If you’ve been swimming in the toasty waters of high-end pour-over kettles, you’ve no doubt come across Fellow, and its Stagg EKG kettle. The company uses power-pulsing technology to keep the water temperature at a very precise level, which has attracted a number of award-winning baristas to use their products: It turns out that 204ºF is different than 199 or 210, and if you are the kind of person who cares about that, these kettles have you covered. The newest additions to the line — Stagg EKG Pro and Stagg EKG Pro Studio Edition — add Wi-Fi to the mix, so you can dial in a finely crafted brew from bed.
The core of the kettle is more or less the same as the existing version, but being able to schedule water heating, or dialing in presets for specific types of coffees and teas, is new. You also can program in what altitude you are at — water boils at slightly different temperatures based on the pressure, which is a function of altitude (it’s pretty wild to think about, but if you are at 10,000 feet, you have 10,000 fewer feet of weight of air above you — humans don’t mind the difference much, but boiling water does).
“In 2017, our iconic Stagg EKG Electric Kettle revolutionized the coffee industry and set the undisputed standard in electric pour-over kettles. Five years later, we are raising that bar again,” said Jake Miller, founder and CEO of San-Francisco based Fellow in an email to TechCrunch. “We’re continuously thinking of ways to improve and innovate our products to give consumers access to cafe-quality coffee and gear within the comfort of their own homes. These kettles are a vision into the future of pour-over brewing.”
The company raised a round of funding a few months ago, and is continuing to crank out new products.
Available now, the Stagg EKG Pro starts at $195 and Stagg EKG Pro Studio Edition starts at $225. Both kettles can be configured with beautiful walnut wood handles and other design-y upgrades that ups the price further. The original kettle has a number of special editions and designs to make the coffee-pouring experience more your own, and the new kettles will no doubt show up in a rainbow of colors over time, too.
The Pro and Pro Studio Edition are the same, functionality-wise. The only difference is in the materials; the Pro Studio Edition features upgraded materials including a metal base with a glass top with a metal button and other details. The app that’s compatible with the new kettles has yet to launch, but it will launch in mid-October (exact date TBD) when the kettles begin shipping to customers. As you might expect from a kettle, you can use the product without connectivity, as well.
Now, do we really need kettles with Wi-Fi? I suppose that’s your choice. If the answer is “no,” but you still want high-precision control over your water, the original is available at $165, or you can boil your water in a pan on the stove, like a philistine.
My cup boileth over: Now kettles have Wi-Fi too, apparently by Haje Jan Kamps originally published on TechCrunch
