SPECIAL NOTE – This item is no longer made and the review has been left for informational purposes only, I now recommend the Hamilton Beach Variable Temperature Electric Kettle for this need.

Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is the 1.7L Miroco Electric Kettle.  Many of you know for years I recommended the Hamilton Beach Electric Kettle for over five years now.  We had one for five plus years and I used it minimum 4 times a day making coffee, tea, etc.  That means I ran the poor thing at least 7300 cycles and I finally after all that time, killed it.

Well I didn’t really kill it, the lever that holds the lid closed stopped working.  This means you have to weight it down for the auto stop to kick in when boiling is reached.  So off to the Goodwill Store it goes.

I was just going to get another one but tech changes over 5 years so I figured why not find the best new kettle you can get, without selling a kidney anyway.  You would think his is easy, it wasn’t.  After more research than any man should put into a kettle though I settled on this one.

The two finalists were the 1.7L Miroco Electric Kettle  and the KRUPS Smart Temp Digital Kettle.  In the end the KRUPS is a good item, but it costs more, is really not any better and I like the temp settings on the Miroco better, they are easier to see, know what your setting is and use. You also get almost unlimited options with the Mirocoa and are pretty limited with the KRUPS.

Also the Miroco will remember your keep warm temp setting after you take it off the base at least for a time (3 minutes), certainly long enough to pour the water and put it back, the KRUPS apparently does not.  So while the KRUPS made the top two it got slaughtered in the final battle.  Everything else was just not as good or stupid expensive when in the end we are just making hot water here folks.  As always be frugal not cheap and seek the best price to value ratio.

So how is this better than the old Hamilton Beach and is it worth the extra 15 bucks?  Starting with is it worth it?  Bluntly if you only want to just boil water and you don’t care how it looks, no, it isn’t.  If you care about all or even likely any of the features I am about to lay out though, yea, it is.

First it is variable in temp, you can set a temp anywhere from 100 – 200 for your desired temp or just set it to boil for 212.  Why do this?  Did you know that the perfect temp to make coffee in a French Press is actually 200 degrees?  Green tea depending on form and grade is best in a range of 140-185.  White tea is best at 170-185. Really I am not making that up.  Most herbal teas are best steeped at 190-195 in my opinion anyway.  If you disagree with my numbers just pick your own.  You can now set the temp, hit a button and get precision.  Think of it like Sous Vide for your tea and coffee.  What you think is best you get, every time.  Ain’t tech great!

Next ever boil eggs in an electric kettle?  It is easy and fool proof, really.  Here is some info on it.  But when this article was written you didn’t have precision control of your temps with such a kettle, I am sure with a bit of testing  you can figure out the exact temp to do your eggs at, how long to leave them in and get perfect yolks to your preference with this new fangled kettle.  I use sous vide for this now, but not having to get it out and just using this kettle is something I am gonna play with.  Also the old kettle required tongs to get eggs in and out. I tolerated this because with as such a damn good value but this kettle has a huge opening, easy to get them in and out.

Next the keep warm feature is what really sold me on it.  Though keep warm is a bad term and gives the wrong impression in my view.  Maintain temp is a better term.  Say you set your kettle to 200 degrees to nail your next batch of Holler Roast Coffee perfectly.  But you also get distracted, you know like letting your ducks out or something.  Something pops, then something else, 40 minutes later, why don’t I have coffee, oh that’s right.  You go back to the kettle and it is way cooled off.  Now you sit like a schlub and wait for it to heat back up.

Not with the Miroco Electric Kettle you won’t!  You set your temp, then hit keep warm.  Your kettle will get that water to 200 and stop, it will then kick back on every time the temp goes down 8 degrees and bring it back to 200.  So even if you want to have it perfect you can just kick it on and be up to your desired temp in a few minutes.  Gonna say this really sold me, as I get distracted a LOT.  Keep this feature in mind when it comes to a perfect egg as well.

Lastly it just looks really cool.  It is 100% stainless steel inside, the Hamilton was mostly but had plastic for a viewing window.  The Hamilton one is also painted on the outside and eventually flakes off, it takes a long time and a lot of use but it happens.  The Miroco Electric Kettle has a one piece keep cool plastic exterior that should last longer then I will.

Quick interesting note at the end here.  The base of the Miroco Electric Kettle is almost identical to the old Hamilton Beach model.  Both kettles worked just find when the bases were swapped.  There is slight different look but they are functionally identical.  Given the old one lasted 5 years and still works I was pretty happy to see this.  My view is when improving a product make what needs making better better, leave the rest alone. So give the Miroco Electric Kettle a try when paired up with a good French Press your coffee and tea among other things can be truly perfect.

The entire concept of Coffee being better if brewed at  200 was something I was a bit skeptical about.  Since getting my new kettle a week ago, I have been converted and I have found 200 seems better to me.  The beauty here is you get total control and can dial it in for yourself, may be you like 200, may be you agree with many that say it is 195.  In the end you get to decide.  That is totally worth an exta 15 bucks to me alone.

All in based on competing products I feel you get about 30 bucks in added value here for 15 bucks.  That is a win in the world of price to value ratios in my book any day.  All this for a kettle?  Yes, when you use something 4-5 times a day, 7 days a week, a bit of research is in order.

Remember you can always find all of our reviews at TspAz.com

P.S. – I won’t go into it here but if you make beer, wine, meads, etc I am sure you can see how this would be a great addition to your brewing/vinting kit as well.

P.S.S. – The one complaint I have heard is sometimes when you push the open button the dang thing won’t open.  I had that happen a few times and figured out a stupid simple solution.  Push the back side of the button, not the center.  To be clear push the button as far from the spout as possible and it opens fine every time.  I think when you push the front of the button the release sometimes can catch and it rocks forward a bit.  It also seems to “break in” in time, now that we have had it about 8 months it never sticks even if I forget.