Customer Reviews

Presto Heat 'n Steep Electric Tea Kettle

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I purchased this as a tea maker because the last one that I had finally died on me. It wasn't nearly as great as this, with all these features, however it did the job. This however has made my tea taste even better. I hadn't realized how much I was missing out on! LOL This is a great product and comes with options for oulong, herbal, and green tea's. Awesome product! Definitely recommend this to anyone who loves tea!

The pros:

*I love the timer on top of the kettle- I timed how long it took the kettle to heat to each ideal brewing temperature, and now I can just set the timer and leave the room. So convenient!

*It's attractive and goes well with the rest of my black appliances.

*The steeping basket is a good, fine mesh. Very little mess at the bottom with finer-cut leaf teas, and none at all with the larger leaf teas.

*Heats the water very quickly.

*The inside is stainless steel, so you don't get that weird plasticky smell/taste in your tea.

*Keeping the kettle clean, I have not had difficulty with staining or scale build-up.

*Takes the guesswork out of green and white tea brewing.



The cons:

*While I understand the cord is short for safety reasons, I do wish it was a bit longer. I also wish it was retractable.

*No whistle. It isn't really necessary with the timer, but somehow I'm just accustomed to my kettle whistling. Wouldn't affect my decision to buy it in the future.

*The timer only measures in whole minutes, when sometimes half-minute increments would be nice.

*The kettle won't maintain lower temperatures; you just have to unplug it when you get the temperature you want, and either steep a whole pot of the same kind of tea, or keep re-heating the water if you want to make different teas.


I'd been considering a few different, more expensive multi-temperature models of electric kettles/water dispensers, and I'm very glad I decided to go with this inexpensive (not cheap!) alternative.

A nice tea pot actually holds 40 oz, so you can't really call it a little tea pot. It does what it says it does, you put water in the pot and watch the temperature and when it gets to the right one, you put the tea in the infuser and put it in the pot. It is all pretty straight forward and a pretty good deal for the money. So the complaints I have read, it beeps when it gets to the last minute, well my stove does that too, because it doesn't time less than a minute, but will count down the last minute so you can stop it... important if you are brewing your tea for 2 and a half minute. The infuser is easy to put on. The thermometer is easy to read even with my bad eyes, same for the timer. So do I wish it had a longer cord, yes the cord on this is really short, do I wish it had an off button so when it got to the right temperature you can turn it off, yes, but I plugged into a surge protector and when it gets to the right temperature, I just flip the switch. Do I wish it was on a detachable base, you bet... but honestly for the price it does a great job and I am thinking of getting another, just so I have a back up. You want a system to brew tea and do everything for you well there is a $250 machine out there, for the rest of us, this works really well. And then we can spend money on the tea not the machine.

I ordered this because the description said it was stainless steel inside. Only the bottom warmer is stainless, the entire housing is plastic. Plastic releases toxins on a molecular level when heated. It is damaging to your health to drink from hot plastic containers. Does anyone know of an electric tea pot, that only uses stainless steel or glass where water contact is an issue?

Pros:
+ Useful color-coded thermometer
+ Boils water fast
+ Stainless steel interior

Cons:
- Lacks an on/off switch
- Timer not connected to anything, just battery powered.
- Short cord

It's useful enough to do what I need it to do: boil water for tea. If I want a green/oolong, I can just look at the thermometer and unplug it when I want to. I invested in a $2 switch for it, so I don't have to keep unplugging it and creating a big spark each time.

I spent hours looking through the different models of electric kettles, trying to find one that could regulate the temperature at less-than-boiling. I'm also a college student, and can't spend $200 on one of the crazy PDA-E.Kettle-Fridge-TV models that seem popular. Buying a $15 kettle and sticking a thermometer in it is a hassle. All the models that automatically shut off at a desired temperature have mixed reviews about accuracy, and they're expensive.

But I didn't give up! I found the PRESTO.

Built-in thermometer? Heck yes. Built-in timer. Nice! Weighs only 2.3 lbs. and 40 oz. capacity. Awesome! Built-in tea infuser? ...Okay I'll just ignore it. No on-off switch? Unfortunate, but switches are cheap and you probably have one already. Around $30? Wonderful!

I am extremely glad I purchased this electric kettle.

The nitty-gritty:

Heats quickly. I didn't time it, since I never need boiled water. It's fast.

There is NO weird taste. The water you use (tap water from location X, bottled water from brand Y, filtered water by process Z) has more of an effect on taste than this kettle does. Which is none.

The thermometer is accurate. I tested it with an independent analog thermometer, and the kettle's one lagged a few (3-5) degrees behind, but caught up when you shut off the power. I think the needle on my kettle was just slow. You get used to it, and it is SO CONVENIENT when I go back for second, third, fourth steepings and need to raise the temperature by a few degrees.

The timer only has intervals of one minute, but I don't find that as annoying as some reviewers do. I can count to 30 if I need to. If you can't, you can set it to one minute and it will count down while displaying the seconds. The beeps from the timer are LOUD, which is nice. No forgetting about your tea.

The kettle is VERY EASY to pour. Because it's round and squat, made from plastic, and has a good spout. No more picking up a bulky stainless steel model that weighs ten pounds and having a gallon of water explode out of the top.

The cord is short (2ft.), so, if you're in a dorm/office like me, keep that in mind. Also, no on/off. Use the timer or learn how your water sounds at certain temperatures unless you want to wait for boiling water to cool every time.

Lacks markings for measuring correct amount of water to brew tea. Requires two cups of water for thermometer to work accurately. Has no spout stopper, so heat escapes readily from kettle once unplugged. No whistle or on/off switch. Timer for brewing works but the chime that sounds when timer runs down stopped working on mine after about a month.

I bought this because I wanted to have a tea kettle that would make a cup of tea at the right temperature. With my regular electric tea kettle I had to guess when to turn it off in order to get the water at the right temperature for green tea and I rarely got it right. This kettle takes the guess work out of that. Although some find it inconvenient that the kettle doesn't turn off when it reaches temperature I haven't found that to be such a big problem. You have to be there anyway to put the tea leaves in to steep. To buy one that would reach temperature and hold there would cost at least two or three times more. This is really is a great buy for people who are particular about their tea. I wish I would have found this sooner.

Pros:
1. Adjustable timer, you will never forget about your tea (there is a table in user manual how to set time for different type of tea)
2. There is a mesh inside this kettle, so you can make your tea and you do not need a tea pot (we do not use this feature though)
3. There is a termo sensor and a good looking gauge
4. Very good construction, solid built, aluminium handle

Cons:
1. There is no base, and power cable is always attached
2. No self-off (you only rely on timer)

This is a very interesting product that does the job very very well. However, it is a little different. The idea is to boil the water then add the tea into the pot using the basket that attaches to the lid. Next set the time in the lid to the required steep time. To me that seems weird and negates the use of the kettle for other uses but here is how I use it and it works exceedingly well. Throw the tea basket aside and fill the kettle then set the time to remind you to check whether the water is boiling as there is no whistle included to alert you to that. I fully recommend it when used in this way but could not justify a kettle to just make tea even though that happens multiple times in our home. Buy it, you will love it. It is very quick at boiling water.