Countdowners with Kettles

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Tue May 24, 2011 11:47 am

Since Joseph hasn't made this topic already I thought I'd make it because I just bought this new kettle, the Breville Hot Cup.

The reviews are mostly positive although a lot of people complain about the following facts:

- you can only ever get 250ml out of it, no more, no less
- boiling water for like vegetables and stuff is out of the question
- serving multiple cups of tea for when friends come round is difficult

The first 'negative' point won't be too bad for me as my tea mugs (of which I have 5 that I rotate) are either roughly 250ml or twice as big so I can just do two servings in the big ones. I don't eat vegetables either so that drawback won't affect me and I don't have friends so I will only ever need it for a solo serving.

Overall I think I've maybe got a good kettle on my hands, rather than the sub £10 one from Argos which has lasted little over 6 months. It will be quick, give clear hot water and is energy efficient (all of which my current kettle does not do). It's not come yet but I'm actually a bit excited about it coming and can't wait to try it out.

What kettle do you have and what qualities do you look for in a kettle? Anyone else got this kettle? If you don't have a kettle then you can go stand in the corner with the people that don't have freezers.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Tue May 24, 2011 11:59 am

I thought the main problem with that kettle (or possibly just one that's like it) is that the water you get isn't actually quite boiling, which messes stuff up. That said, this is based off a memory from about 2 years ago, so maybe they've improved the technology since then.

My first kettle was a Tesco Value one that cost about £5 which I got just before starting uni. It comfortably survived through three years as an undergrad and in fact never actually died on me - I got a new one when I moved to London since I was excited about having a new kettle, and whilst the replacement was a known brand it died within months. I've currently got a pretty boring kettle that I can't find a picture of online, but it has a nice blue light on it which is fun. I think I would like to get something like this at some point though, because I make so much tea I may as well make the kettle boiling part of it as fun as possible as well.

Jon Corby · Post by **Jon Corby** » Tue May 24, 2011 12:13 pm

I love hotel room kettles that take so long to actually start doing anything that you're on the phone to reception asking for a new kettle when they finally start to make a noise.

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Tue May 24, 2011 12:17 pm

Michael Wallace wrote:I thought the main problem with that kettle (or possibly just one that's like it) is that the water you get isn't actually quite boiling, which messes stuff up. That said, this is based off a memory from about 2 years ago, so maybe they've improved the technology since then.

In the item description it did say it goes to 100 degrees celsius so I'm hoping this is the case. I'll get my thermometer out to check. (I don't own a thermometer).

Michael Wallace wrote:My first kettle was a Tesco Value one that cost about £5 which I got just before starting uni. It comfortably survived through three years as an undergrad and in fact never actually died on me

That's pretty awesome. This one hasn't died at all but I'm unhappy with the bittyness of the water. And rather than go buy some descaling stuff and new filters this one just caught my eye and I thought I'll just have a complete change because it looks better.

Michael Wallace wrote:I think I would like to get something like this

I did come across this one when browsing and consdidered it. I think it was just the gimmicky nature of the Hot Cup that made me go for that one. Also at the back of my mind was a time when I was round at someone's house and they had filled the kettle to the top and it took (no word of a lie) at least 5 minutes to boil. I can't be sure it was this kettle but it was definitely a glass kettle that looked a bit like this one so that incident was kind of at the back of my mind when I looked at it.

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Tue May 24, 2011 12:19 pm

Jon Corby wrote:I love hotel room kettles that take so long to actually start doing anything that you're on the phone to reception asking for a new kettle when they finally start to make a noise.

Ha yeah, these are really shit. And the way that you have to unplug the whole thing to go fill it up as well always amuses me (at least in the hotels I've stayed in, none of them have bases for the kettle).

Lesley Hines · Post by **Lesley Hines** » Tue May 24, 2011 12:32 pm

We've got an urn that we never use cos it's horribly slow to heat, doesn't get properly hot, the water dribbles out of it and the spout isn't high enough to put anything taller than a saucer under*.

I always buy kettles that boil as fast as possible, can open the lid with a button that can be operated with the same hand on the handle (since we refill it frequently when it's still hot so you don't scald your hand opening it), largest capacity possible and cordless. These are usually horribly expensive. A couple of years ago I had a really groovy one that lit up and changed colours while it was boiling but it lasted for exactly 7 weeks. Fortunately horribly expensive kettles usually aren't too ugly for what they are.

