We've had loads of interest in the 3-second fast-boil kettle from Tefal since we first wrote about it last month, so I decided to put one through its paces, comparing it with some of the other innovative energy-saving kettles you can buy.
Here I am with Susi Weaser of Shiny Shiny, testing out the Tefal Quick-Cup and the Eco-Kettle from Powergen.
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I have used this - it is so cool - it is impossible to justify any other way of boiling water for a cup of tea or coffee!!!
Posted by: jeffmcool | August 16, 2007 11:26 PM
Interesting devices.
I justify my espresso maker for coffee as it only uses the amount of water required for the cup itself.
Posted by: Andy Merrett | August 17, 2007 12:30 PM
This kettle is a fabulouse invention / saves energy (which we all need to do) and fast and efficient to fit into our 20th century lives
Posted by: lee farmer | September 12, 2007 10:00 AM
My brother russell often pop's round for a quick cuppa ! and when he saw my new kettle he said "it's nice int it ?" And he couldn't believe how quick it boiled and he said "it boils quick dunt it"
Posted by: lee and russ farmer | September 12, 2007 10:03 AM
Very interesting review, but it assumes the manufacturers claims of 65% energy saving is correct, the best way to test this would be to put it on an energy monitor, then check this against a normal kettle heating the same amount of water!.
Also does it have a standby energy use? where a normal kettle does not. Plus with the cost of the filter carts, does this negate the savings.
Posted by: Lee Branch | September 12, 2007 1:45 PM
I thought this sounded great!!!! Really green!!! However when you think about all the disposable filters it kind of loses its 'greeness'!!We have hot nearly boiling water on tap all day as we boil a full kettle in a morning and then pour it into a thermos flask that has a pump dispenser on it. The flask cost just £10. So we save money and energy without any gimmicks or dispoable filters!! It does the job and also makes it safer for our 11 year old to make hot drinks.
Posted by: vskips | September 22, 2007 8:52 PM
Fantastic idea. The only thing is that it isn`t very good for instant coffee, which I drink more of, since coffee shoudn`t be made with boiling water.
Posted by: Geoff | September 25, 2007 10:27 AM
Geoff> In this respect it's actually BETTER for making coffee - we've since learnt that the water produced by this kettle is just below boiling point. This makes it good for instant coffee, but not so great for tea...
Posted by: Abi | September 25, 2007 1:33 PM
wat about putting sugar and milk in the knacking cup surely that plus 220ml of hot water will mean you will have to know that you can fit it at least 230 to 240 ml alot of spillage if ask me lan dont agree tho chris and kelli agree though so im right
Posted by: dan | October 2, 2007 9:25 PM
I got one. You can set the amount of water that comes out to match your specificy cup size (by holding the button down the first time, and then it remembers from then on). Only problem I think is that it is quite noisy....anyone else find this?
Posted by: Adam | October 3, 2007 8:49 AM
Also....its drinkable hot, not boiling.
Posted by: Adam | October 3, 2007 9:12 AM
blimmin noisy isn't it!? Love the thermos idea vskips!
Posted by: Hannah | October 6, 2007 9:16 PM
This lasted in the house for one day. Kettles are meant to boil water - right? The water doesn't come out hot so tea doesn't taste as it should. I can't believe Tefal ever got this into production. It's all very well feeling smug about being green and all that but tea needs to taste right before saving the planet!
Posted by: Mark Saragossi | October 9, 2007 6:54 PM
Hi there
I bought this Kettle from a high street store but after a week ended up taking it back and was disappointed to be told that the kettle IS NOT BOILING to the standard it should be and that many of these kettles have been returned.
Posted by: Lucinda | October 13, 2007 2:52 PM
I bought a Tefal Quick Cup after checking how much energy we used each day boiling the kettle (roughly 10p worth/day) This brought that down to about 7p/day. This is the only plus point. on the bad side, the pump is very loud in use, the water delivery is about 10ml/second (very slow), but most importantly the water is does not reach boiling point - which means tea made with this device will taste very different to that made with boiled water from a kettle.
