Mecity Electric Tea Kettle Borosilicate Glass Tea Maker With Temperature Control and Infuser - LCD Display and Preset Brewing Programs - 1.7 Liter Water Boiler

Summary - Likes:Not too tall: easy to maneuver under overhead kitchen cabinets;Good temperature control: for specialty teas, comes up to precise temp gently, doesn't overshoot;Preset temperature modes AND manual adjust;Easy to program using the twiddle-and-push knob;All controls and display are in the base: there's more space than in the handle, so it's easy to read and control, also keeps heat away from electronics;Nicely fitting inner and outer lids;Memory feature: remembers what it was doing (e.g .keep warm) when kettle lifted off base and returned (but see description below);Gentle, polite "ping" that can even be muted, though it's so unoffensive you won't need to;Easy to pour, no drip;Glass kettle: easy to see contents;Easy to use (one button) keep warm feature;Packaging: if you like that sort of thing, the packaging of this product is very glamorous, you'll be happy you chose it before you even plug it in.Summary - Dislikes:Tea infuser attachment doesn't fit well, and is only useful for brewing pot-fulls of tea; that's it!Summary - Things to be aware of (not necessarily bad, depending on your needs, but you should consider prior to purchase):1200W heater, not 1700W like the big-boys; but it's well fast enough for brewing a pot of tea. If the time it takes to boil is too long for you, you won't have time to enjoy a cup of tea anyway!No scale filter: you may need to descale frequently, but that is easy and fast (see notes);Memory feature returns kettle to previous heating mode when replaced onto base - be careful if you return an empty kettle to the base! To shut the kettle off, simply hold down the twiddle-button for three seconds, and it will shut off.Detailed discussion:I purchased this kettle early in December, and as two of my family members were ill with Covid and flu at that time, I made A LOT of tea for them with it for over a month. It rose to the task magnificently, and I loved it almost immediately, especially appreciating the accurate temperature control and keep warm features. Note that for the "less than boiling" temperature modes, the kettle heats to close to the set temperature, then goes into a slow mode, bringing the water up to the precise temperature gently, so as not to overshoot: very clever! As it's a glass kettle, you can see the quantity of water easily. You can ALSO see the scale build up. All kettles accumulate scale, of course: it's a function of the calcium hardness in the water separating out when the water is heated, and the kettle cannot avoid doing so. It's a glass kettle, so from a design perspective, there's no practical way of supporting a mesh filter in the spout, so it doesn't have one. If you pour heated water directly from the kettle into a mug, you'll get scale too, if there's any in the bottom. You'd really want to avoid chewing bits of calcium scale with you tea, so descale early and often! In its early, busy period, I had to (chose to) descale mine every three days; however, I discovered how easy and fast it was to do so: half a litre (two cups) water , quarter liter (one cup) vinegar, set it to green tea (don't even need to boil), and turn it on. It was done within a couple of minutes: you can literally watch the scale disappear - very entertaining! Really, make it a point of doing it frequently, and you'll find it fast and easy, and rewarding.The infuser is the weakest feature of the whole product: it's soft metal, and has to be attached to the underside of the inner lid. Being English, I brew primarily real English-style black tea (PG Tips), and only into a tea pot (English style black tea into a mug or in a multi-purpose kettle like this one is a bad mistake you only make once!), so I don't use the infuser. If you use it, and especially if you make black tea, you'll need to remove the inner lid, rinse the infuser under cold water (so you don't hurt yourself!), remove it, then replace the inner lid.The kettle has a memory feature - not to be confused with keep-warm, so if you lift it off the base, then return it within a few minutes, it goes back to what you were doing before. That can be a bad thing if you lift if before it reaches programmed temperature, or if it's in keep-warm mode, and you drain the kettle, then put it back: it will try to heat empty, and while it's "officially" boil-dry protected, remember that it's already hot, so it will overheat really quickly. You don't want to do that, safety shut-off or not.Once my wife recovered from Covid, and flu, she started using the kettle herself, and she immediately liked it, and complimented me for making yet another good choice, after our new induction range and coffee pot... I'm on a roll, and might eventually even be forgiven for buying the "wrong" dishwasher ;-)All in all, I strongly recommend this excellent product, and would happily buy it again, or another, if the need arose.

