I don’t normally talk about anything but white goods on Whitegoodshelp but I’m mentioning the Tefal Quick cup because I have bought one myself and would like to give an opinion on it. It might not be a white good but it is at least a kitchen appliance.
I saw the Tefal Quick cup on the Gadget show and on breakfast TV. I was attracted to it because it saves energy. They say it is 65% cheaper than a conventional kettle although it isn’t clear if this is comparing boiling a filled kettle or only boiling a cupful of water in a standard kettle (I suspect the former). However, just as importantly (to me) it saves a lot of time. It delivers piping hot water within 3 seconds and it can make a mug of tea in less than 15 seconds – having only heated the exact amount of water you needed.
I must be getting more impatient as I get older because a constant annoyance to me is how normal kettles take so long to boil water, and how they are so noisy whilst doing it. I also get annoyed at how you can’t easily boil exactly the amount you need so you always end up heating some of the water for nothing, which then just cools down in the kettle waiting to be boiled up again next time.
The old way
I didn’t fill the normal kettle up anywhere near to full capacity to limit energy wastage, so when I needed a cup of tea I nearly always had to put some water in the kettle first. I’d switch it on and wait. The noise was so loud that I couldn’t hear the portable TV or listen to the radio and it seemed to take ages – even though I was only boiling a partially filled kettle.
The new way
My new method is simple. Get a mug from the cupboard, drop in a tea bag, place mug under Quick cup and press the red button. Either watch and marvel, or walk away to do something else like fetch the biscuits. The Quick cup can be programmed to deliver a specific amount of boiling water so no need to watch it.
I can literally have my tea mashing in a mug within 33 seconds of walking into the kitchen – yes I did time myself. What do I do with the extra time? For the moment I use it to feel smug, liberated even. Seriously though in today’s frantic world this feeling of control and saving time and energy is not to be sneered at.
A perfect solution? Is the old kettle in the bin?
Not really. I would definitely recommend you consider buying a Tefal Quick cup, but it’s not necessarily going to replace the kettle (which I did think would be the case before buying). It isn’t perfect either so I have a few negative comments too.
Here’s a summary of the pros and cons as I see them
PROS
- Very fast. I can have a mug of tea mashing in the cup within around 30 seconds of walking into the kitchen
- Tefal claim it uses 65% less energy than a standard kettle
- It dispenses cold water too
- It has a built in filter which may be beneficial in areas with hard water or funny tasting water
- Good for making coffee because surprisingly it doesn’t actually boil the water although you’d never guess from looking at the steaming water dispensed. The temperature of the water is nearer 90 degrees, which is close to the perfect temperature for coffee. (Using boiling water burns the beans, giving you a bitter taste).
- A Quick cup is arguably safer than a kettle with regard to small children although both should be kept well out of reach of children. A freshly boiled kettle poses a burn risk and the nightmare scenario of a child pulling one over itself. With the Quick cup, the only water ever inside is cold. Hot water is only dispensed when the red button is pressed. However, because burning hot water would be dispensed on pressing the red button (which is actually on the top) then if a small child was playing with it it could get very hot water all over. This scenario is fairly unlikely though (it is mentioned in the cons section as a potential danger) and at the end of the day it’s only common sense that both kettles and a Quick cup as well as many other kitchen items should be kept well away from children
CONS
- If you have hard water you will may need to keep buying new filters for it although if you do have hard water you are probably used to such things, and may even see the inclusion of a filter as a positive advantage
- It’s still noisy – as noisy as the kettle. The noise comes from pumping the water up into the heating chamber and out of the spout. However, the noise is just for about 20 – 25 seconds. You may disagree, but this is preferable to me than the constant drone getting louder and louder of a normal kettle over a much longer period
- If you wanted cold water just after dispensing boiling water you need to run the cold for a few seconds first as hot water would come out for the first second or so
- The dispenser spout is high enough to place tall glasses underneath (presumably for soft drinks) However it’s too high for a cup, and even a modestly sized mug. This means if you just place the cup or mug under and press the red button you get some splashing of boiling water that misses the cup (unless you hold the cup under it). The splashes are small but can reach several inches. The problem is worse when the container is running low on water or has just been refilled and air gets pumped in with the water. They normally evaporate fairly quickly but it can need wiping up.