The tea I made with this device actually made me feel sick, such a shame for such a promising product. If only they could have added a temperature dial.
On a humorous note, the accompanying documentation has a wonderfully true statement included in the user guide section, "step 9 - For minimum energy consumption, insure the power supply is turned off when in use."
Posted by: Andy | October 15, 2007 1:06 PM
loved the idea cos my girl gets thro tea and coffee like there is no tomorrow. But it doesnt spit the water out hot enough, it wont make a mug in 3 seconds, its noisy, and the "cold" water function is useless. Its going back, sorry Tefal.
Posted by: phill a | October 26, 2007 8:11 AM
I too bought one of these and thought it promising, unfortunately, 1st one bought leaked water, just received second one and tested water temp, it only reached 78 degrees, not high enough for good cup of tea and coffee only if you like it cool! I don't I like it actually as hot as you can drink it therefore it will have to go back again, am thinking of contacting Tefal Direct to ask them.
Posted by: Sonia Fargher | October 28, 2007 8:45 AM
I was going to ask for one of these for Xmas but they don't sound good! Tea made from anything but boiling water is just not tea! I'll just wait for the normal kettle
Posted by: Jo | October 29, 2007 12:11 PM
Bought the kettle 3 weeks ago ,it went back today the idea is great but in practise its pants ,Its noisy,leaks,doesnt get hot enough and leaves a horrible scum on top of tea and coffee, and you still need a ordinary kettle to use for boiling water for other things, not worth the money, Shop told us theve had all but 3 returned so far! that says it all doesnt it,
Posted by: jean | October 29, 2007 5:32 PM
what a geat idea i thought! we have just had a new baby so i thought this would be a great tool for heating the bottle (screaming hungry baby and all that!)BUT! 1. its bloody noisy! 2. it takes ages to enven fill a cup let alone anything else. 3. it leaks. 4. it tastes weird! 5. ITS BROKEN AFTER ONLY A FEW HOURS OF USAGE!! a big bang and spark from it and IT tripped out the fuse board! tried it again and it worked... but the water is cold, so the element must have blown... guess what...... its going back tomorrow!! DONT BUY ONE!!!!
Posted by: james | October 29, 2007 10:01 PM
What I want to know is who done that awful wall papering and why check the pattern out yak
Posted by: Richie | October 31, 2007 11:42 AM
Had one of these for a month now and cannot fault it, everyone who sees, has a drink from it thinks the same. We do however only use it for coffee. Coffee by the way is NOT supposed to be made with boiling water! So this is ideal, ours comes out at 85degrees, never tastes chlorinated, is much faster than a regular kettle and much cheaper to run. Not sure how much use the person who spends 10p a day on electric has for their kettle, it must almost always be ON!. Mines not that noisy either, no noisier than a boiling kettle. And to the person who said it doesnt make a cup in 3 seconds... Tefal do not claim that and you are misleading people, what they ACTUALLY say is hot ater in 3 seconds and that is correct! Overall I would NEVER get a regular kettle again. Brilliant invention, so obviously taken from big coffee machines. Highly recommended!
Posted by: Darryl | November 10, 2007 1:53 PM
what an absolute waste of space this tefal quick cup is dont waste your money its very noisey [middle of the night wakes the neighbors and sleeping cats and dogs ] is too off the boil to make tea,covers your drink in foamy scum all the best john
Posted by: john bailey | November 11, 2007 5:40 PM
shyte, i ended up microwaving the tea after quick cup had done its business.....wheres the energy saving there Mr Tefal?
Posted by: Gary | November 11, 2007 10:41 PM
First of all: I'm a happy Quick Cup owner. :)))
I don't really understand "Eco Kettle", because I had a common kettle before, and it could do the same thing: if I wanted to boil just a cup of water then I poured a cup of water in it... ;)
I bought a Quick Cup two weeks ago, because I was tired about using two kettles (one for filtering and one for boiling), and I absolutely LOOOOOOVE it!
