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Improve your tea- and coffee-making with our top-rated kettles. Jigger Drink
Food & Wine / Sarah Karnasiewicz
Whether crafting a cup of tea or a carafe of pour-over coffee, the gear you use matters just as much as the leaves or beans. For better brews and more precise pours, we recommend a gooseneck kettle. With a thin, long spout that pours water more slowly than a standard kettle, a gooseneck kettle allows the tea leaves or coffee grounds to saturate more evenly, coaxing out their aromas and flavors more delicately than a fast "whoosh" of hot water.
We tested six gooseneck kettles for timing, accuracy, warming function, pour, taste, and ease of cleaning, taking all of the guesswork out of choosing which one is best for you. Read on for the pros and cons of our top choices, and to learn why a gooseneck kettle makes all the difference.
It heats up quicker than most kettles and retains that temperature for a long time. Plus, it's so attractive that you'll want to keep it on the counter when it's not in use.
It has no indicator sound to alert you when your desired temperature is reached.
The Fellow Stagg EKG Electric Gooseneck Kettle came out on top in our tests for its consistent results, useful features, and overall design. We loved its ergonomic handle, which prevents it from slipping, and its built-in stopwatch that helps you monitor your pour rate. While we wish it made an indicator sound, it doesn't take long for water to reach temperature thanks to its 1,200-watt heating element. Once there, it stays hot for up to an hour. The temperature control dial is as precise as possible, letting you choose the exact water heating point between 135 and 212°F. This lets you brew every type of tea correctly.
This stainless steel gooseneck kettle is also available in several colors: the matte black is similar to cast iron; copper and polished silver offer high shine; and the warm pink will pop against a neutral backsplash. Plus, it takes up less storage space, as the base is a 6-inch square.
Capacity: 0.9 liters | Material: Stainless steel | Variable Temperature Settings: Any temperature between 135°F and 212°F | Warranty: 1-year limited
Food & Wine / Jennifer Causey
Food & Wine / Fred Hardy
Food & Wine / Fred Hardy
It’s small in size, so it's easy to store and clean, and its design is simple but beautiful.
There’s no max fill line, which could lead to overfilling and spillage. It also doesn't hold a temperature as well as the electric kettles on our list.
A past winner of the “Best New Product” category of the World Tea Expo, the Japanese-made Hario V60 Buono features a long spout and a rippled stainless silver well. At $42, this stovetop kettle costs much less than its electric competition, and it holds over a liter of water, allowing for 3 to 4 cups of tea or coffee in one round of brewing.
The Buono kettle is compatible with gas, electric, and induction stoves. If you're using a gas burner, just be sure to center the kettle so that the handle is off the burner — it might melt otherwise. During our tests, it held a temperature moderately well after boiling, dropping to 199°F after 10 minutes and then to 171°F after 30 minutes.
While we found it easy to clean, those with large hands may have trouble reaching inside the small opening. A bottle brush can assist with this, and you’ll want to be sure to clean and dry it well to prevent any rust from forming. Hario, which specializes in tea and coffee, also makes pour-over tools, and this kettle can be used with those as well.
Capacity: 1.2 liters | Material: Stainless steel | Variable Temperature Settings: N/A | Warranty: 1 year
Food & Wine / Jennifer Causey
Food & Wine / Isaac Nunn
With individual presets for various teas, this kettle lets you easily tailor the water temperature to your beverage.
Water cools the fastest in this model out of all the kettles we tested.
The Cosori kettle can dial the water temperature to the optimal heat for your beverage with five presets: coffee, white tea, green tea, oolong tea, and black tea (like Earl Grey and chai). The buttons note the specific temperatures, too, so you can quickly choose whatever temperature the tea package suggests. The buttons also light up when pressed, and we love that the matte black surface shows no fingerprints. We found the water stream to be stable and steady, enabling you to get the most out of your tea leaves or coffee grounds, though it fared worse for insulation than other kettles we tested. That said, it does stay warm for up to a full hour. Plus, the food-grade stainless steel interior ensures that the water tastes pure.
A triple-beep sound will alert you when your water is ready, but you can turn it off if you find it more annoying than helpful, and an auto shut-off feature prevents the kettle from burning. The heating element for this kettle is the same as the Fellow Stagg, so it heats quite quickly. Overall, we consider it a great value for its performance and features.