This kettle has been hitting the set temperatures pretty accurately. And that's testing it with a laser temp checker. The readout is slightly behind the actual temperature in the kettle. But that's how thermometers work that aren't instant read. So no harm there. I have never had water more than a couple of degrees over the set temp.How fast does it heat the water up? Depends on how much water you put in. More water takes more time. Whatever the amount of water used its faster than the stove heats the water. Yes, I've timed it, because darn it why have a tea dedicated kettle like this if it doesn't work better than my stove? And I assure you, it does.

*Updated**The seller contacted me and sent me a replacement kettle. Received my brand new kettle within 48 hours. Love my kettle, truly hoping the lid doesn’t crack/break!The kettle itself it’s awesome, however 7 months later the lid (where the screw attach the metal to the plastic) melted/broke. Luckily I caught all the small broken plastics on time and did not go into my coffee mug. Disappointing!

****4th UPDATE****I received a replacement kettle after parts of the lid (plastic part) that holds the collar for the infuser basket were cracking. The kettle still works great - that has never been an issue. However, after about 5 months the plastic rim on the lid is cracking. We can still use the kettle, but I worry about small particles of plastic potentially falling into the kettle. The plastic is food safe, but who wants to knowingly ingest microplastics?! I still love the kettle, but the lid needs a redesign. I'm going to try a food safe superglue to hold the lid together for now... but I'd recommend buying the extended warranty on this kettle.****3rd UPDATE****After my last email, I finally did receive a response that said they had tried to reach me, but I never responded. Perhaps the emails were like ships passing in the night, neither party being able to reach the other...In any case, once we made contact, customer service was very helpful and impressively swift in issuing me a replacement -- within 3 days I had a whole new unit! They said the design of the top has been improved for a few months now. (Refresher: my issue was the breaking plastic where the screws for the tea infuser collar meet the plastic top). I can tell you the entire thing looks exactly the same, so perhaps it is just the type or strength of plastic that has been improved. Time will tell, and of course I will keep updates coming as needed! For now, the new kettle works beautifully and I am very satisfied. I still think this is the best kettle out there (and I have tried many).****2nd UPDATE****Well, I haven't had any luck with customer service. It's been about 3 months, and I have sent two emails requesting a replacement top (since the plastic is disintegrating). I knocked a star off my 5-star rating for this reason. Except for the top, the kettle is exceptional. I will keep trying, but I may end up returning it for a new one.***UPDATE***Okay, so I still love this kettle, BUT I just cleaned it (rinsed out with tap water) and noticed the plastic rim the tea infuser ring is screwed to is breaking off. Now I don’t use the tea infuser, or I may have noticed the breakdown sooner. This break doesn’t necessarily make the kettle unusable, but now the upper plastic ring part of the lid might break down further.After going through several kettles in the last few years, I was looking for one that would last. A few months ago I bought this one and here all all the reasons I love it:1) All the controls are in the separate base. At first I didn’t want a separate base because I thought it would take up too much precious counter space; however, this base is compact enough that it’s not an issue AND I like that the electronic controls are separate from the carafe, because I suspect that the reason the last one broke was because water inevitably got splashed on the handle where the switch was located.2) There is temperature control and keep warm function. I didn’t think I needed this, but then I caught my husband measuring the water temp with the meat thermometer for his coffee, and figured it might be nice to make it a smidgen easier to make coffee. I drink tea, so the different tea settings are neat (although I usually drink black). Also, I drink boiled then cooled water, and this kettle makes it super easy.3) Super quiet. Quieter than all my past electric kettles.4) Mute button. The beep isn’t too annoying but I like the option to silence it nevertheless. The less beeping in my life, the better.5) No lights in the kettle. I am not sure why LED lights in the kettle have become popular but I feel it’s unnecessary and I would rather just see the water.6) Clear glass carafe. Oh and I CAN see the water because the carafe is glass. My husband likes this feature because he’s a bit ADHD and it’s easy for him to see how much water is in it at a glance.7) Easy filling. The entire top comes off for easy cleaning and filling, although I fill it through the hole where the tea infuser goes (nice feature but I don’t use it, since we use the kettle for more than tea). No button to push to open the lid. No hinge to break off.8) Easy to hold. My hands are small, and a lot of kettles are too big or unbalanced for me to hold comfortably. This one is comfortable for me. I am sure there are probably more ergonomic ones out there, but not with all these other features at a reasonable price.9) Beefy cord. It’s a heavy duty cord that won’t easily fray.Time will tell whether it will last, but I hope it does! I would recommend this kettle to anyone who enjoys a simple, elegant, fully functional, and intentionally designed electric kettle.