Idea from the East

[PEMTEK]

From my trip to China earlier this year it got me thinking about how everyone makes their tea which if you dont know chinese people pour down your neck continually everytime you visit. Sadly at the time I didnt realise that it is not considered an insult not to drink it so I was bloated with what seemed like litres of usually pretty nasty stuff each day!

Anyway back to the point..

They boil a full kettle and fill a large vacuum flask and use the water from that to make tea as needed.

Simple 

[kristen]

That was common in Japan too when I was there 20 years or so ago.  They had big thermos flasks with push-pump-squirter tops.  Worked well ... but the water may be too cold to make the tea us English make?  Probably about right for instant coffee though ...

... I've got a nice thermos like that in the cupboard, I'll see how the household take to it and report back.

[Fiat]

Hi We use them all the time have done for a long time when we go out for the day on picnics and such the one we use keeps the water nice and hot for a long time you can buy at Costcos for about a tenner
Frank

[Ivan]

I wonder what the feasibility is of making a commercial thermos kettle - dangled element inside a thermos flask with some kind of flap for the steam to escape so it seals heat in as soon as it stops boiling.

Tip for parents with new babies - we used a large thermos as a warm water store for nappy-changing for the first few weeks. Filled from the hot tap, saves on the 5litres or so we have to run off each time we turn on the hot tap before the water runs hot. Also very handy in the middle of the night, when you want to make the nappy change as quick and easy as possible.

[Anjou]

That was common in Japan too when I was there 20 years or so ago.  They had big thermos flasks with push-pump-squirter tops.  Worked well ... but the water may be too cold to make the tea us English make?  Probably about right for instant coffee though ...

... I've got a nice thermos like that in the cupboard, I'll see how the household take to it and report back.

Ive got UK friends who brought one back from Thailand but they tell me its illegal to sell them here.

[Paulh_Boats]

Or just mark the water level on the kettle with a CD writing pen, add one cup - write "1", another cup, write "2", another "3"......."4" was enough for us.

Our tall kettle can boil just one cup - so Scrooge carefully fills up to the mark.

Humbug.

[Ivan]

My wife's just bought a new kettle - not popular with me: It's got graduations on the side, including 'Minimum 1litre'. Products like this should be banned.

[kristen]

Ours is now a minimum 1L kettle too - now that we have got a push-and-pour thermos next to it!

P.S. I'm too Scrooge to put the Thermos away for a week, put the plug-in-energy-recording-meter on the kettle and see what it uses for a week - and then get the Thermos back out ... but I'm sure that is what I should have done, with hindsight.

[djh]

I wonder what the feasibility is of making a commercial thermos kettle

That's how the pump thermos thingies work nowadays. You fill them from the tap; actually you put water from the tap into a jug and then pour it into the gadget. Then switch on and it boils it. The clever ones also have keep warm settings, like rice cookers, and reboil buttons for persnickety tea drinkers. And child-safe locks and lots of pretty designs on the outside. I wouldn't be surprised if you could buy one that plays tunes and has an accompanying light show.

[guydewdney]

or insulate the kettle with stick-on armaflex



I swear it takes significantly shorter to boil - as does the missus (who hated me for doing this to her expensive kettle)

Its also cool to touch - so no chance of scalding.

[Ivan]

djh,  Can you point to a link for the thermos kettles - might buy my wife one for Christmas (she won't like it unless it looks trendy though!).

I've seen guy's armaflex kettle in the flesh - most impressive kettle I've seen to date!

By the way, what glue did you use, Guy?

[Paulh_Boats]

The coffee vending machine at work hovers around 82C - a kettle that switches off at 82C then plays a merry mp3 tune downloaded via bluetooth would save a ton of power.

Cold water 15C to 100C  = 85C rise
Cold water 15C to 82C    = 67C rise       

67/85 = 79%             ...so the merry tune kettle can save 21% for coffee drinkers.

-Scrooge
 

[wookey]

top fettling there, Guy.
Now why don't they sell them like that? Hmm, in fact they do, but Guy's solution is a great deal more cost-effective:
http://www.pots-and-pans.co.uk/acatalog/Siemens_Porsche_Kettle.html
(78 quid for those that can't be bothered following link)
or slightly better at 65 quid: http://www.go-electrical.co.uk/view/area/Catalog/section/Details/for/ProductOption/ref/4490?rrrrt=5

And one of my workmates has one of these (heat-as-you-use-kettle) and says its great:
http://www.shopeco.co.uk/tefal-quick-cup-449-p.asp

I wish kettles were smaller. 98% of the time I want one or two cups. 1 cup is so low in the window of a standard kettle that filling correctly is a bit hit and miss. A smaller one for normal use would be better. Looks like a few such things exist, at the expense of being slower and costing more than a big one.

[Ivan]

Navitron can supply the Tefal quick Kettle - in case anyone wants one.

[guydewdney]

The armaflex comes in sticky backed rolls - which of course Navitron can supply...