What kettle do you use?

Konrud
Posts: 68
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2022 3:20 am

Sat Sep 17, 2022 8:01 am

I've been looking at those 3 kettles, but still can't decide which one to purchase.
I'd like to have one that displays the current temperature and has a "hold temperature" feature.

Electrolux
EEWA7830 2400W
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Ninja
Ninja KT201
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Smarter YK-E138 (Don't like its capacity, it's only 1 liter)
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Any suggestions, or thoughts about those 3?



Would love to know what kettle you use and why.
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Bok
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Sat Sep 17, 2022 8:38 am

I use a Tetsubin. If I’m lazy an electric kettle. What matters to me only is that the inside that touches the water has no plastic and that it has a nice controlled pour. The rest are gimmicks.
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debunix
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Sat Sep 17, 2022 9:40 am

The rest are gimmicks.
Your gimmick is my necessary tool. Especially if you drink a lot of Japanese teas, temperature control is vital to a happy drinking experience. Yes, people have been making tea without temperature control teapots for millenia, but not everyone has a tea guru handy to show them how to do it reliably with their specific equipment setup, and this tool puts reproducible reliable tasty tea in reach of many who would otherwise give up long before they can reach the stage of mastery of setups that seem simpler (kettle on stove, cooling bowl, infusing vessel) but require great complexity from the user mastering their proper use.

Not gimmicks.

And that smarter is clearly a copy cat of the Stagg Kettle--where did you see it linked? I like my Stagg kettle and I will be replacing my work kettle with a Stagg when the other one dies.
Konrud
Posts: 68
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2022 3:20 am

Sat Sep 17, 2022 10:01 am

Bok wrote:
Sat Sep 17, 2022 8:38 am
I use a Tetsubin. If I’m lazy an electric kettle. What matters to me only is that the inside that touches the water has no plastic and that it has a nice controlled pour. The rest are gimmicks.
How do you know the right temperature then, let's say for a green/white tea, using a Tetsubin?
Konrud
Posts: 68
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2022 3:20 am

Sat Sep 17, 2022 10:08 am

debunix wrote:
Sat Sep 17, 2022 9:40 am
The rest are gimmicks.
Your gimmick is my necessary tool. Especially if you drink a lot of Japanese teas, temperature control is vital to a happy drinking experience. Yes, people have been making tea without temperature control teapots for millenia, but not everyone has a tea guru handy to show them how to do it reliably with their specific equipment setup, and this tool puts reproducible reliable tasty tea in reach of many who would otherwise give up long before they can reach the stage of mastery of setups that seem simpler (kettle on stove, cooling bowl, infusing vessel) but require great complexity from the user mastering their proper use.

Not gimmicks.

And that smarter is clearly a copy cat of the Stagg Kettle--where did you see it linked? I like my Stagg kettle and I will be replacing my work kettle with a Stagg when the other one dies.
I second your response.
As for the kettle, yes you're right now I see that it is a copycat.
I've found it on some local website.
This one looks great but I need a kettle of at least 1.7 liters.
Moreover, I need one not for the US but rather for the Europe socket.
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Bok
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Sat Sep 17, 2022 10:23 am

Konrud wrote:
Sat Sep 17, 2022 10:01 am
Bok wrote:
Sat Sep 17, 2022 8:38 am
I use a Tetsubin. If I’m lazy an electric kettle. What matters to me only is that the inside that touches the water has no plastic and that it has a nice controlled pour. The rest are gimmicks.
How do you know the right temperature then, let's say for a green/white tea, using a Tetsubin?
The teas I drink can all take the heat… Chinese/Taiwanese greens and whites do fare well with very hot water (if the quality is good enough, that is).

As for Japanese greens, I just pour the water into a pitcher first to cool it down. That’s the simple way to explain it, but there are a few other intricacies involved, depending on the tea. That said, I only do that for the first two infusions, after that I find it doesn’t matter that much anymore. Japanese Zairai also can take full heat, so it’s not a clear cut rule or anything.
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debunix
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Sat Sep 17, 2022 11:07 am

Bok wrote:
Sat Sep 17, 2022 10:23 am
The teas I drink can all take the heat… Chinese/Taiwanese greens and whites do fare well with very hot water (if the quality is good enough, that is).

