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Head-to-Head review: Eco Kettle vs. Tefal QuickCup

Written by Rene Millman

Monday, 03 March 2008

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Head-to-Head review: Eco Kettle vs. Tefal QuickCup
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Tefal Quick Cup

Well the QuickCup isn't technically a kettle, it's a "hot water dispenser". That said it fulfills that aim very well.

For a start the thing looks very well designed and would certainly grace an upmarket bachelor pad. The vendor claims that you can use up to 65 percent less energy using this device over a conventional kettle.

Setting up is fairly easy. It comes in four parts; the water heater is the main part and on top of that sits the water container, in which a water filter is inserted and a lid to keep the water free from bugs or whatever.

It claims that its takes three seconds to heat up water and that maybe so in as far as how long to wait before the first drips come through the system. To be fair this is the fastest water heater we've come across. Ourout-sized mug got filled in around 15-17 seconds, which is far faster than any kettle and faster than the Eco-kettle.

To fill the cup, you simply place the cup under the dispenser, press the red button for hot water (there is another button to dispense cold (filtered) water as well).

The end result for the tea was pleasantly hot (but not too hot) and the filter does improve the taste if you live in a hard water area. But the filter doesn't last too last (especially if you have taken to drinking a lot of tea) and this needs replacing and that costs extra money.

Of course, there are other downsides to the device as well. If you are using the cafetiere, then with an ordinary kettle you simply pour the water in without any trouble. With the QuickCup it can be awkward to place the cafetiere under the spout of the device, but not impossible. We had, admittedly, a large 12-cup cafetiere to fill.

Also, the a red flashing light came on to tell us that we needed to de-scale (blimey we haven't had it that long!)

This has been a firm favourite in the office since it came, it will be sad to see it go. We are thinking of kidnapping it and not returning it - it's that good.