For this year's Kitchen Gear and Coffee Awards, we’ve added a new breakout category: tea!
This year, we spent months reviewing 300 products — including appliances, cookware, kettles, beans, tea bags and more — to determine the best of the best. Our in-house team of Kitchen Appliance Lab analysts, Test Kitchen pros and registered dietitians teamed up with judges Kaleena Teoh, the cofounder and director of education at Coffee Project New York, and tea sommelier Gabrielle Jammal — plus more than 1,000 consumer testers! — to find the most innovative products on the market right now.
The full list of winners will be announced on October 18 right here on GoodHousekeeping.com, but we're sharing a sneak peek this week on the Today show. Shop our preview picks below, and check out our 2022 Kitchen Gear and Coffee Awards winners here.
Selling beans from lesser-known coffee regions and featuring a finer grind and more grounds per cup than competitors, Atlas Coffee Club is known for its subscription service that's based on your preferences and what coffee machine you have. Now the company has introduced single-serve pods filled with the same premium coffee it sells in bags.
LAB RESULTS: Testers liked the full-bodied taste of the coffee made from these pods.
Coffee grinders can be loud. This one from Proctor Silex muffles the sound by incorporating two lids into its design. It's small yet powerful and the grinding container comes out so you can easily fill your coffee filter.
LAB RESULTS: Contributing Lab Analyst Jamie Ueda noticed that this coffee grinder was quieter than others she tested side-by-side. Two of our home testers commented on it being quiet as well.
This nondairy whipped cream from Whipshots, made in collaboration with Cardi B., is infused with vodka. It’s shelf-stable, so you don’t need to refrigerate it.
LAB RESULTS: This was one of the most fun products we tested. It’s alcohol-forward but perfectly sweet and creamy. We enjoyed it in
coffee, on ice cream and other desserts and on its own. It comes in lime, vanilla, mocha and caramel flavors.
Briefly aged in a whiskey barrel, this loose black tea from Oliver Pluff & Co. smells smoky with a hint of sweetness. It also has a smoky flavor — but more subtle.
LAB RESULTS: One trend we're starting to see more and more of: tea in mocktails. One tester suggested serving this over ice, while another said it would be great on a cold, snowy day.
"Tea can be quite hydrating, and arguably even healthier than water since it carries loads of nutritious properties," says Good Housekeeping Institute Nutrition Lab Director Stefani Sassos. This product from The Tea Spot helps you drink even more. It screws onto most mason jars and has a built in strainer so you can filter your cold-brewed tea as you pour.
LAB RESULTS: Lab Analyst Eva Bleyer loves using hers to make herbal cold brew teas like hibiscus, saying that the flavor deepens over time without getting bitter. Plus, it's just more fun than drinking water!
Boba are chewy tapioca balls that are used to make boba tea, a classically sweet Taiwanese drink. It’s normally enjoyed away from home, but Bobabam has created pouches that allow you to make seven different flavors yourself. Just microwave it and add it to a cup with ice and milk or water for a treat.
LAB RESULTS: This drink was easy to make, and our testers thought the boba had good chew and wasn’t too sweet.