As for Japanese greens, I just pour the water into a pitcher first to cool it down. That’s the simple way to explain it, but there are a few other intricacies involved, depending on the tea.
I had officially given up on all green teas because I did not know the intricacies after years of trying; I needed my training wheels (thermometers, scales) to 'get it'. Even once I'd learned how I could enjoyably prepare Chinese greens, sencha, and even gyokuro, and had graduated to temperature-controlled teapot, I could not 'teach myself' matcha until I went to Japan and got a couple of lessons in preparing it.

I think if you haven't had to learn it yourself the hard way, you can't appreciate how valuable these temperature control kettles and thermometers and scales can be. They can act as training wheels, or become lifelong aids like a hiking staff. I no longer use my scale for most routine tea sessions, but reserve it for more formal tastings when I want to report on a tea here and be precise in how much I used and how I prepared it. But circling back to the specific topic/question, the kettle with temperature control is very much like my beloved hiking staff that has accompanied me to many places, elevations, and over lots of obstacles: a tool that helps me keep 'rhythm' with my tea preparation.

I particularly like that the Stagg kettle holds the temperature for some minutes after you set it, even when you pick the kettle up and put it back on the base. Some of the other designs turn off when you lift it off, and I often find myself looking over at the kettle at work and realizing I only hit the 'on' button on it's base one time, not two, and it takes two hits to heat it up, or I hit the on sequence correctly, realized it was empty because it beeped at me in protest, lifted it off to fill it up, then put it back down and forgot to restart it. The Stagg works better for me.
DailyTX
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Sat Sep 17, 2022 11:45 am

Bok wrote:
Sat Sep 17, 2022 10:23 am
Konrud wrote:
Sat Sep 17, 2022 10:01 am
Bok wrote:
Sat Sep 17, 2022 8:38 am
I use a Tetsubin. If I’m lazy an electric kettle. What matters to me only is that the inside that touches the water has no plastic and that it has a nice controlled pour. The rest are gimmicks.
How do you know the right temperature then, let's say for a green/white tea, using a Tetsubin?
The teas I drink can all take the heat… Chinese/Taiwanese greens and whites do fare well with very hot water (if the quality is good enough, that is).

As for Japanese greens, I just pour the water into a pitcher first to cool it down. That’s the simple way to explain it, but there are a few other intricacies involved, depending on the tea. That said, I only do that for the first two infusions, after that I find it doesn’t matter that much anymore. Japanese Zairai also can take full heat, so it’s not a clear cut rule or anything.
It takes experience to eye ball on water temperature. I view this skill like a chef who season their foods without measuring every step. @Konrud, you will pick up such skill once you had enough trials. If you ever want to learn, environment temperature is a factor to consider.
GaoShan
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Sat Sep 17, 2022 12:01 pm

I use a cheap plastic electric kettle without temperature controls. I usually drink my tea at around 195F, and have gotten pretty good at estimating when my kettle has cooled down to that temperature. I don't drink many green or white teas, so have not needed to master lower temps. I think having a scale and a thermometer is helpful, especially if you're learning or drinking a type of tea you're less familiar with, and I still use them pretty often.

I've never compared water boiled in a plastic kettle with water boiled in a glass one, so can't comment on whether there's a difference.
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LeoFox
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Sat Sep 17, 2022 12:04 pm

Bok wrote:
Sat Sep 17, 2022 10:23 am
Konrud wrote:
Sat Sep 17, 2022 10:01 am
Bok wrote:
Sat Sep 17, 2022 8:38 am
I use a Tetsubin. If I’m lazy an electric kettle. What matters to me only is that the inside that touches the water has no plastic and that it has a nice controlled pour. The rest are gimmicks.
How do you know the right temperature then, let's say for a green/white tea, using a Tetsubin?
The teas I drink can all take the heat… Chinese/Taiwanese greens and whites do fare well with very hot water (if the quality is good enough, that is).

