I bought this afternoon and I already love it. I did some
experimenting with it and have come up with the perfect recipe for ice tea. (Georgia style)

Disregard the recipe in the booklet though. It only makes about a quart not the 3 quarts promised. Here is my recipe.

Put 5 family sized tea bags in the filter. ( 1 family sized tea bag is the size of three regular sized tea bags) Add 1/8th cup sugar to the filter with the tea bags to cut the bitterness, it will not taste sweet. Fill the water tank, put ice in the pitcher to the 2 QTS. mark and start.

You will have three quarts of perfect iced tea every time.

I purchased this for my son & daughter-in-law when their tea maker quit.
I have owned this for 3 years. Makes great tea. Only negative is seam in front of pitcher tends to crack over time and it's actually cheaper to buy a whole new tea maker than replace the pitcher.

I used to use the old style tea maker years ago (I was happy with that one). I wanted to try a tea maker again, so I bought this one. The first round of tea was very weak. I put in an additional filter to see if that would help the water brew longer, but it was still weak. I returned it to the store, and this is how I am currently making tea:

I use my regular coffee pot (12 cup capacity) with 6-9 bags of tea (depending on how strong I want it). I have a 1 gallon pitcher, and I fill that up with ice. When the tea has finished brewing, I add sugar if I want, then I pour the hot liquid over the ice. It makes the tea cold and ready to drink, plus I have a lot more than just 2-3 quarts.

This works just fine for me--I don't have to worry about a cracking pitcher because the glass coffee pot can handle the heat. I also do not have to store an extra base housing unit that really only serves one function. I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but it is essentially the exact same thing that is being done with the tea maker, except you don't have to buy any additional equipment.

With Mr Coffee Ice Tea Maker, you never have to wait for a pot to boil again. Set it up (quick and easy), turn it on, and then get on with your other chores.

That's right - we've had ours over 12 years, with 2 pitchers, and no cracks or breaks. 3 pitchers of great tea, any kind we like, week in, week out, 12 years. I don't know why other people report cracks, but we love ours and when it dies, we'll buy another.

Furthermore, we wash the pitchers in the dishwasher (you're not supposed to), air dry. We probably clean the brewing unit less often than we should, but we do clean it with coffeemaker cleaner or vinegar. We always clean out the steeping "basket" and lid every time we use it, right after brewing. That keeps the tea tasting good and keeps it easy-to-clean.

Be nice to it, use plenty of ice like you're supposed to, and don't shove the pitchers up under the built-in fridge icemaker spout, and you'll probably enjoy it as much as we have.

It's a great, great product, and as I am turning into a grumpy old coot, I don't say that about many things.