seedlings Senior Member Joined: 6 Jun 2007 Posts: 215 Location: Saint Joseph, MO 64506 Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Nuova Simonelli Premier V Grinder: Rossi RR45 Drip: Newco Air Pot Roaster: breadmaker / homemade
Posted Wed Jun 6, 2007, 12:11pm Subject: Need Advice - How to Boil Water
Need some quick advice from the coffeegeek/penny pincher:
In my office I have an electric outlet. I have a press pot. I have good coffee. I can bring water.
What can I get to boil water? I'm sure there's a quite simple solution that is eluding me at the moment. If a simple hot plate will boil water it will probably take all day. Yes, I've thought of a microwave... I just think there's something small and inexpensive that's up to the task of boiling water (or just shy of boiling - I guess above 200F will work).
Assume I'm on a budget. And I do know that "Budget" and "Great Coffee" are mutually exclusive!
Posted Thu Jun 7, 2007, 4:46am Subject: Re: Need Advice - How to Boil Water
Walgreen's has electric kettles for around $10 I believe - Kitchen Gourmet is the brand from what I can remember. They also make some decent $10 poppers for roasting coffee.
Posted Thu Jun 7, 2007, 6:04am Subject: Re: Need Advice - How to Boil Water
I'm a big fan of simple and cheap, especially because the coffee doesn't suffer and in many cases actually gets better!
A couple of things to consider: watts (power) and soup heaters.
Heating speed is greatly affected by the watts of the kettle, hotplate, or microwave. In an office setting, waiting 4-5 minutes for a low-wattage heater might get tedious. A 1500 watt heater could do the job in a couple of minutes. A high-wattage heater like the Melitta Express (1500 watts) or the T-fal Vitesses (1750 watts) can heat water as fast or faster than a microwave of the same power. Trouble is, to comparison shop you'll have to look at the products on display in the stores. The little detail of power is frequently not available either on websites or on the outside of the box! Annoying.
A soup heater can also be a cheap and functional water heater. The photo below is a cheap Procter-Silex I used quite a lot (and modified a little). They frequently have the added benefit of continuous heating with adjustable temperature. That way hot water is almost always immediately available.
One little-known secret... Ace Hardware offers a huge number of small appliances on it's website, and all of them can be shipped free to your local store, even cheap things. They call when the item arrives. This might increase you options.
Posted Thu Jun 7, 2007, 7:25am Subject: Re: Need Advice - How to Boil Water
I've been wondering about this too. The cheapie kettles look hard to beat, but I worry about chemicals leaching from the plastic - or am I just being paranoid? I've been microwaving water for drip and checking with a thermometer, but have yet to figure out exactly how long to nuke it to get to 200F.
At home, I was thinking about just getting a stovetop kettle because I've never had one and it seems old-school in a way that appeals to me for some reason. :) But if the electric ones are tons faster, maybe I should reconsider.
seedlings Senior Member Joined: 6 Jun 2007 Posts: 215 Location: Saint Joseph, MO 64506 Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Nuova Simonelli Premier V Grinder: Rossi RR45 Drip: Newco Air Pot Roaster: breadmaker / homemade
Posted Fri Jun 8, 2007, 4:49am Subject: Re: Need Advice - How to Boil Water
The electric kettle was the trick!
Jeff_K Said:
Walgreen's has electric kettles for around $10 I believe - Kitchen Gourmet is the brand from what I can remember. They also make some decent $10 poppers for roasting coffee.
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