KRUPS FL701850 Personal Tea Kettle with Integrated Infusion Basket, Black

We all know the old saying, “a watched pot never boils.” Tea drinkers know it well. If you add up all the minutes I’ve spent hovering over a tea kettle, waiting for the water to boil, and not wanting to walk away because letting it boil too long removes too much oxygen and thus flavor . . . well, it must be months of my life wasted.So this is a terrific idea. Put the water in, put the tea in the container (remove the paper label from a tea bag first), press a button, and walk away. When you come back, about ten minutes or so later (less if you don’t fill it up all the way and less if the water is not ice cold – it is winter as I write this), the tea has been brewed and the kettle has turned off. The tea is ready to drink.If you’ve waited too long and the tea has started to cool, just flip it back on for a few seconds to reheat. It couldn’t be simpler.The reality is, there is a learning curve. This pot really makes the tea differently. So far I have mostly only used Red Rose tea, the original black tea, in bags. I previously had it down to a science on exactly how much water to boil for one tea bag. Now I have to start all over. With this machine, if I use the exact same amount of water and one tea bag, the tea is too weak. If I use two tea bags, the tea is too strong.I’m not sure why that happens since I’m using the same tea bags. Perhaps it has to do with the temperature this kettle brings the water to? I have no way to measure the temperature, so I’m not sure what is going on.My best results so far have been starting with one tea bag and then towards the end of the process, adding a second tea bag. Hardly fitting into my toss it all in and walk away fantasy. And it’s a waste. I’m going through tea bags like crazy.So I figure this works best with loose tea where I can measure and adjust the amount. That’s what I will do after I go through my large stash of Red Rose tea bags. I’ll try to update this review when I get the loose tea.Also, I should mention that cleaning is easy. Just take the kettle to the sink. It has a separate base, so just wipe that base dry with a cloth.By the way, I read some other reviews where people said they had trouble getting the kettle back on the base. I have not had any issues whatsoever. Mine just pops back on.Update added several months of use:I wanted to update this review. It took me several attempts, but I eventually got the perfect brew using Red Rose original tea bags, no muss, no fuss, no bother. A few tricks I learned along the way for using tea bags: Remove any paper tags or strings on the tea bag. Lay the tea bags down flat so the tea leaves cover as much of the surface as possible -- don't bunch them up. Experiment a little with water levels. Since I got everything measured, I never, ever use any other method to make my black tea. It's delicious. Perfect. And so easy.

We usually use teabags and have a regular electric kettle but both my husband and I enjoyed loose leaf tea in our youth and remembered it fondly. So we decided to give this kettle a go.When I first saw it, I was a little concerned because the description says that it's a personal tea kettle which suggests that it will make enough tea for one cup and it looks like it should but actually it will hold 1 liter or a little over quarter of a gallon. Which is to say, quite a lot of tea.The kettle has an interesting design: black plastic holding a round glass ball with a simple on off switch. It's quite attractive but some alternative colors would have been nice. In my case, chrome would have gone better with my regular Krups kettle and coffee maker and fit the 50's retro styling of my kitchen.Now to the tea kettle itself. You simply fill it up to the one of the levels indicated on the handle. The cap is removed by squeezing the sides of the grip together and pulling up; a spindle with a little gauze compartment sit under the lid. Simply pushing down on the lid and twisting allows you to separate the lid from the spindle. The spindle has tripod feet which allow you to stand it upright on a flat surface so you can put your teabags or loose lead tea in the compartment and reattach the lid. Put the spindle with lid back in centered in the guide hole and turn it on.This tea maker is interesting in that the tea is never submerged. Instead it works more like a percolator coffee machine. Water is heated in a small compartment under the spindle travels up and spills over the tea which drips into the ball. Quite interesting and fun to watch the colored tea drop into the ball and slowly spread around. Eventually this circulation of tea and water brews and you have a lovely tea.The tea comes out strong. Tea bags which I am more used to and can compare tastes better. To get something close I have to cover the cup and let it sit for several minutes.This kettle is about 600 watts and takes longer than a regular kettle, but the wait is well worth it: the tea tastes great.UPDATE: We got really hooked on this little tea-maker and last week, I didn't put the kettle on the base properly something shook the kitchen and (to make a long story short) I broke it. Well, tea just didn't taste the same when it was not made what was now considered the proper way in my household so I of course had to buy a replacement. Which made me update my review and upgrade the number of stars to 5.

Received my Krups FL7018 3 hours ago. Have made 5 cups of loose leaf tea and 5 cups of tea bag tea. The lack of a heat setting is a draw back but not one to add anything negative (various teas should be brewed in different temperature water and for different lengths of time -- not doable, IMO, with this product). I find the machine well made for the price ($43.00) but question how long the plastic components will last -- they are all VERY thin.The important part of this review is the resulting tea. First and foremost a cup of tea made with one tea bag or one spoon of loose tea will be seriously weak. Using two tea bags or two spoons of loose tea results in an good cup of tea -- not great, which I am used to. Unless I heated the cup the tea was cold in about two or three minutes. Why doesn't the Krups do a better job? Simply put, the machine does not steep tea. The machine is a perculator which means the boiling water is passed through the tea multiple times until the water is hot. I believe a better cup of tea can be made with this machine if the boiling water coul be perced twice. I haven't tried this yet!The Krups Personal Tea Kettle lost one star for not passing through the tea enough times and one star advertising that states the machine STEEPS tea when it doesn't.For the time being I am using the "Tea Kettle" as an electric water heater. Works great in this limited way.

Such a wonderful tea pot, works great and makes amazing tea, Love it.Update,My coffee maker bit the dust, I wanted coffee now, so I decided to put coffee grounds into this tea maker, and WOW it made the best tasting coffee that I ever tasted, and super fast and hot, I'll won't be in a hurry to replace my old coffee maker.

Un excelente utensilio , extrae la esencia del The , recomendable , llegó en excelente estado y muy rápido, gracias