Does this appliance exist in the US?

[Hassouni]

In Turkey, teahouses, restaurants, and cafes have a device for brewing and serving Turkish tea, called a çay kazanı (lit. tea cauldron), where the big tank holds boiling water with a spout to pour some off for each glass of tea, and the top has hotplates or vents for steam on which teapots are set to brew. There is often a hot plate on the side for making Turkish coffee as well, though that's not universal. They can range in size from able to hold one to four teapots. An example can be seen on this site: http://www.pimak.com/hazirlik-ekipmanlari/m024-m024.html

Is there anything like this available in the States? Something that holds boiling water with a spout to release it, and has a heating element on top?

[Jenni]

Are you looking to buy? I googled "buy çay kazanı in US" and got plenty of results but mostly in Turkish so I have no idea if they are relevant or helpful.

[thock]

Try a samovar. Oddly enough, I was reading about samovars, just today, for some reason.

samovar

[Kerry Beal]

Check the Bunn site - they make quite a variety of similar items - mostly for coffee however.

[andiesenji]

While those appliances are certainly ideal for larger restaurants, there are many little places where they wouldn't be ideal so there are a few work-arounds.

I read your question earlier this morning, before reading Kerry's answer. I had to do some shopping so,

I asked the lady at the local middle eastern market that has a tiny cafe attached (only 4 tables but they do a lot of take out) and she showed me two of the Zojirushi beverage dispensers, one for "regular" tea and one for mint tea and two electric 5-liter hot water dispensers, also Zojirushi.

She told me that the commercial tea 'machines' cost too much and take up too much space and there is no room where they would be near the water pipes. The Zo water boilers and accessories and extras, fit on a rolling cart so they can move them to the sink for filling and put them out so customers can add as much hot water as they want to the tea.

They also sell tea bags that some people prefer to the brewed tea.

5-liter Zo

tea dispensers

Edited October 16, 2011 by andiesenji (log)

[Norm Matthews]

They make hot water dispensers for your sink. Not just the hot water from your tap but a separate devise can be installed that will dispense really how water on demand. Not nearly as glamorous as a Zouirushi but very practical. I use to have one and made tea one cup at a time with it whenever I wanted some. No prior set up required. Just have it installed and it is ready to go whenever you want hot water for soup or coffee or tea or whatever.

[Hassouni]

This would be for a commercial establishment (that doesn't exist yet), and it would be for Russian/Turkish/Iraqi/Persian style tea (see my thread on Iraqi tea for more details). So basically, I need boiling water (not just hot, but over 200ºF) and a space to heat the teapot, either by steam (preferable), or on a hotplate as shown on the Turkish device.

The Zojirushi electric kettle thing would be good for the water, but as far as the separate beverage dispenser goes, I would still need something to brew the tea on...it seems that dispenser requires the liquid it dispenses to be already made.

Also, at these prices, I might as well just get a few samovars at $100-ish each. It'd just be nice to have a central hot water supply.

Edited October 16, 2011 by Hassouni (log)

[Heartsurgeon]

perhaps one of these would work?

Turkish teapots

Edited October 17, 2011 by Heartsurgeon (log)

[Hassouni]

I have something sort of like that for home use, I want something for heavier commercial use.