Adagio Teas 30 oz. utiliTEA Variable Temperature Electric Kettle

I drink tea at work all the time and moved to a new office with no tea kettle and a microwave that is far from my desk. After going to a local chain home store and seeing the OUTRAGEOUS prices they had for an electric kettle, I looked on Amazon and found this unit. I love the variable temperature and the auto-shut off (something that the last office kettle I used did not have and was missed!). Other comments I had read about this kettle said that the temperature was not always consistent within a limited temperature range and that the kettle is hard to clean because of the small opening. I have not tested the temperature consistency with a thermometer, but I already prepared my water by the sound it made while heating up on the stove in my stove-top kettle, so a temperature consistency within a very small, precise range was not too important to me, as long as the kettle shut off before boiling when on the green tea setting. Also, the opening is a little small for cleaning out, but given that all I am doing is boiling water in the kettle, I don't find that I need to clean it out that often. I usually swish some soapy water in the kettle and rinse. One feature that is not ideal is the placement of the MAX water line (located beneath the handle and not very prominent). However, I find that over time you know approximately where the fill line is and a 1/4" difference in water height is not too big a deal. All in all, I use my kettle typically 2-3 times a day during the work week. I find that I usually get 2 large mugs of water out of one full kettle. Even though I have a wonderful stove top teakettle at home, I have considered getting one for home because I love how quickly it boils water! It has held up wonderfully and I would recommend this kettle to anyone without any hesitation.

UPDATE Jan 1, 2015 After using this kettle daily for 2 months, I realized one feature that i didn't appreciate at first. This kettle does not leak!!! No matter how careful I was not to overfill the HB kettle, it always leaked, and I always kept rags on the floor to absorb the spillage. Other reviewers had also mentioned the leaking with the HB, and other kettles, so I had come to accept leaking as normal for electric kettles. I use the Adagio kettle several times a day, every day, and it has NEVER leaked. I've even become less careful about the fill line - filling it above the line, almost as if I'm daring it to leak - and it DOES NOT LEAK. Hooray for Adagio! ********************************************************************************************************************************* Oct 31, 2014 I purchased this kettle to replace a dead Hamilton Beach "cool touch" electric kettle. I really like the HB kettles as evidenced by my Amazon order history, I've purchased 4 of them since 2010 including 1 for a kid's dorm room and 1 for a second house. The other 2 each stopped working (failed to turn on) after approximately 2 years of constant daily use. This time I decided to try something different, and the Adagio had excellent reviews. I hesitated initially because of the stated capacity - the HB kettle purports to be 40 oz., although at the Max fill line it's, at best, 36 oz. The description of the Adagio said 30 oz. While I do use the kettle to make tea, I use it primarily to make "pour over" coffee in a Melita pot. With the HB pot, I know exactly how many scoops of coffee to measure, but I figured I could adjust and adapt. The Adagio arrived a few days ago, and I eagerly got out a large measuring cup. At the Max fill line, the Adagio is, at least, 33 oz. (two 16 oz. measuring cups full plus an additional 1-2 oz.). Now, after making and enjoying several pots of coffee, here are my initial impressions PROS * It heats fast (less than 5 minutes when full) * It's cute - 2 inches shorter than the HB and 5/8 of an inch less in diameter. * The shape of the spout makes it easy to pour over ground coffee with pinpoint accuracy - no more spills or splatter. * It has a temperature control, although I'll probably never use it. * It shuts off automatically. ITEMS TO BE AWARE OF: * It does not have an on-off switch, but I plug it into a power strip so that's not an issue for me * The exterior does get hot to the touch - unlike the "cool touch" HB - but there's no reason to touch the outside when it's hot. This could be an issue around small children, though. * It has a very minimal amount of plastic - in the fill indicator, the lid liner and the spout screen filter, but compared to most others, I'll reluctantly accept that. * Someone mentioned that the cord is retractable and winds into the base. That is not true of the one I received and the description does not mention it. Overall, I'm very pleased with my purchase. I still like the HB kettle, too, but this pot is definitely its match!