- This one isn’t really a disadvantage in my experience, but to remain balanced it needs mentioning on the cons list. As the temperature doesn’t reach actual boiling point, it’s possible for some tea-purists to be unhappy. However, I love my tea, and it tastes fine to me. It is definitely not quite as hot though so if you like to take your time over a cup of tea it could be an issue for you. But if you normally find tea too hot to drink without letting it cool down a few minutes first this could actually be an advantage to you as the tea is normally just right for drinking. A habit I’ve developed to make my tea hotter is to heat up the cup first by dispensing about a quarter of a cup full of water. I Let this water stand for a minute or so then empty it away and mash the tea in the now hot cup as normal. This results in a hotter cup of tea at least in the sense that the cup is nice and hot and there’s less loss of heat to the cup. Unfortunately though this not only wastes a small amount of extra energy and water, but it increases the time taken to produce the tea. I’m not saying this method is necessary, but if you are finicky about tea you might prefer to do it. I still feel even using this method is much less messing about them boiling a kettle and I’m sure it is still cheaper.
- Staying on the subject of temperature, as the Quick cup doesn’t “boil” the water it wouldn’t be suitable for sterilising anything although I’m no expert on bugs and germs – maybe 90 degrees is hot enough to kill them? If not you’d need a conventional kettle
- A child pressing the red button would get scalding water dispensed. I wouldn’t keep one where a child could use it. This advice applies equally to a kettle of course and to be fair a Quick cup is mostly safer as it is never hot like a freshly boiled kettle. If the child were to pull the Quick cup over itself the only water inside is cold. The potential danger is only present if a child is either big enough, or has something to stand on in order to press the red button, so on balance you could easily argue that a Quick cup is much less of a danger than kettle.
- If you occasionally use a kettle to take somewhere else you’ll need to keep the old kettle on hand. The Quick cup would be no use for filling up the screen wash reservoir on your car, or filling a bucket with boiling water etc.
- In the instruction book it advises that to use the least amount of energy you should switch the Quick cup off at the socket when not in use. This isn’t a bad idea in that switching most appliances off at the socket is a good safety precaution but with kettles in constant use few of us do. I’ve noticed when left on at the socket, you can feel warmth around the red button on the top which shows it is consuming some energy. It is probably the relay waiting to be activated. This energy usage is likely to be very minuscule, but still, when buying because you want to minimise energy “wastage” it bugs me a little. I normally do turn it off at the socket but often forget
- The Quick cup doesn’t always deliver the exact amount of water and sometimes it delivers short (never the other way round though which would be very bad). To program how much to dispense you press both buttons, the light flashes; you then press and hold the red button and let go when the desired quantity is dispensed. Pressing both buttons again sets this amount. It usually remembers this amount quite well but occasionally it falls short and needs an extra few seconds press of the red button to top up. This is the limitation of delivering water for a specific amount of time because the water flow isn’t exactly the same each time especially if the container has just been refilled and some air gets into the system.
- Please read the comments added to this review for details on a few other anomalies
Too many cons?
For me, the first two pros carry much more weight than any of the cons so I am still pleased with the Quick cup and think it was a good buy (as does my best mate who was so impressed when he came round that he bought one himself). As long as you understand exactly what you are getting, and you mash lots of tea and coffee but would like to do it much quicker and using substantially less electricity then it’s a great complimentary kitchen appliance.
Hopefully it will develop into a product with a few less cons although many of them could be described as minor. It is a new product though, and reliability is yet unknown. Tefal are a good make though.
Specs
Hot & cold water in 3 seconds
Uses 1/3 of energy of a standard kettle
Filter – Cleaner, clearer water
Capacity – 1.5L removable water tank
Manual or automatic flow
Buy replacement Tefal Quick Cup Water Filter Cartridge filters
Tefal Quick Cup Water Filter Cartridge from 4Washerhelp
NewQuick cup
Note there’s a new deluxe Quick cup out, which has several improvements and looks a bit better.
Update: April 2011
Here’s a comment I just added (to the comments below) which some may find interesting.
I’ve just swapped my Quickcup for a Morphy Richards Meno One Cup, which apart from three specific annoyances I’m quite pleased with. On balance think it’s better than the Quickcup. I’d love to find time to review it, hopefully I will eventually.
It differs from the Quickcup in that it actually boils the water before dispensing it but it is only supposed to boil cupfuls at a time with the ability to adjust the amount for small cups to large mugs. It’s quieter than the Quickcup, which has a very annoying constant pumping and steaming noise throughout its operation and it looks considerably more stylish…
I don’t normally add comments to my own article unless responding to a third party comment or question but I wanted to add a bit more without lengthening the original article.
