Buono Copper Drip Kettle

A kettle that heats faster than the one next to it sounds like a small gain, until you notice it changes what comes out of the spout. Copper does it. Copper is also why this kettle asks for more care than a steel one.

Hario's Buono copper drip kettle is a 0.9 litre copper body with a 0.7 litre working capacity, nickel plated inside and given a baked clear coating outside, so the metal doing the heating never touches the water or the air. Copper carries heat far faster than stainless steel. The body comes up to temperature quickly and spreads that heat around the walls rather than stacking it in the base, which is the difference between a kettle that scalds the first pour and one that stays even from bloom to finish. The advantage has a price: both faces need protecting, hence the plating in and the coating out.

It will not work on induction, because the field has nothing ferrous to grip. Gas, radiant, halogen and sheathed elements are all fine, with the flame kept narrow so it cannot climb the sides and reach the handle.

The gooseneck is slim enough that Hario prints a warning about it. Fill past the 0.7 litre line marked inside the body and boiling water can spit from the spout, because the bore is too tight to vent steam gently. Kept to the line, that same tightness turns a tip of the wrist into a thread of water. The handle is brass under a silicone rubber cover, and the lid knob is turned from natural wood, which stays cool for the same reason the coating exists.