After much internet searching and reading reviews of different electric kettles, I found this lovely unit and am totally pleased with its performance and appearance. All the kettles I saw in the stores were plastic and quite large around but I wanted something with a smaller 'footprint' for my limited counter top space. This fits perfectly. It's light weight and tall so its an attractive addition to the kitchen. Now, about its ease of use and water temps ... nothing could be more easy and fast. I'm a tea freak to some extent and prefer to brew high quality leaves and having the green tea/light oolong setting along with the higher black/dark oolong one takes all the hassle of water temp variations. Since I make small amounts of tea quite often, I use this in conjunction with a plastic brewer for loose leaves that when pressed on a cup ring, drains into that cup. No more kettles on the stove for me. Nothing could be more convenient. Cons: If I could change anything about the kettle, it would be to be able to see the water gauge a little easier. It's behind the handle and somewhat hard to see unless held a certain way. Although there are white lines along the temp adjustment wheel area, they are meaningless and the only two settings are green & black temps. I had to write to Adagio to find this out. I've found that the heating time is so quick that I'm still standing by the pot measuring tea into my brewer so when the unit turns off and is ready to use, I see it right away. Some people mentioned they'd like to hear a click of some kind to know when the water was ready. As I said, I'm right there so I haven't found the lack of a sound to be a problem. 30 oz. is just the right size for me and I absolutely love this kettle.

11/19/2012 - I've had this kettle for a little over a month and I need to correct a few assumptions I made about the kettle that turned out to be wrong. Original review ------ I've been using a top of the stove tea kettle for the past couple of years. Mostly for instant coffee and occasionally a bag of tea. I've been cutting down on coffee and started drinking Arizona diet tea (Green Tea with Ginseng). It's not bad but I decided to start mixing my own tea because I'd prefer to use stevia rather than the Splenda they include in their tea. Knowing I didn't want to use the my old tea kettle and because I'd bought some higher priced (and hopefully higher quality) Green Tea Rishi Tea Organic Jasmine Pearl Loose Leaf Tea, 2.99-Ounce Tin (Pack of 2) I decided I needed something where I could make sure that the temperature fit the tea I was drinking. After doing some looking around I came across this electric kettle. I checked Adagio's website and the price here was better. First, impression... wow this is fast. I haven't timed it yet but I know it's got to be at least 5 times faster than my top of the stove kettle. Rough guess after filling it to the max line with room temperature water is around 90 seconds. *(see correction below) A little longer with water I've stored in the refrigerator. It's small so it fits into my very small kitchen just fine. I like the color coding on the temperature control. Any of the reviews on Adiago's website that I read where reviewers had checked the temperatures said that the temperatures were pretty consistent from use to use. My only complaint is that they made a 30 oz. kettle instead of a 32oz *(see correction below). Cups are typically 8oz., Adiago sells a 24oz and a 32 oz. teapot Adagio Teas 32-Ounce Iced Ingenuitea Teapot (which I bought from Amazon). I want to mix up a batch of 64 oz's of ice tea. Instead of 2 pots I have to boil 3 to get that final 4 oz. However, a good value and it will save me a lot of time waiting for the water to boil. Original review ------ Update ------- Timed the kettle using a stopwatch - Filled with regular tap water to the max line in the kettle. Set to the Green tea setting Time to heat - 4 minutes, 8 seconds. (Center of green. Did not boil) Set to highest setting Time to boil - 4 minutes, 19 seconds. Filled with water from refrigerator (I use a Brita pitcher with filters) to the max line in the kettle. Set to highest setting Time to boil - 5 minutes, 5 seconds. Kettle Capacity - The item is sold as a 30-Ounce kettle. When I filled it with water to the max line it would completely fill the 32 ounce tea pot from Adagio. To check the Kettle's capacity at the max line I used a one-cup Pyrex measuring cup. It took 4 1/2 cups (36 ounces) to fill the kettle to the max line. To verify, I used a different 1 cup measure to check the Pyrex cup and it matched. It's possible it's a manufacturing glitch and the max line is in the wrong place. It doesn't affect the operation of the kettle and as far as I'm concerned it's a plus. Corrections - Kettle is slower than I thought. I don't have my old top of stove kettle so I can't compare boil times but I still think this is faster. This one holds more than it says it does (a good thing). Still like it better than my top of stove kettle.

