Please note that on Ciao, I'll be spending sundays as my reading and rating day - the site is so s...
Please note that on Ciao, I'll be spending sundays as my reading and rating day - the site is so slow generally that the only way to avid meltdown is to do it all at once!
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**Ignore the image above, Ciao have the wrong product pictured there!
When my mum replaced a kettle in perfect working order with a Tefal Quickcup, I'll admit I rolled my eyes, and muttered about gimmicks . My dad rolled his eyes, and muttered about the cost, which at the time the purchased it was around 60 quid.
They've now had this for around a year, and as a frequent visitor to my parents house, I've used this many times . I'll admit I've changed my mind an no longer view this as a gimmick .
Essentially, this can be used instead of a kettle, and can take a mugful of water from room temperature to tea temperature in a mere 3 seconds. It uses a patented system called 'OPTI-Quick' to draw water from the tank into a special spiral heater that heats water to 85c. That's not all though - before that water hits your mug, this handy little machine filters it, removing all the nasty chlorine and flouride you might have in your water supply .
There is already
a clear benefit to this energy wise - Tefal state that you can save up to 65% of the energy you would use if using a normal kettle - and when you bear in mind many of us boil more water than we need when using a kettle, that makes a lot of sense .
Its a pretty chunky appliance - a trasparent one and a half litre water tank, surrounded by stylish black, with metallic accents and a bright red button on the top . Its narrower at the bottom, and flares out toward the top . The lid to the water tank area is a smoky grey colour.
Design wise, it's not the prettiest thing I've ever seen, and its noticably larger than my parents old kettle, taking up a fair amount of space on their worktop . It also gets splashed along the black areas when you actually make your drinks, and unless you wipe it off regularly, it will display these splashes making it look a bit mucky.
Setting it up is easy - plug in the filter cartridge, fill the tank, and press down the red button to empty the tank again - this flushes out any dust that may have settles into it during storage. Then fill the tank up and its ready to use - its default setting measures out 220 ml of water at a time, but this can be easily reset if you use bigger mugs. You can also fill your cup by pressing and holding in the button until you have enough water . At this point I'd like to mention that although this comes with a water filter cartridge, the machine will work perfectly well without one also - and as they do cost 5 pound each for the filters, its not worth buying them unless they really do make a noticable difference to the taste of your drink ..
Water comes out at 85c, which is not as hot as your normal kettle - but this is no bad thing , as it means my drinks reach a comfortable drinking temperature sooner . The machine does make a lot of noise when dispensing the water though - a sort of repetitive grunting noise is the best way I can describe it, and it can be heard in other rooms in the house . It does fill your cup within 3 seconds though, exactly as it claims to do, and you can fill a teapot quickly using this too.
Cleaning this is easy - the water tank and lid detach easily and can be washed in hot water, although take care to dry them properly before putting them back on the Quickcup unit . The unit itself being electrical can only be wiped down, but it doesn't need anything more than that really
These aren't cheap though, which is probably the only reason I haven't invested in one for my own home - amazon sells them at a little over £57, and I don't recall seeing them cheaper anywhere else . Add to this that if you use the claris filters, these need replacing every 4 or 5 weeks, and cost just under a fiver . If you replace yours once a month, that adds up to 60 quid - however, the machine does work fine without the filter, so its only really worth buying these if they make a noticable difference to the taste .
Would I recommend this ? Absolutely - is has to be better for the environment to only boil what you need, its faster than a standard kettle, and the water comes out at a good temperature.I do fully intend to buy one myself when prices fall a little more .
However, my dads still not entirely happy - he likes the product, but when he made tea using the old kettle, it took five minutes to boil, and he'd use that 5 minutes to tidy up the kitchen. Now he has to make a point of tidying up rather than doing it while waiting for tea to boil!
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Aug 30th, 2009
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