Tefal Quickcup Kettle (review)

I don’t normally talk about anything but white goods on Whitegoodshelp but I’m mentioning the Tefal Quickcup kettle 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 Quickcup 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 Quickcup and press the red button. Either watch and marvel, or walk away to do something else like fetch the biscuits. The Quickcup 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 Quickcup, 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 Quickcup 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 Quickcup, 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 Quickcup as well as many other kitchen items should be kept well away from children

CONS

• If you have ahard 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 Quickcup 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 Quickcup is mostly safer as it is never hot like a freshly boiled kettle. If the child were to pull the Quickcup 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 Quickcup 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 Quickcup 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 Quickcup 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 Quickcup 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 Quickcup 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

Written By Washerhelp on January 10th, 2008 with 18 comments.
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