Over the past two decades we have sold thousands of electric tea kettles. Our original line of kettles included a Russell Hobbs corded model with the heating element exposed at the base of the kettle. Then came the cordless models with the OPTEC disk heating element. Being made in the U.K., these models of the Russell Hobbs kettles were never cheap, but they usually outlived their 3-year warranty a few times over.

The first time I used a Russell Hobbs tea kettle was in a London hotel, some time around 1979. I was immediately impressed by the speed with which it brought water to a rolling boil and promptly shut itself off. This unit was probably their K2 model, which was introduced in 1960. For the next three decades the K2 became the gold standard for electric tea kettles.

A year or two later I received a brochure from American Express, offering a Russell Hobbs corded kettle, similar to the one I had used at the London hotel. The American Express version had a white handle and knob, instead of the traditional Russell Hobbs black. Other than that, it was basically the same kettle. The price was somewhere around $60.00, which was not inexpensive for a household appliance at the time.

Whether I ordered two kettles immediately, or a second upon receiving the first, is less important than the fact that I ended up with one for immediate use and a second to put away for the future. The first lasted twenty years or so. During its last decade it became the kettle that boiled water for samples arriving at Upton Tea Imports. The mint-condition second kettle became the kettle for daily use at home, and to this day it is still functioning flawlessly. Those of us that own an older series Russell Hobbs kettle will have a difficult time finding a satisfactory replacement when it finally fails. When Upton Tea Imports finally finds one, you can be sure we’ll order a few thousand for our customers, as well.

Happy tea drinking... Tom and The Staff at Upton Tea Imports

 Other Quarterly Notes:

• Difficult 2010 Season, Commodity Teas
• Upton Tea Imports Moves to Holliston
• The Price of Tea in China
• Artificial Flavoring
• FDA, pre-Chingming Tea, Tragedy in Japan
• Quality Indian Teas, Update on Japanese Tea
• Japan Tea Alternatives
• Chatsford® Teapots
• Chatsford® Teapots, further history
• An Update on Teapots and Filters
• Reintroducing many green teas of Japan
• Reversals of Fortune in the Tea Industry
• Packet Tea Leads the Market
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