I purchased both this and the cold brew coffee maker as a way to make my own beverages at home and save some money as well. They are both great products and you might be wondering if they are different at all. First of all, this product works great. Like all Japanese products, it feels high-quality. It is essentially a pitcher with a two-piece detachable filter and an airtight lid with basically two "notch" positions - closed and "open enough to pour," though you'll probably just take the lid off when you serve. The pitcher is oblong, which doesn't come through in the pictures, so you can lay it on its side, though this is only recommended for the cold brew coffee maker and not this one, which is intended to be used upright only. The handle is also big and thick, with a rubberized grip. The differences between this and the cold brew coffee maker are basically that the filter material used feels different. The cold brew coffee maker has a silky, denser mesh, while this one is a more standard, coarse, more open mesh. You can buy replacements for either one. You can either cold brew your tea like I do, which works the same way as the coffee maker, or you can use the "flash chill" method, which is basically a method where you pour hot water directly into the pitcher with the filter and tea inside, seal it, let it brew, take the filter out, screw the lid back on airtight after you drop ice cubes inside the pitcher, and shake it until it is chilled and ready to serve. This method of pouring hot water directly into the maker is only for this, although everything is exactly the same as the cold brew coffee maker except for the filter so I'm pretty sure you can use that method with the coffee maker as well, although again the filter material itself is different. The iced tea maker also comes with a little cup that acts as a holder for the filter, which can stand up by itself when the lid is not screwed on. The coffee maker does not come with the cup. I also found that, in general, tea soaks up less water than coffee, so I had to take out the coffee maker halfway through the brew, maybe before I went to sleep, and fill it up with some more water, whereas I didn't have to do that with the iced tea maker. I did find that the handle part of the pitcher where the lid screws in, the actual colored part, often feels slightly loose and made me feel like I had to tighten it slightly. Please note that only the color of this piece and the lid are different. The two-piece filter only comes in black no matter what color you choose. One piece of the filter screws into the lid and the actual filter part screws into that first piece. It has a flat bottom, so can stand-up by itself, as previously mentioned. Of course, this is a great airtight pitcher in and of itself, even when you're not using the filter and just need something big to mix/shake a drink in and pour it. Some of my favorites to make in this maker have been sencha green tea, which I find works better as an iced tea than regular green tea or matcha, various rooibos herbal teas, and a great maple black tea I found at Trader Joe's. I've needed 5-6 tea bags per pitcher, though the instruction manual says 8 bags. The iced tea maker seems to come in brighter colors than the coffee maker. Takeya also makes a spa water infuser version of this with a more open plastic filter, but you can easily use this or the coffee maker and just infusion spa water by dropping fruit directly into the water, without having to use the filters at all, which will give you a stronger flavor anyway.