Moreover as a GREEN TEA fan, the 85-90 degree water is perfect for me too!
Posted by: Anita | November 12, 2007 10:59 AM
Bought one of these 5 weeks ago and looved it, until it started producing cold water and then it tripped the house fuse. Exchanged it for another yesterday and it's gone wrong already. I am taking the new one back for a refund! Brilliant idea but not put together well enough.
Posted by: Peter | November 27, 2007 6:34 PM
Tetal says it consumes 1.24w on stand-by - that like leaving a low energy light bulb burning for over 700 hours every year.
Tefal says their filter must be replaced every 42 days (less if you use it a lot). They sell them for £6.49. That's £56 habit every year just to run the thing. During (say) an 8 year kettle life you'll land-fill about 70 plastic cartridges full of chemicals. In the UK filters are pointless, so how can Tefal sell this as a green product!
If your live alone & have 2 cuppas a day that's nearly 8p a cup on the chemical filter alone.
Posted by: Geoff_Soper | November 30, 2007 11:17 AM
The Cartridge will only filter 50 ltrs. A family of 4 on 5 mugs a day will use 36 a year (£4.99 +£1.50p&p). Their £50 'money-saving' kettle will cost them £1,922 over 8 years.
This kettle will not boil water probably only averaging abt 85*. If a conventional kettle boasted it would save you money because it was unable to reach 100*, only 85*, we'd all laugh at it.
Should this realy be featured on your eco site?
Posted by: geoff | November 30, 2007 12:00 PM
Agreed that this device mwy work well for instant coffee, but:
1. They claim it is for tea, coffee, ... It simply does not work for tea, the water simply does not boil.
2. They claim it is a kettle, it is in the kettle section of their web site. I looked the definition up and according to the Oxford English dictinary:
kettle: metal or plastic container with a lid and spout and handle, used for boiling water.
Ignoring the description, due to the new concept design, it still does not boil water and is therefore not a kettle.
Used mine 3 times, got cold disgusting tea, it leaks, it's noisy. All in all it is totally useless. Taking it back come Monday.
I thought they were supposed to do user testing before releasing a product?
Posted by: Guy Banks | December 2, 2007 1:27 PM
The eco kettle from powergen will only save you £5 a year - not £50 as stated on the video
Posted by: Rupert | December 3, 2007 1:46 PM
I bought a quick cup and found that water was not boiling hot.
I E-Mailed Tefal and they said:The Quick Cup does not boil water - the water is pumped, heated and dispensed on demand and the temperature is between 85 and 90 degrees. It is not a kettle and it will not boil water. If water is being dispensed at below the recommended temperatures of between 85 - 90 degrees, then the appliance is faulty and needs to be returned to your retailer for an exchange. The instructions do state that the product will not boil water, and it has not been designed to do so.They should state this before buying
Posted by: Andy | December 5, 2007 1:04 PM
I was tempted to buy one of these as it sounded great, but after reading these comments and being a tea drink, i don't think i will be!
I think its dishonest of tefal to advertise this product like they do, as it gives the wrong impression of what it actually does!
I may steal the thermace idea though!
Natalie
Posted by: Natalie McCormick | December 5, 2007 1:32 PM
I bought this last Saturday and was well impressed with it (even with tea) and tried to use it yesterday (4 days after I bought it) and it's only giving cold water. Methinks the element or something as gone in it. Will be bring it back to Currys on Saturday for a replacement!
Posted by: Gary | December 6, 2007 4:26 PM
Cheap plastic jug, sounds like a jumbo jet taking off, doesn't boil the water, extremely over-priced (Argos are now charging £70 for these). Considering you could buy a cheap kettle and as long as you only fill it so the water just covers the element it will only take 3 minutes to boil, what's the point anyway? When I was a child I used to make tea with water from the hot tap and that's just what this tastes like. Yuk!!!