We put ordinary cordless kettles in the rooms, too. They're cheaper to buy than little hotel kettles and means that if guests want to fill hot water bottles (popular with Land's End - John O' Groats cyclists) / warm babies' bottles / have a Pot Noodle for more than one person at a time / self-harm etc. they're not bugging me at stupid o'clock to heat stuff for it. Everyone's a winner - don't understand why everyone doesn't

*Slight exaggeration, but only slight.

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Tue May 24, 2011 1:05 pm

Is it just me or are all kettles really loud? I hate them.

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Fri May 27, 2011 3:42 pm

So I finished my last exam today and whilst walking home was in an excellent mood. My mood got even better when I got back and saw that my kettle had arrived.

Negatives: On the box it said there may be some residue left from quality controlled testing on the product and sure enough when I opened it the main kettle part had water on it and traces inside it which had also made the manual very wet too but then again I didn't need the manual. I don't see why they couldn't just dry it? Because the water pours automatically this could pose a serious health risk to small children so I wouldn't advise getting this if you have someone in the house that doesn't understand the principle that boiling water is harmful.

Positives: Fuck me, it really is fast. I couldn't even watch a full 30 second round of Countdown by the time it had both boiled AND poured me my drink. It was nice and clear too (but then that should be expected of any kettle). The 250ml amount was the perfect amount for my mug too.

On the whole, it's good for individual use and for the shear speed of it so when I want to pop downstairs and make a cup of tea it literally takes just 1 minute for the tea to be made and for me to be sat comfortably back in my computer chair.

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Fri May 27, 2011 3:52 pm

Ryan Taylor wrote:So I finished my last exam today and whilst walking home was in an excellent mood. My mood got even better when I got back and saw that my kettle had arrived.

Negatives: On the box it said there may be some residue left from quality controlled testing on the product and sure enough when I opened it the main kettle part had water on it and traces inside it which had also made the manual very wet too but then again I didn't need the manual. I don't see why they couldn't just dry it? Because the water pours automatically this could pose a serious health risk to small children so I wouldn't advise getting this if you have someone in the house that doesn't understand the principle that boiling water is harmful.

Positives: Fuck me, it really is fast. I couldn't even watch a full 30 second round of Countdown by the time it had both boiled AND poured me my drink. It was nice and clear too (but then that should be expected of any kettle). The 250ml amount was the perfect amount for my mug too.

On the whole, it's good for individual use and for the shear speed of it so when I want to pop downstairs and make a cup of tea it literally takes just 1 minute for the tea to be made and for me to be sat comfortably back in my computer chair.

Sounds like you're one of the few people in the world that this gimmicky piece of crap might actually be of any use to.

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Fri May 27, 2011 4:07 pm

Jon O'Neill wrote:Sounds like you're one of the few people in the world that this gimmicky piece of crap might actually be of any use to.

It isn't loud either, you'd like it. How dare you call it a piece of crap.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Fri May 27, 2011 4:10 pm

This sounds pretty exciting. I'm going to time my kettle next time I make tea to see how long it takes, might be worth investing in one of these things given the number of cups of tea I make in a day.

Mark James · Post by **Mark James** » Fri May 27, 2011 4:12 pm

I don't like tea or coffee. My kettle is used mainly for killing ants and defrosting car windows.

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Fri May 27, 2011 4:20 pm

Michael Wallace wrote:This sounds pretty exciting. I'm going to time my kettle next time I make tea to see how long it takes, might be worth investing in one of these things given the number of cups of tea I make in a day.

If you are being serious then I did just time how long it took for the whole process and I got the stopclock at 1:57. This includes going downstairs, getting a mug, getting milk/teabag out, boiling of the water, squeezing teabag, adding the sugar, quick stir and then walking back up the stairs so not to spill cup of tea. I could probably do it faster but my point is that you comfortably have a cup of tea made in less than 2 minutes every time. I'm not sure if it will wear off though.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Fri May 27, 2011 4:25 pm

Ryan Taylor wrote:
Michael Wallace wrote:This sounds pretty exciting. I'm going to time my kettle next time I make tea to see how long it takes, might be worth investing in one of these things given the number of cups of tea I make in a day.
If you are being serious then I did just time how long it took for the whole process and I got the stopclock at 1:57. This includes going downstairs, getting a mug, getting milk/teabag out, boiling of the water, squeezing teabag, adding the sugar, quick stir and then walking back up the stairs so not to spill cup of tea. I could probably do it faster but my point is that you comfortably have a cup of tea made in less than 2 minutes every time. I'm not sure if it will wear off though.

