Let me set some background on myself first. I am a long time tea drinker and was raised in a country where you drank tea all the time. I consume approximately 4 to 6 cups per day. So you could say I know and enjoy my tea :)
With that said nothing annoys and frustrates me more than the taste of a tea being polluted or ruined by the introduction of foreign flavors. I have owned a number of plastic kettles most of which I am sure based on their age contained BPA and even if they didn''t often time gave a strange odor or flavor to the tea. I have also had some great stainless pots but recently (past couple of years) had to revert back to the plastic again.
I decided at Christmas 2010 that I wanted to finally get away from these and was originally looking for an all in one solution. You can imagine my delight when I saw the Breville One Touch Tea Maker and jumped at the chance of this. Long story short I got through 3 of them, the first 1 didn''t work, the second and third however had a strange odor that seemed to come from the brewing basket lid. I was really frustrated that this didn''t work out, especially with so may other great reviews of the product and the cost.
So, gave up with the all in one and went back on the search for a BPA free and ideally plastic free unit. I looked at the Hamilton Beach stainless and about every other kettle Amazon and others had including the Pino (which is the one I was going to go for). The problem was the BPA identification was either non existent or a guess even by the manufacturer !!! This blew my mind.
I found two Toastess models (1 being this one and the other being DLJK-459) and started the research here. I went for this one as the other Toastess (DLJK-459) had a plastic water window which I wanted to stay away from. I learned that the carafe on the TGK496 (this unit) was glass (in fact the same duran glass as used in the Breville carafe) had a stainless steel heating plate and absolutely no plastic touching the water when boiling. To confirm, the handle attaches on the outside of the carafe so no plastic touching there, the water marks are on the handle (on the outside) so again no BPA leaching viewing windows/water guages as used in other products. The only two pieces of plastic that exist in any proximity of the water are the lid (I know why can''t they just get rid of this and replace with Stainless steel and cool touch top etc !!) and the water filter by the spout (this can be removed if you wish). I took this one step further and looked into the lid components (just in case there were concerns about condensed water dripping back) and can report that the lid is made of Plastic #5 (PP polypropylene) which according to many health related websites poses no risks (who knows what time will show here).
So I finally found BPA free and as close to plastic free as I could and I have to say I love this kettle. Simple but great unit with a 1.7 capacity which is awesome when you have multiple tea drinkers in the house and want to fill a brown betty pot. Glass gets warm so watch out for that and power switch seems a little flimsy but those are the only small gripes.
If there was one thing I would want from this kettle and while I''m at it a please to all kettle manufacturers is to remove the plastic completely whether its touching water directly (crazy in this day and age) or from a condensing perspective, get it out of there !
Hope the information here was useful, please let me know with any questions and do yourself a favor, pickup this kettle. Its one of the few kettles that is BPA free and the closest right now to plastic free.
Go get yourself a cuppa and enjoy the purchase. Amazon as always was awesome !!!
Very nice looking and works as advertised as long as you do not remove the plastic filter! It does not give off any taste or odor.
The filter is NOT mean to be removed!!! If you do remove the filter, the kettle will not shut off automatically.
From Toastess Customer Service:
"The automatic shut-off feature is triggered by the accumulation of moisture by the filter,
which should be installed on the lid so that it rests by the spout when the lid is closed."
I like using this kettle but would prefer that it be all glass including the top or if not glass then stainless steel.
All the plastic parts including the filter are made from polypropylene plastic Relatively safe but I would prefer no plastic at all.
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I''ve been using these water boilers for a few years and most of them have a few of the same problems. This boiler has no problems!
Pros:
-The kettle is large
-it boils fast
-the bottom is flat
-the sides are schott glass(german pyrex)
-The lid is simple open and shut with no locks to break
-The opening is large enough to get my man hands in and clean it
I use this to boil water, heat soup quickly, boil eggs, make chai. Basically if I want anything to come to a boil quickly this is my goto appliance.
Cons:
the measurements are in metric.
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I just bought this pot and I LOVE it!!! It boils water in record time and it looks really nice on the counter. Your hand can easily get inside to clean it if you need to, and it''s easy to fill with water. The heating element doesn''t touch the water, and there''s nothing to corrode or rust.
The manufacturer says that the minimum amount you should boil is two cups. I only need one cup boiled at a time for my tea. I have to carry my water in from another source because I live on the ocean, and while we can bathe in our household water and wash clothes, we do not drink it. Therefore, I cannot waste water at all. I wondered about the "two cups -one cup" thing. Then I read in another review that the reason the manufacturer recommends two cups is so that enough steam rises when the water boils to trigger the shut-off mechanism in the lid. So it''s not that you CAN''T boil just one cup or that it will somehow ruin the pot, it''s just that you might not be able to rely on the shut-off mechanism if you do. Well that''s no problem at all! With that knowledge in mind, I just put exactly one cup into the pot and plug it in. You know how they say that "a watched pot never boils"? Well they never saw THIS pot! You can easily stand there and manually shut it off (if you want to boil only one cup like me) because it boils UNBELIEVABLY fast. Makes a microwave look like a dinosaur! So I just boil my one cup -almost instantly -and then shut it off and make my tea. If you''re going to do it like this, don''t walk away because the water boils incredibly fast. Just be conscientious.
So far, so good. I love this pot!!
UPDATE: January 15, 2013 Still going strong! Yep, I still love it!
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I know some people have had success with this kettle, and I''m glad for them. Personally, I''ve had no luck with it. Like other reviewers, I find this has a faulty on/off switch. I''ve had this kettle for two months. It works well as far as heating water quickly goes...however, it no longer turns off. At all. It doesn''t matter if the water is boiling, if I try turning it off manually, nothing. What makes it even worse is that coincidentally, the handle gets super hot now as well. So unless I stand around and watch and take it off the stand as soon as the water gets hot, I will have to grab it by the superheated handle. Not good, actually dangerous. This is really a shame because it''s a good looking electric tea kettle that worked great for exactly two months..
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Outstanding product! You can''t go wrong with stainless steel. I camp alot, so out comes the Berkey. Stainless steel is impervious to most pathogens. In this unfortunate age even if you are camping in the mountains you can''t be sure of the water so why not have the proper gear for your water you bring a sleeping bag don''t you? I don''t go camping without my Berkey it just doesn''t make sense. Shipping was a breeze too! the item arrived on time and intact. A must buy if you''re camping. I won''t trust some things to chance.
