusing chamber, basket, lid, and teapot - are all dishwasher proof.,

"It’s not easy being a tea drinker in our coffee-obsessed society," says Michael Cramer, Adagio’s marketing manager. "While coffee devices are affordable and easy-to-use, tea drinkers haven’t had the same luxury. Our device hopefully puts an end to this, infusing tea preparation with a novel ingredient – convenience."

The Zarafina tea maker is a little less compact and stylish than the TriniTEA and has 10 buttons to control tea bag or loose tea brew, timing, water temperature, strong or light brew, etc. It’s as easy to use as the TriniTEA but it only brews two cups at a time, has no hotplate, all the parts have to be washed by hand, and costs half as much again as the TriniTEA machine.

The Breville tea maker looks like a very smart, large, glass kettle with an infusing basket inside. Like the TriniTEA and the Zarafina, it offers different settings for different teas (black, green, oolong, white, herbal, or ‘custom’), a strong/light option, a digital display that shows the temperature and a timer countdown, a ‘keep warm’ button, and a facility to preset it for a time later in the day or the next morning. All the user has to do is fill the required amount of water into the kettle, scoop tea into the infusing basket, slip the basket into the neck of the kettle, put on the lid, and choose the appropriate settings. Once the water has reached the required temperature, the basket slides gently down into the water and remains there for the correct steeping time, then slowly slides up again, separating the leaves from the hot liquor. It’s clever, neat and stylish, but at US$300 it is expensive.

The Fine T machine from Meyer combines good looks, simplicity and very efficient quality brewing. To operate, fill the upper chamber with enough water for up to four large cups, lever open the central brewing chamber (as big as a Cona coffee filter basket and therefore gives the tea leaves plenty of room to absorb water, swirl around and brew properly), and then select one of 8 programs.

Temperatures and timings have been pre-selected for different categories of tea and there are very few teas that do not fit comfortably into one or other of the programs – black tea steeped for three minutes at 95ºC (203ºF), green tea steeped at two minutes at 70ºC (158ºF), white tea stepped for five minutes at 70ºC (158ºF), herbals steeped for five minutes at 95ºC (203ºF), etc.

With its digital timer, it can be set up for later or for wake-up time the following morning, it has a hotplate that stays switched on for half an hour after the tea has brewed, at every stage of the brewing process a mini digital screen shows what is happening and how long each particular part of the program has to run, and it’s extremely easy to clean and care for.

It is expensive but it’s the sort of easy-to-use, clever machine that suddenly becomes totally indispensible and very much a part of everyday routine.

A good deal of thought and creative engineering has been devoted to the creation of these machines and no doubt other inventions will make an appearance in the future to add to the choice. What is impressive about the most recent of these tea robots is that they take on board all the important questions and concerns that underpin good brewing.

Any tea lover who rigidly shuns modern brewing inventions will be surprised at how well some of these machines work and what good tea they are capable of brewing.