Posted by: Debbie | January 3, 2008 2:02 AM
Tefal have confirmed to me that thiese so called kettles do not boil the water. They only heat to somewhere between 80 and 90 deg C. When using tea bags we noticed that the tea had not infused properly and that the water in the cup was still clear with a small brown area just next to the bag. Classic symptom of the water not being hot enough.
Posted by: Graham | January 16, 2008 5:26 PM
im so pleased after reading all the comments,
I DIDNT BUY ONE
Posted by: she | January 17, 2008 4:38 PM
Tefal Quick cup = Shite!
Too noisey for a start!
Takes 30 secs nearly to fill a cup and then another 30 secs to clean up all the water it splashed out of the cup all over the place as the nozzle on the thing is pathetic.
Waste of time and waste of my money!!!
Posted by: MAtt | January 21, 2008 4:12 PM
Opened the box and put in the filter. Hissed, rattled and leaked but produced no hot water. Going back tomorrow!
Posted by: Claire Burton | January 22, 2008 8:53 PM
Just seen this on Ideal World, tv shopping channel, and thought it looked good, (I do like gadgets!), but having read all of the comments, will not be wasting my money on it!
I love sites like this one, very helpful, thanks!
Posted by: lucy | January 22, 2008 9:29 PM
I think they`ve `tested the waters` in the UK to see the public reaction. Up till now I don`t see it, or anything like it, being offered for sale in the US.
Posted by: Lynn | January 23, 2008 1:57 PM
I definitely wouldn`t touch this. Why pay for something that doesn`t even work properly? Boiling water is a MUST when making tea.
Posted by: LEN | January 23, 2008 1:59 PM
I would like to thank everyone who posted a comment. I was going to buy one but have decided against it, so thanks for saving me some money.
Posted by: Karen | January 28, 2008 1:45 PM
This is great- perhaps more expensive, and I'm sure there are better ways to save energy (he says while using his straightners, watching television, using the heating and boiling his eco-friendly tea)....BUT it is such a good gadget, and VERY convenient to have boiling water on tap. Also, as someone who lives in London, with its horrible water, and used to own both a filter machine AND a kettle, I have managed to combine into one! Which *calculates*....DOES actually save me money!
Posted by: Josh | February 10, 2008 8:26 PM
TEFAL QUICK CUP----DID THINK IT WAS GOOD---UNTIL IT BLEW MAIN CIRCUT FUSE ---WHEN NOT BEING USED----FREEZER CONTENTS DAMAGED----AND 25 MILE TRIP TO GET REFUND---THIS IS TOO COSTLY--- BE WARNED.
Posted by: Ian Leslie | February 11, 2008 6:54 AM
Bought mine today, brought it home, put it together and plugged it in - first press of the button produced loud band and blew the circuit breaker for the downstairs sockets. THIS IS NOT A GOOD PRODUCT!! Mine will be going back in the morning for a full refund - BE WARNED!!
Posted by: MIchael | February 13, 2008 9:32 PM
I'm glad I read these comments.
I was planning on getting one. It's a brilliant idea, but it sounds like it's still in need of a lot of improvement. I hope it will be improved in the future. It seems to be perfect for some people, but after doing some research and finding out 1. There may still be limescale problems 2. It doesn't reach boiling point 3. There have been complaints of faults. I have decided it's safest to put up with the limescale, slightly higher electric bills, and more energy use rather than spend too much money on this product!
I'd rather have a nice cup of tea. But my battle with limescale continues!
Posted by: | February 15, 2008 3:22 PM
I wish i had read this site before I purchased a quick cup. The tea was rubbish, coffee not much better so it went back. Costco sell them at 41.22 much less than the rest of the high st, byt still not worth it.
Posted by: Paul | February 19, 2008 2:40 PM
I was so excited when I heard about this product on radio.Searched internet for one,found one cheap on dixons website with promo code,at £44.99,but found this site after and read up,so glad I did,thanks everyone I now wont buy one!
Posted by: jazza | February 28, 2008 6:53 PM
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