I've never been sold on the teabag squeezing thing. I'll do it if I'm in a hurry, but I much prefer pot-based tea, which may make the time saved on the water boiling ultimately not that big a proportional saving on my tea-making experience.

I just had a look for your thing on amazon, and there's a really bad advert for it on the page. Well worth a watch, imo.

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Fri May 27, 2011 4:35 pm

Michael Wallace wrote: I just had a look for your thing on amazon, and there's a really bad advert for it on the page. Well worth a watch, imo.

OMG. With that music and her voice I felt like I was watching kettle porn.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Fri May 27, 2011 4:37 pm

Ryan Taylor wrote:
Michael Wallace wrote: I just had a look for your thing on amazon, and there's a really bad advert for it on the page. Well worth a watch, imo.
OMG. With that music and her voice I felt like I was watching kettle porn.

Inorite. And it was just generally really crap at telling me why I needed this kettle. "Do you want boiling water at the touch of a button?" yes I do, but you can get that from any kettle. I wanted action shots of people climbing mountains who don't have time to wait for their kettle to boil, and need exactly 250ml of hot hot water.

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Fri May 27, 2011 4:39 pm

Michael Wallace wrote:
Ryan Taylor wrote:
Michael Wallace wrote: I just had a look for your thing on amazon, and there's a really bad advert for it on the page. Well worth a watch, imo.
OMG. With that music and her voice I felt like I was watching kettle porn.
Inorite. And it was just generally really crap at telling me why I needed this kettle. "Do you want boiling water at the touch of a button?" yes I do, but you can get that from any kettle. I wanted action shots of people climbing mountains who don't have time to wait for their kettle to boil, and need exactly 250ml of hot hot water.

The clip they show of the actual pouring (played at the beginning and repeated at the end) is actually pretty shit as it shows the water pouring onto the rim and down the side of the cup. I think only people who appear on The Apprentice can rival that advert in terms of patheticness!

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Fri May 27, 2011 4:55 pm

Ryan Taylor wrote:I did just time how long it took for the whole process and I got the stopclock at 1:57. This includes going downstairs, getting a mug, getting milk/teabag out, boiling of the water, squeezing teabag, adding the sugar, quick stir and then walking back up the stairs so not to spill cup of tea.

Sorry, where does the minimum of four minutes that tea takes to brew properly fit into that?

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Fri May 27, 2011 5:22 pm

Phil Reynolds wrote:
Ryan Taylor wrote:I did just time how long it took for the whole process and I got the stopclock at 1:57. This includes going downstairs, getting a mug, getting milk/teabag out, boiling of the water, squeezing teabag, adding the sugar, quick stir and then walking back up the stairs so not to spill cup of tea.
Sorry, where does the minimum of four minutes that tea takes to brew properly fit into that?

Whilst you are brewing your tea I have made 2 cups of tea and done 2 lots of exercise up and down the stairs.

Phil Reynolds · Post by **Phil Reynolds** » Fri May 27, 2011 5:28 pm

Ryan Taylor wrote:Whilst you are brewing your tea I have made 2 cups of tea and done 2 lots of exercise up and down the stairs.

You may have made two cups of brown, vaguely tea-flavoured liquid. But you have not made tea.

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Fri May 27, 2011 5:30 pm

Phil Reynolds wrote:
Ryan Taylor wrote:Whilst you are brewing your tea I have made 2 cups of tea and done 2 lots of exercise up and down the stairs.
You may have made two cups of brown, vaguely tea-flavoured liquid. But you have not made tea.

Good tea is subjective. A bit like the arts.

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Fri May 27, 2011 7:38 pm

Tea is for cunts. Can it make coffee any quicker?

EDIT: Or Pot Noodles? (which is what RB seems to think I live on.)

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Sat May 28, 2011 12:09 am

lol this thing,i think me and the reynolds agree, is a piece of crap lool

Andy Wilson · Post by **Andy Wilson** » Sat May 28, 2011 12:55 am

have a nice cup of tea and listen to this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBhlRY5LpZw

Jon O'Neill · Post by **Jon O'Neill** » Sat May 28, 2011 11:16 am

Andy Wilson wrote:have a nice cup of tea and listen to this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBhlRY5LpZw

Yes yes yes. I'm doing that!

