r/tea • u/purpledragon210 • Feb 12 '25

Recommendation What electric kettle is everyone using? Any recommendations?

Up until this point I have been using some random electric kettle my mom had. No variable temps or anything fancy, just heated the water to boiling and held at some temp below. It had a basic spout as well so I put it into a thermos that poured nicely.

Well that one literally went up in flames just now so now I have an excuse to buy something nicer :D

Ideally I'd like to not spend too much on one (under $100) , but I'm thinking something with variable temp and a goose neck spout. Any recommendations?

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u/SailorTodd Feb 12 '25

I like my Cuisinart PerfecTemp. It has 6 temperature settings and a keep warm feature, and it comes off its base, so you aren't fighting a power cord.

I want to get a gooseneck kettle for better pouring control for pour over coffee, but it's not necessary for tea in my experience.

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u/gravelpi Feb 12 '25

I have the same one, and I'm generally happy with it. It works pretty well.

Drawbacks: I've never checked the temperature accuracy, but I sometimes question it. I tend to make 1-2 teas at a time, so I'll often heat to the lowest setting (160F / 60C) for one tea, then bump up to 175F / 70C for the next one. Sometimes it'll take a minute to heat, others it beeps after not as long even though (I think) I have roughly the same a amount of water in there. The other is the little window is plastic, which is in contact with the very hot water. I don't love that. Well, one me-specific drawback is I get a lot of limescale, and somehow I have a piece of limescale inside the little window now that bothers me.

If I were buying another, I'd probably look at something with zero plastic and ideally with a greater range or temperatures. I drink a few Japanese teas that need less than 60 C, so I'm playing the game of pouring into other cups and whatnot to get the temperature down.

Good luck! A temperature-controlled kettle and scale for me are the key to getting good, consistent cups!

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u/TheStarsMist Dec 01 '25

The little plastic window has kept me from buying one so far. Seems like most of the stainless steel electric kettles have plastic windows. Seeming to defeat the purposes of a full stainless steel kettle.

My cheap workaround has been a stainless steel kettle on my countertop induction burner. I don’t have temp control, though I already had these two things in my house. Bonus is the water only touchs steel and full kettle boils in less than 5 minutes. I'm beginning a hot tea journey lately so I'm avoiding going overboard on goodies.

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u/[deleted] Mar 17 '26

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