As it’s the kind of thing I enjoy doing I’ve just done a quick experiment to compare the Tefal Quickcup with my kettle.
I filled my kettle to the minimum line shown on the side, which is where it would normally be filled to mash a single, or a couple of mugs of tea. I switched it on and timed it. The “kettling” noise that I find so annoying (yes I can be a bit finicky) started within seconds and grew louder and louder until it boiled. The time taken was just under 2 minutes at 115 seconds. This boiled 3 and a half mugs of water – most of which resulted in between one and a half, and two and a half wasted mugs of hot water depending on how many teas I was mashing.
Whilst the kettle was heating up this water I slipped a mug under the Quickcup, which dispensed a mug-full of piping hot water in just over 22 seconds. A second mug was filled in a similar time resulting in 2 mugs of tea in 45 seconds and not a drop of wasted energy.
Savings in energy would be even greater for anyone who is less judicious whilst filling the kettle and just keeps it fairly full for convenience.
about the tefal quick cup, i like the idea of a super fast cuppa and using less energy but the (perceived) long term cost of this product kinda put me off. it uses a filter which will need regular replacement. that costs money. so the money saved on using less energy will need to be used to buy filters.
it ain’t just about saving the environment, it’s also about saving the pennies in the long term.
or am i missing something out ?
alex w
alex w: To me, the most impressive aspect of the Quickcup was the speed. Saving me time waiting for the kettle to boil was the biggest attraction. The fact that it claims to be up to 65% more economical was a bonus although I can see how the economic savings could be more of an attraction to some.
You make a good point about the cost of filters although I don’t know if that’s factored in on the savings claims. I’d be surprised if it was though. I wouldn’t expect the cost of filters to tip the balance too much but I haven’t done the maths and it’s something that should definitely be taken into account.
My own filter has now been thrown out and I am using the Quickcup without a filter, which seems to be working fine. I can’t see how a filter is vitally necessary, and should surely be an optional extra.
One thing I have become concerned about though is the tea has a sort of scum on the top these days. My mate who bought one after seeing mine reckons they are just thousands of minute air bubbles. Mine only started doing it after several weeks. It doesn’t look very appealing. I wondered if it’s because the filter needed replacing but my mate says his did it from new.
I brought one of these as my friend had one and I just loved the idea of it. However, the water that came out of mine was much cooler than hers and with just a dash of milk in your drink you could almost drink all of it immediately. Hubby was not impressed so I sent it back and got a replacement that produced piping hot water – so love it now!!
On the filter issue, I guess that if you do not use one, that the small tube where the water get heated on its way out, would scale up quite quickly and cause problems – unless you are in ah area with very soft water. My kettle always usef to fur up as our water is quite hard. My friend solves this water by tipping filtered water into her quick cup, but this means she still has to buy a filter for something!.
LeighG: Thanks for your contribution. I was going to add something about the filter as the thought you mention crossed my mind the other day. I live in a fairly soft water area and don’t have limescale problems. However, as you point out, if anyone lives in a harder water area they could potentially get problems with limescale blocking the quickcup. Therefore when the filter needs replacing it should be replaced (even though I’ve found the quickcup works ok without it).
I’ve no idea how long the filters last, but it’s an indefinite financial commitment that needs taking into account prior to buying. They only cost about £5 though and if they last a year or so it’s not bad.
I don’t know how long they last though. I will buy one and report back if it stops the scum-like film on top of my coffee and tea that I reported in an earlier comment.
My spares and accessory site sells replacement filters if anyone needs to order any – Tefal Quick Cup Water Filter Cartridges
Ever since owning one of these babies, I haven’t used my old kettle once. I think it’s great, and don’t mind the noise it makes. I don’t use the filter as I have good soft water where I am.
However, I must comment on what others have said too, about the bubbles. I too have a problem where the drink always ends up with lots of tiny bubbles floating on the surface. On Coffee it actually makes it look better, but on tea it makes it look less attractive, and actually makes it look like there is something in there you shouldn’t be drinking. However, it IS just tiny bubbles, and after a minute or so they are no-where to be seen. It’s just a little embarrassing when you have guests round and you have to explain what they are. Not so good when you are trying to show off your new marvel.
I checked this review out (and the comments that followed) in the hope that I wasn’t actually on my own, and at least I know now that I am not.
I do know that attaching the filter still ends up with the bubbles, so that isn’t the cause.
Great otherwise though.