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Sat May 28, 2011 11:26 am

Jon O'Neill wrote:lol this thing,i think me and the reynolds agree, is a piece of crap lool

I've started drinking now and won't be stopping until I come home tomorrow. Be prepared for a drunken backlash sometime after 2am. Nobody calls my kettle a piece of crap.

Mark James · Post by **Mark James** » Sat May 28, 2011 2:57 pm

Andy Wilson wrote:have a nice cup of tea and listen to this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBhlRY5LpZw

Meh, I think Arcade Fire are a bit rubbish really. I seem to not like bands that people claim have saved their lives. I much prefer bands that make people realise life is shit. Although I do like The Polyphonic Spree who are quite cheerful.

Soph K · Post by **Soph K** » Sat May 28, 2011 2:58 pm

kettles suck. short, simple, sweet. everybody EAT! i just wanted it to rhyme................................so lets all have a good time!!!! i like things to rhyme......ok this is getting on everyones nerves, including mine.........

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Sat May 28, 2011 4:43 pm

So I just timed my kettle and it took 2'40'' to boil the water for my tea. The total tea-time is then 7'40'' (boiling+brewing) which would presumably be shaved to around 5'30'' with Ryan's kettle. I think if I had a bigger kitchen it might be cool, but as it is I think it's a bit hard to justify.

(Thankyou Raccoon-san, that was very interesting.)

Chris Corby · Post by **Chris Corby** » Sat May 28, 2011 5:27 pm

My kettle has three settings for temperature:

85c - hot drinks, such as Blackcurrent and Orange
95c - Coffee - boiling water on instant coffee ruins the taste
100c - Tea

Turns itself off when required temperature is reached.

If you are making a cup of instant coffee with an ordinary kettle and it inadvertently boils, you might as well throw the water away and start again.

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Sat May 28, 2011 7:15 pm

Chris Corby wrote:If you are making a cup of instant coffee with an ordinary kettle and it inadvertently boils, you might as well throw the water away and start again.

Fuck you, just burnt my hand to shit. (this is about as much of a contribution as I can make to a kettles thread.)

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Sat May 28, 2011 10:06 pm

Kettle Chips are pretty good.

Peter Mabey · Post by **Peter Mabey** » Sun May 29, 2011 10:39 am

Chris Corby wrote: If you are making a cup of instant coffee with an ordinary kettle and it inadvertently boils, you might as well throw the water away and start again.

..and I always thought that it was just that instant coffee never tasted anything like the real stuff

Mike Brown · Post by **Mike Brown** » Sun May 29, 2011 2:26 pm

Chris Corby wrote:If you are making a cup of instant coffee with an ordinary kettle and it inadvertently boils, you might as well throw the water away and start again.

I can see why you don't want to reboil the water when making a cup of tea, but surely you can just let the water cool down a bit if you're making instant coffee? Does it really make a difference to the taste?

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Sun May 29, 2011 4:04 pm

Tea and coffee are both rubbish. It doesn't make any difference what you do with the water.

Mike Brown · Post by **Mike Brown** » Sun May 29, 2011 6:40 pm

Gavin Chipper wrote:Tea and coffee are both rubbish. It doesn't make any difference what you do with the water.

Obviously you're entitled to your opinion, but how dare you?

David Williams · Post by **David Williams** » Sun May 29, 2011 9:40 pm

The specific heat of water is 4.186 kJ/kgC. So (I think) it takes 4186 watts to raise the temperature of a litre of water by one degree celsius. If you start with 250ml at 20 degrees in any 3KW kettle you should have boiling water in under 30 seconds.

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Sun May 29, 2011 10:19 pm

David Williams wrote:The specific heat of water is 4.186 kJ/kgC. So (I think) it takes 4186 watts to raise the temperature of a litre of water by one degree celsius.

That's 4186 joules (the unit of energy), not watts (the unit of power). Also you're assuming 100% efficiency, although that's not a bad approximation for an electric heater. Also all your quoted figures are for pure deionized water, so are probably different for tap water. That's all from Pedant's Corner for today.