Capacity: 0.8 liters | Material: Stainless steel | Variable Temperature Settings: 170°F, 180°F, 195°F, 205°F, and 212°F | Warranty: 2-year limited
The Spruce Eats / Fred Hardy
The Spruce Eats / Fred Hardy
The Spruce Eats / Fred Hardy
The Fellow Stagg EKG Electric Gooseneck Kettle is as lovely to look at as it is precise in temperature control and holding. Staying at dozens of degrees hotter after a half hour than some of our other picks, it lets you drink cup after cup with one round of brewing. The handle is designed to prevent it from slipping out of control, and it could only be improved by having a sound that denotes when the water is ready.
Food & Wine / Fred Hardy
What makes a gooseneck kettle unique is its specialty design that encourages accuracy and precision with each pour. So, in order to find the best, we evaluated each kettle based on several important qualities:
We also took into account other factors, including whether or not the kettle imparted any unwanted or chemical flavors into the water. And lastly, we checked for ease of cleaning, looking for any stains or scale deposits, in addition to following manufacturer cleaning instructions.
There are two types of gooseneck kettles: ones that heat on your stovetop and those that sit on an electric base for heating. Most prefer electric models to effectively regulate water temperature for perfect coffee and tea, especially in pour-over styles. If you love the look and precise pouring of a gooseneck kettle without the frills, stovetop versions will likely work fine for your purposes. Just note that, unlike regular stovetop kettles, gooseneck models do not come with whistles to alert you when the water has reached its boiling point, so you have to watch them closely to prevent them from boiling dry.
Most gooseneck kettles can contain around one liter of water. The ones we tested varied from 0.6 to 1.2 liters. While there are plenty of electric and stovetop kettles that hold significantly more than this, gooseneck kettles are made for slow, stable pouring, so they generally run much smaller.
Gooseneck kettles, especially the electric kind, can run you a pretty penny. If it is more of an aesthetic decision and you don’t need precise temperature controls, stovetop models will be much more affordable. If you want the features an electric model offers, research the ones that are most important to you, and don’t buy units with bells and whistles you won’t use since those tend to increase costs exponentially.
“It's better for coffee if your chosen brewing method requires control and precision,” says Jessica Easto, author of Craft Coffee: A Manual. “If you are interested in mastering a pour-over method, for example, you'll likely appreciate the control and precision a gooseneck kettle provides. Gooseneck kettles have a long, thin, curved spout (like, you guessed it, the neck of a goose), which allows you to pour water very slowly (or quickly) and direct it to specific places.”
“Yep, you can use a gooseneck kettle to heat water for tea to the proper brewing temperature,” Easto says. “Some teas require lower water temperatures, so that's where electric gooseneck kettles come in handy. But this is not for steeping; you shouldn't put tea leaves inside your kettle.”
“You don't need it, but it's recommended, and you may find it makes life easier,” Easto says. “Pour-over devices require you to pour water over coffee (hence the name). In order to make sure the water and coffee are in contact for the right amount of time, you usually have to pour carefully and slowly. Different devices restrict the flow of water to different degrees.”
“If you have a device with little restriction, such as a V60 or a Chemex, it becomes even more important to slow down your pour. It's very hard to pour slowly with a regular kettle. Additionally, you usually have to make sure the water is evenly distributed, without making big divots or channels in the brew bed. You do this by pouring in a pattern, such as a figure eight or a circle, and the gooseneck kettle allows you to do this.”
Always follow manufacturer instructions for cleaning gooseneck kettles, as they will vary depending on type and material. Some electric kettles may need only to be descaled occasionally, while others will require more frequent cleaning. For electric kettles with heating elements, there may be areas that can’t get wet, so read instructions carefully and follow them closely.
BALMUDA The Kettle ($149 at Amazon)
This kettle is exceptionally attractive, from its matte black or white stainless steel exterior to the neon bulb in the handle that lights up as it heats. It boils water lightning-fast, and we loved its compact size and sleek design. While it delivered on all its promises and was incredibly simple to use, we would've liked to see a few more features at this price point, like temperature control and a keep-warm function.
Willow & Everett Gooseneck Electric Kettle ($60 at Amazon) Overall, this kettle performed well in our tests. We found it easy to use, and we liked that a sound alerted us to the water reaching temperature. However, the exterior felt very warm to the touch, and we noticed a faint metallic taste to the water.
Ice Cube Tray Bonavita Variable Temperature Electric Kettle ($130 at Amazon) We found this kettle's design lacking for the cost. Its exterior shows fingerprints, and it doesn't have an indicator sound to notify you when water comes to temperature. Moreover, the display read 189°F when the temperature actually measured 200.4°F, so we knocked it off the list.