The best kettle I've ever owned; hands down, no questions asked. Boils water fast and reliably, which is really all I care about, but as a bonus it has a little temperature dial to switch between boiling and not-quite-boiling (for delicate teas). I don't require that my water be an exact temperature, nor do I require an LED readout with which to set a temperature; it's obvious that in the "green" zone that the water isn't quite at boiling, and in the "orange" it's at a rolling boil. If that's enough to satisfy your needs, and you're cool with a kettle that's lacking a whole bunch of swanky features that are probably going to break within a year anyway, this is the only kettle you'll ever need. A couple of other things; no weird aftertastes or bad experiences with the filter. The window on the side is plastic, I'm assuming BPA-free. The heating element is not directly exposed to the water (there's just a flat surface at the bottom; very easy to clean with a dish brush). There's a fine mesh filter across the spout that seals in the interior, keeping dust out. The lid opens expansively to allow easy refilling and cleaning. I've rarely cleaned mine because I only put purified water in, so there's very little buildup over time. It's on one of those any-direction swivel bases so it doesn't matter what direction it's facing and easily pops on and off the base, which is heavy enough to hold its place. 3' cord, heavy duty. Solid handle, won't slip out of your hands. Need more? Okay, it's small. So many kettles out there are gigantic, and when your kitchen only serves one or two people on a daily basis, 30oz is plenty; that's tons of water. This kettle is a great size for a compact kitchen when space is at a premium, or a big kitchen when you want the best electric kettle that exists. Seriously, do a search for "utilitea kettle", there are articles written by people about how this is the best kettle ever (and that's how I found out about it). I'm on my second of these kettles now. Why the second? The first one lasted me four whole years of frequent duty. What's frequent duty? Coming up to a boil on average four times a day every day for four years (I drink a lot of tea, okay?). Doggedly, faithfully, relentlessly for four years, which in this day and age is I think nothing short of fantastic for a kitchen appliance (barring a Kitchenaid stand mixer, but those things are indestructible), particularly one that's this inexpensive (oh yeah, that's another plus). I was crushed when my first passed away, beyond my electrical ability to fix, but my second is up and running like a champ. Best electric kettle, ever.

Pro's 1. Easy to use, just set to desired water temp, and hit start. 2. Great to have a variable temp control since teas require different levels of heat. 3. Heats water FAST, hard boil in about 5 minutes. Less then hard boil in less then 5 minutes. 4. Easy to keep clean. 5. Well built Con's 1. Temp setting is not exact. You need to use a thermometer to dial in where the correct settings need to be. For mine, hard boil is achieved at 3 o'clock. 180 degrees is achieved at 10 o'clock. So some temp testing is needed with this unit. Once dialed in, it works great. UPDATE: I purchased this electric kettle on February, 2010. It is now May 2018. It still works GREAT. I use it everyday for 6 to 8 cups of tea, and I use it for preparing ramen noodles, and dry soups. So this kettle gets a lot of daily use. I believe the reason it has lasted so long is I only use bottle or filtered water. No lime or hard deposit build up using bottle or filtered water.

This kettle works phenomenally. The size is perfect for one person-- the minimum fill line is about 10 ounces, which is about the size of a big cup of tea. The max line is at about 30 ounces, which is enough to make a decent-sized batch of iced tea, or about four cups of hot tea for friends. In short, this kettle is basically the perfect size! In addition, the variable temperature control is spot on. The green zone gets it to 180F, which is the perfect temperature for green and white tea (as advertised). The orange zone brings the water to a full, roaring boil, perfect for dark oolongs, black, and herbal teas. It takes about 1-2 minutes for the kettle to bring 10oz of water to the correct temperature, which is faster than the microwave. The variable temperature control is, once again, perfect for tea lovers who wish to get the most out of their blends. The only real complaint I can muster up about this kettle is the lid. The lid seems to close funny on mine, though it is rather hard to describe. It takes a little more force than one would expect, and kind of feels like something is broken, though there isn't anything wrong. This small flaw really isn't enough to justify four-staring this product, however. I am 110% satisfied with my purchase, and would recommend this kettle to any tea lover who needs a kettle to take their tea experience to the next level!

It's a good idea to have temperature control, but if you're not interested in having any temperature other than boiling water, you don't really need this. 30 ounces capacity looks like an overstatement. I can barely fill three 4 ounce mugs. The kettle started leaking water about 3months after I received it from Amazon. There appears to be a crack in between the handle and the kettle's body (on the lower part) and there's always a puddle of water on the counter after the use and you have to always empty the kettle if you're not using it. I contacted Adagio directly and they said they would send me a replacement after they receive the defective kettle. The problem is...we have to live without a tea kettle for probably about 2 weeks (I suppose this is how long it'll take for me to ship it out, for them to receive it, send me a new one and for me to receive it). I asked if they could send me a new kettle and then I'd send them mine back. I even offered my credit card, so they hold any amount of money (in case I fail to send my defective kettle to them). I'm waiting for reply and will update this review once I get it from them. The company doesn't even list the phone # on their site, so it's really hard to deal with them. This is directly from their FAQ: "Unfortunately, at this time we do not offer live phone ordering or support. However, we are lightning fast at answering emails!" The only reason I bought this kettle was because of the great reviews it received on Amazon. I'll just have to do more research about the manufacturer and its return policy next time. Edit (11/2/2009) I was able to contact Adagio Teas company (they actually do respond to emails pretty fast) and they replaced the kettle hustle-free. I had to buy a new one, and as soon as I received the kettle they gave me a UPS shipping label, I shipped it back to them and they immediately issued credit to my credit card. I know this has nothing to do with the product, but it was one of the few companies that it was pleasure to deal with. If I could bump up my rating just for this, I would.

Not comparable to Indian electricity.