I’ve been trying to write a review of the Breville Hot Cup for days and I’ve found it really hard. Because I assume you want to know more than “It’s great! Buy one!”
But it really is great and it’s really simple too so there’s not that much to say. It arrived, I took it out of the box and, because I’m impatient, went for the “Quick Start” instruction card rather than reading the instructions proper (still basically only two pages, but I was gasping for a brew). You open the lid and pour in water to between the Min and Max levels. You plug it in and press the “stop” button. You put a cup underneath the nozzle, turn the dial to establish how big your cup is and then you press “start”. The Hot Cup then lights up blue (pretty!) and starts to boil and seconds later – seriously, seconds – your cup fills up.
It’s incredibly easy to use, foolproof really. Even if you put a small cup underneath and then realise you’ve left the setting on ruddy massive mug, you can press the stop button mid-flow. There’s even a little overspill tray that apparently holds a cup full of water, but we’ve had the hot cup for weeks now and there’s still hardly any water in ours. In fact, we used to get more mess from over-enthusiastic kettle-sloshing.
At first I thought, “Well, it’s not that much different to a kettle really…” but it is and here’s why. In the past, I would boil the kettle and then wander off and forget about it and then come back and reboil the kettle and then wander off… etc. The Hot Cup is basically a kettle that pours itself. The only problem I have now is wandering off and coming back to find my tea is too strong. It’s also great because it only boils one cup at a time. I work from home and I drink a lot of tea, so I know I’m saving energy by only boiling the amount of water I need (think of the polar bears! And my electricity bills!).
The only complaint I have – and it’s not even really a complaint – is that it’s a bit awkward to fill under the tap. But that may be because we have a very badly-designed kitchen and our sink is almost always (yeah, okay, always) piled high with dishes. So I don’t bother shifting it over to the tap anymore – I just fill it up using the mug I’m about to make my tea in and Bob’s your uncle!
But really that was all just a long and waffling way of saying, “It’s great! Buy one!” wasn’t it?
