Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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134 of 136 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better than a tea kettle!, December 25, 2003
I just received this for Christmas, it's something I've wanted for a while. Ever since my tea kettle died of old age, I've been boiling water for tea with a regular sauce pan and what usually happens is I forget all about it and only remember after it has been boiling for a while. Also, I didn't like the long wait for hot water. I want instant gratification! And now I have it with this Zojirushi dispensing pot. It's perfect since I'm an avid tea drinker, consuming several pots of tea each day.
A long long time ago, I used to have the "air pot" style dispensing pot where you just press on the top and it pumps out water. This one is a much newer design and dispensing is handled electronically. What I like is the "safety" feature which was lacking in the old "air pot" styles. You have to press the "unlock" button before the "dispensing" button which prevents accidentally dispensing hot water. You can set this to keep water at 205°F, 195°F, or 175°F. You can also set it to give you hot water in 7 hours, but this is a feature I really don't need to use. I'm using the 195°F which seems to be a good middle ground for making black (requires hotter water) and green (requires lower temp water) teas. This is also handy for making instant noodles, oatmeal, hot chocolate. Also handy when needing hot water for a dish I'm cooking, or making chicken/beef broth for a dish I'm cooking. This is very convenient ... no more waiting for hot water! (This beats getting a replacement tea kettle because with a tea kettle I still have to wait for it to boil/whistle, and it usually whistles shortly after I've sat down and gotten comfortable.) This pot will automatically reboil when it feels the temp has dropped too much. The water level gauge is easy to read, the lid lifts up easily for refilling (also removes easily to make pouring water out and cleaning a cinch). Another nice little detail is a removable power cord. It makes me feel a bit "safer" being able to remove this before cleaning out the pot in the sink.
I am confident that this will last me a long time. My in-laws also have a Zojirushi water dispensing pot and it has never failed on them. And I know people who have other Zojirushi products and have had no problems with them. So I feel comfortable with this brand, and I may look into getting one of their rice cookers.
Oh, I have to mention one more nicety of this dispensing pot. The base will swivel around (think lazy suzan style), making it easy to rotate it without scratching your kitchen counter top.
The only thing I need to be careful about is where to put the dispensing pot since there is a steam vent on the top. I don't put it directly beneath any kitchen cabinets, just in case the steam might damage the cabinet over time.
ADDED 11/19/05:
I just wanted to mention that I have had this for 2 years and it is still working as well as it did when I first got it. I have used this pot everyday for the past 2 years. I refill it at least once a day in the summer, 2-4 times a day in the winter. I use it mainly for making tea (big tea drinkers in this house) and cooking. It's easy to clean. No staining on the inside; of course this would depend on your local water quality. Not bad at all considering the use I get out of this. I still highly recommend this pot.
I have a baby now. I have found this dispensing pot handy for quickly warming up bottles from the fridge... instant hot water to immerse bottle in. My screaming baby doesn't have to wait long for her milk. Perfect! The pot has also been useful when mixing cereal... mix cereal with some cold water, then a splash of the hot water to bring it up to a nice warm temp for her.
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44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Terrific for just myself, November 30, 2005
I drink a fair amount of tea, and so this 3 liter size water pot is perfect for myself. I typically only refill it once a day, at night before I go to bed. It has a 7 hour delay timer that I use so that I have hot water as soon as I get up.
I use the hottest water setting that maintains the temperature at 208 degrees F. It heats up relatively quickly if it's left at 195 degrees or at 175 degrees to save electricity, but I'm impatient and don't like to wait.
I also use it for hot chocolate, apple cider, ramen, you name it.
It is very easy to refill thanks to the removable cover and removable power cord. The cord attaches magnetically, which makes plugging and unplugging incredibly easy.
I do have to turn the pot around so the back is facing me when I open the cover and remove it to refill the water. If I don't, the steam hits me on the wrist when I open it, and since I keep it on the hottest setting, the steam is scalding.
There is a safety feature where you press the "unlock" button before the "dispense" button so it doesn't accidentally dispense hot water, but it hasn't been that important to me.
It's super easy to clean. I bought a 1-lb package of citric acid. I weigh out 30g, dissolve it in water, and throw it into a full pot. Then I press the button to put the pot on clean mode. It takes about an hour and a half Afterward, I dump the water and boil another pot of water to rinse it. I dump that, and the next pot of water doesn't taste like citric acid at all. There are cleaning instructions in the manual.
I clean it every few weeks, or whenever I feel like it. Our water is very hard, and even though I use filtered water, a layer of calcium will accumulate on the inside of the pot, but the cleaning takes that away without any problems.
The interior is Teflon coating, I believe, but as long as I don't scratch it, it's perfectly safe. It hasn't shown any wear or tear yet.
The outside is plastic and easy to clean even when it gets splatter from the nearby stove top.
I have had my pot for 16 months and it hasn't given me any problems. For tea lovers, I can't recommend this enough.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Used daily in my kitchen, June 9, 2005
I purchased the Zojirushi 3 liter dispensing pot, and it runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in my house. We drink tea constantly, and it is wonderful not to have to wait to boil water. The Zojirushi allows you to set the desired water temperature based on your needs (i.e. 175 for green/white teas, 195 for other teas, 205 for cooking). The unit is tall enough to fit even our tallest to-go cup under the dispensing spout.
It also has a "7 hour" delayed start so that it can be off during the night, but you wake up to hot water.
The only downside is that it doesn't appear to be insulated as well as it could be. For example, the outside of the unit is warmer than an insulated thermos-style container containing equally hot water. This suggests to me that it is not as well insulated, and therefore not as energy efficient as it could be.
I recommend it, and would buy another one in an instant if anything happened to this one.
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