Bit of an update with the bubbles- if you pour water into an empty cup, the bubbles aren’t created, so it must be how the water is poured onto the tea bag. From now on then, for tea I will pur the water into the cup before adding the tea bag.
Thanks Barry: I agree that it gives coffee a bit of a creamy look, which is fine. However, the minute bubbles on the top of my tea does look quite unappetising. I too have seen that when dispensing hot water alone (which I do when I want to be extra fastidious by pre-heating the cup) there does not seem to such a reaction. I can see lots of little bubbles but they soon disappear.
I have found that the “problem” doesn’t always appear, not sure what exact circumstances create the floating film. I should point out that I am pretty sure the scum-like cloud temporarilly floating in my tea is simply thousands of minute air bubbles whipped up into a froth and as you say they do disappear fairly quickly.
“Could it be when the water has run out and air is drawn into the pump?”
No, I don’t think so. For me, the bubbles appear in every cup I make with the tea bag/coffee already in the cup. Yet every time I pour water into an empty cup they are not there. So, as far as I can make out, it is definitely something to do with how the water is poured straight onto the contents of the cup and how it reacts with it, rather than what’s happening in the kettle itself. However, I am no expert. With this little problem would you still recommend the kettle to others? I have done, but I have already had to explain this issue with it first.
Since buying the QuickCup I’ve discovered a new kettle that lets you fill a small chamber to boil. This is also a potentially time saving and energy saving device although I don’t know how big the chamber is. I haven’t looked into it yet but some people may prefer that as an option as it will presumably still boil the water and save money by only boiling small amounts.
I would imagine the Quickcup will still be cheaper to run though and still quicker too. I’d recommend the Quickcup as an addition to the kitchen if not a direct kettle replacement although some (as you say yourself) will be happy to use it exclusively instead of a kettle. I would recommend people read the review to make sure they understand how it works and see if they can live with all its little quirks.
Nothing is ever straightforward with energy-saving ideas, it seems to me. We can save money or we can save energy, but combining the two aims leads to some uncomfortable maths.
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For energy, our personal aim must be to making savings over the lifetime of the product in service. If we are going to do that, we really need some idea of the amount of energy that went into manufacturing the kettle. (I’m using the reasoning that, if we don’t buy the kettle, we are not responsible for it being manufactured, but if we do buy it … see where I’m going?) So the energy the kettle saves has, first of all, to offset the amount used to make it – and because I bought it, I have some responsibility for that. I’m guessing that it’s going to take a while to eat into that initial “energy bill”.
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And, as has been pointed out by another switched-on guy, the idea is also to save money. And we won’t be doing that until we have saved electricity equivalent to the £50 price tag of the kettle. At that point, the kettle is effectively “free” and we can finally get on with saving energy.
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I love the idea of an energy-saving kettle because I recently measured the electricity and cost that mine imposed on our household consumption – and I was shocked, I must admit. I just get the feeling that, until my old kettle breaks down, I’ll save both energy and money by just filling it less to boil the water I want. (And that’s coming from a confirmed gadget man!)
Andrew: Many people never factor in the big picture. It’s too easy to get sucked into all this saving energy saving bandwaggon and even get conned into buying products that will take much longer to start saving money than some people realise.
An example of this is energy saving light bulbs. I have a light fitting on my upstairs landing that has 3 bulbs in it. I replaced them with energy saving bulbs because I had the money to invest in replacing all my bulbs with the new energy saving ones. However, as my landing lights are only ever on for several minutes a day I worked out it would take 7 or 8 years to recoup the money I spent fitting them in saved energy.
As I point out in my review of the Quickcup, it’s more of a time saving product but kettles do use considerably more energy than light bulbs so you could recoup the expense in a much more reasonable time. If you need a new kettle anyway then the investment costs will be much less than if you bought the Quickcup as a secondary appliance.
As you point out, if you only boil small amounts of water in a standard kettle you can start saving energy without any extra investment.
At the end of the day this product is as much about convenience and saving time as saving energy.
The offer on your site from Comet does seem out of date – quoted £59.99 today on the link you gave compared with £48.95 on the John Lewis site.
Thanks for your informative comments though – I have pondered buying and may now do so but at £60 in local shops I was reluctant. Not even sure about £48.95 yet.
When I bought my first energy saving light bulb it was heavy and fell out of the socket, losing about £17 instantly. They now cost very little. So I am not keen to save money by spending too much at the outset.
Many thanks Donal: I rely very much on people like yourself to inform me of outdated links to other sites. I’ve removed it now.