Chris Corby · Post by **Chris Corby** » Sun May 29, 2011 10:24 pm

Mike Brown wrote:
Chris Corby wrote:If you are making a cup of instant coffee with an ordinary kettle and it inadvertently boils, you might as well throw the water away and start again.
I can see why you don't want to reboil the water when making a cup of tea, but surely you can just let the water cool down a bit if you're making instant coffee? Does it really make a difference to the taste?

Yep, that's why Morphy Richards manufacture the aforementioned kettle. If letting it cool down a bit after boiling did the trick there would be no need for this miraculous piece of equipment, would there?

Charlie Reams · Post by **Charlie Reams** » Sun May 29, 2011 10:44 pm

Chris Corby wrote:If letting it cool down a bit after boiling did the trick there would be no need for this miraculous piece of equipment, would there?

Of course you could make an analogous argument for ouija boards, gold-plated USB cables and Justin Bieber.

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Sun May 29, 2011 10:58 pm

Does boiling the water break it?

David Williams · Post by **David Williams** » Sun May 29, 2011 11:18 pm

Charlie Reams wrote:
David Williams wrote:The specific heat of water is 4.186 kJ/kgC. So (I think) it takes 4186 watts to raise the temperature of a litre of water by one degree celsius.
That's 4186 joules (the unit of energy), not watts (the unit of power). Also you're assuming 100% efficiency, although that's not a bad approximation for an electric heater. Also all your quoted figures are for pure deionized water, so are probably different for tap water. That's all from Pedant's Corner for today.

I love it when I'm right.

John Bosley · Post by **John Bosley** » Mon May 30, 2011 5:20 am

A saucepan is cheaper.
I have this feeling that the French did not have kettles at all - but that was 60 years ago.

Lesley Hines · Post by **Lesley Hines** » Mon May 30, 2011 8:28 am

John Bosley wrote:A saucepan is cheaper.
I have this feeling that the French did not have kettles at all - but that was 60 years ago.

The Italians think kettles are unhygienic, much to my consternation in Sicily a couple of years ago.

I do like the sound of a coffee kettle - we always have to leave it after it's boiled (I've got no hope of making it to the kettle to judge it before it's boiled, and we're usually making tea at the same time) to get the crema perfect. I know that boiling it deoxygenates the water slightly which is why you don't reboil the kettle for tea. Maybe that affects the taste of the coffee too? Although touch-free soap dispensers tell me everything I need to know about 'miraculous pieces of equipment'.*

You shouldn't reboil kettles for babies' bottles either since it raises the mineral content and that increases the strain on babies' kidneys.

*First thing you do after putting soap on your hands? Wash them! They're a gimmick for idiots. [/rant]

Chris Corby · Post by **Chris Corby** » Mon May 30, 2011 9:14 am

Charlie Reams wrote:
Chris Corby wrote:If letting it cool down a bit after boiling did the trick there would be no need for this miraculous piece of equipment, would there?
Of course you could make an analogous argument for ouija boards, gold-plated USB cables and Justin Bieber.

Just leave Justin Bieber out of this, OK?

Ben Hunter · Post by **Ben Hunter** » Mon May 30, 2011 11:41 am

Ryan Taylor wrote:

I have one of these. They're good because you can make a cup of tea and have an excuse not to make anyone else one.

Mike Brown · Post by **Mike Brown** » Mon May 30, 2011 12:26 pm

Chris Corby wrote:
Mike Brown wrote:
Chris Corby wrote:If you are making a cup of instant coffee with an ordinary kettle and it inadvertently boils, you might as well throw the water away and start again.
I can see why you don't want to reboil the water when making a cup of tea, but surely you can just let the water cool down a bit if you're making instant coffee? Does it really make a difference to the taste?
Yep, that's why Morphy Richards manufacture the aforementioned kettle. If letting it cool down a bit after boiling did the trick there would be no need for this miraculous piece of equipment, would there?

I was only suggesting this as an approach if you let it boil, although I accept it's difficult to judge when the water in a kettle has reached 90 degrees. And I can't advocate throwing away perfectly good water.

David Williams · Post by **David Williams** » Mon May 30, 2011 3:11 pm

My sister-in-law has a third tap at the sink that delivers instant boiling water. It's effectively an electrically-heated plumbed-in thermos flask which stores the water at higher than 100 degrees, which is possible because it's under mains pressure. The insulation's good enough that heat loss is minimal, and you save money because you only heat the water you use. Mind you, you'd have to use an awful lot, because they cost about six hundred quid.