As for Japanese greens, I just pour the water into a pitcher first to cool it down. That’s the simple way to explain it, but there are a few other intricacies involved, depending on the tea. That said, I only do that for the first two infusions, after that I find it doesn’t matter that much anymore. Japanese Zairai also can take full heat, so it’s not a clear cut rule or anything.
I agree- full boiling is good for most teas except for conventional Japanese greens. And since konrud wants to focus on pu- going anything less than boiling is a waste
Konrud
Posts: 68
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2022 3:20 am

Sat Sep 17, 2022 1:14 pm

DailyTX wrote:
Sat Sep 17, 2022 11:45 am
It takes experience to eye ball on water temperature. I view this skill like a chef who season their foods without measuring every step. Konrud, you will pick up such skill once you had enough trials. If you ever want to learn, environment temperature is a factor to consider.
Sure I agree with you but in the meantime, I think the proper kettle with the temperature sensor might still help, nonetheless.
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Baisao
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Sat Sep 17, 2022 2:08 pm

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This is immediately vetoed for being a naked rip off of the Stag EKG. I have no respect for intentional plagiarism.

As for the the capacity, a liter is all you will usually need. Much more and the kettle becomes heavy, unwieldy.

I have a Stag EKG that I use for morning coffee. Wait for a holiday sale from the manufacturer so it’s competitive. I have a lot of kettles and this one does impress me.

I am with @Bok on kettles without temperature controls. With time you can hear the temperature but I agree with others that it’s a learned skill and a significant barrier to entry. The same can me said about knowing when to pour: I don’t use a timer, never have, but it’s a learned skill and many people use them.

It’s helpful to remove these barriers to entry for neophytes but they also should not become a crutch.

The Stag EKG is a nice smart kettle that’s well designed:
* nice, precise, gentle pour when needed (frequently used)
* difficult to have a vigorous pour when needed (infrequently used)
* heats significantly faster than my Chinese or Taiwanese kettles
* precise temperature control
* holds temp for 1 hr
* has a built in timer for steeping time

I prefer to use a handmade Japanese kettle on a burner but I use electric kettles when the weather is too hot for using a burner inside the home.
.m.
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Sat Sep 17, 2022 2:26 pm

Only the 3rd kettle has an actual spout. One doesn't need to have a gooseneck or be ultra precise with the pouring, yet the design on the first two kettles looks good only for big mugs and teabags.
For me the ideal volume of a kettle is around 1 liter.
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teatray
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Sat Sep 17, 2022 3:33 pm

I use a 0.9l Takahiro stainless steel kettle, heated with a portable induction plate . The plate has a sensor, so you can set it to a certain temp, but it's not very precise (+-2C). I rarely use this feature. With the teas I've been drinking lately, I try to brew as hot as possible (oolongs, pu-erh, the whites I'm having) or just wait a bit/don't preheat (chinese greens). For sencha & gyokuro, I bring to a boil & then use a samashi, either checking it with an instant thermometer (Thermapen) or by feel. Getting a feel isn't hard: just check how fast the samashi cools your usual water volume. For tasting fancy/new tea, I use the thermometer.

Outside of fancy stuff that requires time/space/maintenance (ceramic/cast iron/coal, etc.), from a practical POV, specifically my own weird POV, I consider this the best, after trying the usual alternatives. My upgrade path went something like this:
  • Stainless steel kettle with plastic elements: they smell and also shed microplastics
  • Kettle (with temp control) that is, at least to the eye, fully stainless steel inside (so no joints, seals, no water level meter, etc.): but boil sensor is still a complex thingy that accumulates particles; need vinegar to clean
  • Cheap goose-neck kettle: rusted, then fell apart (only used for pour-over coffee, tea was with kettle above)
  • Hario goose-neck kettle: much better, but the brim is turned towards the inside and the bottom is joined/pressed to the rest in a way that prevents thorough cleaning; needs vinegar and still not 100% clean (can see particles in boiled water after cleaning)
  • Takahiro: completely smooth inside and brim is turned to the outside, easy to clean mechanically (spout with brush), no visible particles in boiled water after cleaning
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Baisao
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Sat Sep 17, 2022 3:49 pm

@teatray, it sounds like you have a water problem rather than a kettle problem with the accumulation of particles. I only had this problem when I used hard water back in the day. I haven’t seen precipitation in what feels like forever.
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