I am seriously considering getting one of these , especially after seeing them in Costco tonight for about £44, is there any problem with making lots of cups of hot water for instance if visitors come around, in other words can I get a constant flow of 3 seconds per cup, one directly after the other . I am having my kitchen done at the moment and see that a lot of kitchen places have a hot water thingymajig that goes by your sink but at a cost of about £500 I figured the tefal would do the job just as well, what do you think
thanks
Pat
Remember, the main reason the QuickCup is more economical is because it only heats the exact amount needed as opposed to heating water in the kettle where the chances are more water will be heated than is needed, which is a waste. If I was mashing tea for more than two or three people I would probably use the teapot and put the kettle on.
However, the QuickCup should be able to just keep dispensing the hot water several times if required.
I picked one up a couple of weeks ago, and after 3 days of sheer joy it stopped heating the water – I got luke warm, then not long after it went to room temperature… so, I returned it to the store and got a replacement (I liked it for the short time it was working). All happy again, till once more it stopped working (less than a week on the replacement unit). If I return it to the store again it will be for a refund, which is a shame as I like the idea of it – I’ve emailed Tefal for advice – I should not have the same issue on two units in such a short space of time…
BTW, the filmy surface on top of the water – I can’t remember exactly what it is (someone who was awake at school might help) but it’s a natural reaction – something with the water, temp, tea, oxygen, solar system, winter equinox… help me out someone *lol*
Hello: I don’t blame you, if that happened to me I would also expect a refund and would not buy another. You can’t be blamed for totally losing confidence in the product. Of course any product can be subject to breakdowns and a small percentage of most products can go faulty quite quickly. But unless they had a faulty batch its exceptionally rare for you to get two consecutive products with the exact same fault, and pretty bad luck.
I think the filmy surface on the water has definitely got something to do with oxygen as I believe it is hundreds of minute air bubbles. It doesn’t happen when tea is mashed with water from a kettle though, so it must be something to do with the way the water is pumped out of the quick cup.
I bought refurbished Tefal QuickCup and am happy with the product. I lost the manual/instruction book as I need the instruction (only) how to de-scale (was told using 100% vinegar and run through the system).
I am not sure if it runs through the filter as well. Help would be appreciated. Thank you.
Herry: If you use the filters for the Tefal Quickcup I don’t think you should need to descale as they are called “Replacement Claris anti-scale cartridges”.
Trying distilled white vinegar might help as it’s known for doing all sorts of jobs. Other than that there are many descaling tablets on the market for descaling kettles and coffee makers.
Hi, just to add another unmentioned advantage, I am about to buy one for my mum, who due to health issues finds it difficult to lift and fill, or lift and pour a kettle, even if only part filled. This device would seem to be the answer, as she can fill the tank with a jug (this is how she fills her kettle), and from then on she can have a quick cuppa without any painful lifting. Brilliant.
Hello Mr Gwilym Phillips: I’ve just swapped my Quickcup for a Morphy Richards Meno One Cup, which apart from three specific annoyances I’m quite pleased with. On balance think it’s better than the Quickcup. I’d love to find time to review it, hopefully I will eventually. It differs from the Quickcup in that it actually boils the water before dispensing it but it is only supposed to boil cupfuls at a time with the ability to adjust the amount for small cups to large mugs. It’s quieter than the Quickcup, which has a very annoying constant pumping and steaming noise throughout its operation and it looks considerably more stylish…
I’d like to add, that after using the Morphy Richards Meno One Cup for several weeks now I can say I’m not so sure it’s better than the quick cup. I have some quibbles about it, particularly that unlike the Quick Cup, which as far as I know actually heats the water as it pumps it through into the cup – this one heats the water in the bottom of the chamber and then pumps it to the cup. The problem with this method is that it also heats up a lot of the other water in the water compartment so there is wasted heat and the water is constantly being made warm.
There are other issues I have with it but don’t have time to do a proper review unless enough interest is shown. However, I’m not saying it’s no good, and generally it does the job.
OK the bubbles thing. This is caused because the Quick Cup does not actually boil the water. Try with a kettle i.e. stop the process BEFORE the kettle has boiled and you will get the same reaction. But, it is mainly an aesthetic issue. Still undecided. I think the technology is derived from the Gaggia espresso machine and mine has lasted quite well, but not sure about the Tefal. I think these units are thrown out by the million somewhere in China.
Thanks for the comments – very helpful