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Let’s be clear, I didn’t set out to replace my fancy coffee machine. In fact, I quite adored my coffee machine. It was a shiny DeLonghi model that was an espresso machine on one side and a coffee brewer on the other. The beauty of it was that they were actually two separate units in the same casing — genius! I searched high and low for the fancy coffee maker, reviewing as many models as I could get my hands on. And then I found it!

So, you can imagine my dismay when the brewing side started, shall we say, acting up. Now, it’s to be expected, of course. We’d been together for quite a while, and these things aren’t meant to last forever (though, I wish they would). I did all the routine troubleshooting: descaling, thorough cleaning, changing the filter, and descaling again. It would be ok for a brew or two, but not much else.

It’s true, the espresso side was still working like a champ, and I could have just switched to that, but for me, espresso is an afternoon delight, not a first thing in the morning eye-opener. I needed to get to the bottom of it. After some internet-sleuthing, I diagnosed the problem as an issue with a fuse. Seems to be a common ailment after years of use and something that I could potentially fix. The thought of being without her to greet me in the morning was too much.

Hesitantly, and with a dash of guilt in my heart, I turned to another product I’d been reviewing: the Cosori Smart Tea Kettle. Cosori is part of the VeSync family, and I’d already reviewed some scales from that company, so I had the app setup and was beginning to build out a smart ecosystem. And that, to my surprise, is how I came to love the smart tea kettle.

For starters, it takes up way less room on the counter, maybe a quarter of the space of the fancy coffee machine. It’s cute, too; it looks like a modern version of Mrs. Potts from “Beauty and the Beast.” Best of all, it’s got a similar build to the fancier Great Jones electric kettle and costs half the price. I particularly love the long curvy gooseneck spout that makes pouring a liquid feel like a white-glove waiter experience — like attending a tea party at the Palace Hotel.

The black heating base has buttons for heating to the exact temperature of the type of beverage you want to use the hot water for. Settings include Green (180 degrees), Oolong (195 degrees), Coffee (205 degrees), Boil Black (212 degrees), and a My Brew, so you can create your own temp setting — a great option for people who like their warm beverages scalding hot. There’s also a button to hold temp and cancel. The tea kettle brews to all those specifications.

Of course, I was most interested in the coffee setting. I paired the smart tea kettle with the french press collecting dust in my cabinet and got to it. Within 10 minutes (water heating and french press time), I was pouring myself a delicious cup of coffee. That was a solid solution, but was it the one? After fiddling around with the app, I was beginning to see the light.

Here’s the magic of the app: It has all the settings you find on the Cosori machine, and you can control them all from the app. It got to the point where I would fill the pot with water before I went to bed and turn on the tea kettle from the app when I woke up in the morning. Thanks to the hold temp button, I didn’t need to feel rushed to get to the kettle while it was still hot. You can also watch the temperature slowly rise in the app. The one thing you can’t do is see if there’s water in the tank.

Once I pour the water in the French Press, I tell my Echo Show to set a timer — I have to do all the smart activities. It’s been a month of constant use and I think I’ve fallen into a new morning coffee routine. Now, that’s not to say I’ve given up the dream of a fancy coffee machine, but this solution is suiting me just fine.

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