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Chefman Custom-Temp 1.8L Electric Tea Kettle With Tea Infuser

It was working great, and at a great price point… until I noticed that there is what appears to be the glue or some kind of silicone seal holding the base to the glass interior or the pitcher seeping out into the interior where the water  goes. Will be returning this and NOT exchanging it!!

Defective/potentially dangerous sealant?

I'm really enjoying this Chefman Custom-Temp 1.8L Electric Tea Kettle With Tea Infuser for a number of reasons! 

I grind my beans and make my coffee campfire style by simply letting the grounds steep in hot water and also drink a bit of tea and even reconstituted beef bone broth, etc., so I tend to go through quite a lot of boiled water in a typical day. Since I prefer using glass and ceramic as much as possible (for both hot and cold contents) I had been using a borosilicate "Whistling Tea Kettle" to heat my charcoal filtered water and had even figured out that I could greatly speed the process by using two kettles and only filling them half full, which would give me about a quart of boiling water in each pot, simultaneously. I would then transfer the piping hot water into two quart-size glass-lined thermal carafes and work from those to make my beverages by the cup throughout the day, in back to back fashion, making sure I started more water to boil when my last carafe was about a cup away from empty.

Given my routine, this 1.8L Electric Tea is just the right size, and is able to heat nearly the same amount of water all in one pot, just as fast as I was able to with the two half-filled pots, and the real plus is the convenience of not having to stay close by and listen for the kettles to start whistling. In fact, I can now even forget I started the water to boil (which does happen...) with the worse case scenario being that I'll have to start it to boil again after the kettle shuts down, and there's even a one hour grace period before that happens, with the kettle automatically keeping the water near the desired temperature I set it up for. Speaking of setting the temperature, it's fully intuitive, as all you do is press the Temp button and then either press "BOIL" if you want to jump right to 212 degrees, or press Temp and run the displayed number up from 160 degrees in 5 degree increments to where you want to heat the water to, which is great for different types of beverages, many often even suggesting a particular steeping time and temperature.
 
As for steeping, the instructions on the Kettle will tell you not to use the infuser for coffee grounds though I'm sure it would work with a medium to coarse grind, but I'm guessing they don't think you'll be happy with the appearance of the pot from then on. In my case, I immediately removed the infuser and doubt I'll ever use it, mainly because I steep loose grounds or leaves right in the cup and don't bother filtering them out, actually even consuming them while enjoying the drink. (As crazy as that sounds, when you think it through, it is not much different than all the other plant material we consume, and frankly, there's a lot of valuable nutrition that can be consumed rather than discarded. Many types of tea leaves, flowers, dried fruits, etc., and even coffee beans, are actually quite tasty, and good for you, too!) For me, I plan to only use the kettle to heat water and then mix or steep my ingredients in a separate cup or container, so the infuser will stay in the cabinet indefinitely. 

Another detail worth mentioning is that when you lift the kettle from the base, it will shut off, albeit the white LED lights will come on when you set the kettle back down and that may fool you into thinking it is still on. Really all the white lights are telling you is that you've made a good electrical contact and that the pot is ready to turn on. To turn it on, or back on to get it to keep the water hot for another hour, you just press the START/STOP button, once (or twice if the white lights aren't on) and the current water temperature will display along with the red LED lights will coming on, letting you know that it is in heating mode and giving you a good idea of how long it will be before your water is going to be hot. When your preset temperature is reached, the green LED lights will come on to let you know it is ready. As the temperature begins to drop after that, the green lights will stay on for the duration of the one hour keep hot period, telling you it is still in that mode and actually saying that it is "READY" even though it might be fibbing because the water temperature has actually dropped and is somewhere within the tolerance range of about 18 degrees (If preset was 212). Once the temp drops to the bottom of that tolerance it will then bring the temp back up at a rate of about 2 seconds per degree, but not necessarily clear to your originally preset temperature.  (In my case, I usually have it set for 212 degrees and the keep hot mode will allow it to drop to 194 degrees before then bringing it back to 204 degrees rather than 212 degrees, which is undoubtedly both an energy saving feature as well as meant to keep the water from boiling off. I tested presetting it at 205 degrees and the keep hot mode then only let it drop to 198 degrees and brought it back up to 208 degrees, so the range is definitely relative to your preset temperature.) If you happen to reach for your kettle during the keep hot period and find that it is at a lower temp than you want, simply tap the START/STOP button to get it to immediately start bringing the water temp back up. Of course, that also applies to those times when the pot has been off for a while and the water temperature has dropped a lot. Simply put, if you want the water to be hotter, turn the kettle on...

One disappointing aspect with the Kettle, for me, is that the borosilicate carafe has a stainless steel bottom, which is undoubtedly necessary for both quicker heating and not overheating and breaking the glass. Borosilicate can handle sitting on gas stoves and other elevated grills where there is a little bit of air space under them, and even on glass stove tops, but they are not to be set directly on an electric coil. The "Whistling Kettles" I have, came with a wire meant to be placed between the glass and the coil, for that scenario. Anyway, I have always shied away from electric kettles in the past because I really wanted the water to be completely contained in glass and have yet to find any of these kettles where that's the case. Of course, another related undesirable is that you are pouring your water out of the kettle over a plastic lip (which is also the case with my glass-lined thermal carafes) so really the piping hot water is coming in contact with both plastic and stainless steel, which both do slightly affect the taste, but the real issue is that they potentially pass on unhealthy contaminants, albeit in an undoubtedly extremely minute quantity. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to avoid consuming some unwanted and even potentially harmful contaminants in this modern world, but I do at least make the effort not to, within reasonable expectations. So, all of these nice conveniences I've found in the kettle, do come at a cost (hopefully a small one). All said, I've decided to make the compromise and hope it is relatively inconsequential in the unknowns category.  Although I do taste the difference from using all glass, in the heated water, it is pretty subtle and by far my lesser concern.

Again, the convenience and functionality of this Chefman Electric Kettle is really great! If I ever come across an all glass carafe version, I'll undoubtedly make that switch, hopefully without having to lose any functionality, but until then I'll definitely be enjoying this one!

Fast & Efficient! Nice Safeguards & Conveniences!

Customer reviews for Chefman Custom-Temp 1.8L Electric Tea Kettle With Tea Infuser		

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