Is A Gooseneck Kettle Worth It Or Is It Just A Fancy Kettle?

Last updated on January 22nd, 2024 at 13:10

Have you been thinking about a gooseneck kettle and that irking little question “Is a gooseneck kettle worth it?” buzzing around your mind?

This is exactly what I am talking about in this article and I give you an FAQ about this rather elegant and eye-catching kettle. If you are in a rush, I’ll tell you straight away!

Yes,

a gooseneck kettle is totally worth it! They not only look amazing in your kitchen, they will help you to make much better coffee. I’ll tell you why in this article.

Keep reading!

What Is A Gooseneck Kettle?

A gooseneck kettle is an iconic symbol in the world of pour over coffee brewing. It is that rather eye catching and elegant looking kettle with the thin tapered spout that you might have seen somebody at your trusted local boutique coffee shop using.

A pour-over kettle is advantageous for brewing coffee as it gives you a level of control over the manual brewing process of manual drip brewing and pour over coffee methods. The better electric models of this type of kettle boils water to a predetermined and preset temperature. This is what you could class as a variable temperature kettle.

Read: Electric Kettle Vs Stove

Do You Really Need A Gooseneck Kettle For Pour Over Coffee?

When you brew your cup of coffee with a regular electric kettle, you lack the level of control you need to make the most perfect cup of coffee when you are using manual coffee brewing techniques.

I’d go further and say that a gooseneck with help you with almost any style of brewing outside of using an espresso machine or any automatic brewing method or technique.

An electric gooseneck kettle gives you full control over the water temperature due to being able to preset it to within the ideal temperature range for brewing coffee, which is 195F to 205F (92C to 96C). This small temperature range can dramatically change the flavor of your coffee. That bitter taste of a dark roast will be more or less prominent depending if you brewed it at 195F (92C) or 205F (96C).

Read: Benefits of pour over coffee

Is A Gooseneck Kettle Necessary?

Strictly speaking, a gooseneck kettle is not “absolutely” necessary. It is a specialist tool that will help you to make much better coffee. You can still make your coffee using a regular kettle, but you will lack the absolute control that you need.

With that classic kettle, be it an electric kettle or stovetop kettle your control over the water flow will be limited to flooding your coffee grounds which is detrimental to the flavor.

A gooseneck kettle will help you to get a good even water flow rate in a very controlled manner. Complete control, perfect control of the water flow and volume of water pouring out of your kettle and in a circular motion, can only be achieved with a gooseneck kettle. Regular water kettles just can’t help you to achieve that.

Getting a good even flow of water helps you to get an even extraction of all the coffee oils, flavonoids and coffee compounds from your grounds.

Precise temperature control is also something that is lacking from a regular kettle.

They will help you, but are not absolute requirements.

What Is Special About A Gooseneck Kettle?

This type of kettle is special because it can help you to make much better coffee and to master your coffee brewing skills.

If you are new to the world of brewing coffee and the coffee community, just starting your journey to making masterful coffee, a gooseneck kettle will get you familiar with all the variables that go into making the perfect cup of coffee.

In the entire brewing process, you can control the temperature and water flow rate. With other brewing techniques outside of pour over and manual drip coffee, you can learn to master the very fine technique of blooming your grounds.

Blooming is easy, but it takes a certain know how, as if you bloom too much or too little blooming can be detrimental to your coffee.

What To Look For In A Gooseneck Kettle

There are something’s that you should look for in a good quality gooseneck kettle.

Capacity

Focus on the capacity and try and get a 1 liter gooseneck kettle as a minimum. It is likely that you will brew coffee for more than one person or more than one cup at a time. 1 liter will make you about 3 cups of coffee.

Also, pay attention to the handle and ensure that it has an ergonomic handle for that wrist action for that subtle circular motion and helps to eliminate a careless pouring technique.

Water Flow Rate

Focus on the spout and the control of flow rate that you have. How quickly, or better said, how slowly and how accurately you can pour the water, the better and more even extraction you will get.

Flow control is an important aspect of pour over coffee.

The ability to eliminate human errors with this brewing method, the better.

Material

When opting to purchase a kettle, I am referring to any kettle here, not just the gooseneck kettle avoid plastic.

Plastic is a horrible material to use for anything heated, including food containers in your microwave. It is full of phytochemicals and xeno-estrogens that are unhealthy. Don’t always go for the cheapest option. Stainless steel and copper are great options.

Heat Source

Finally, this might not sound too much like a biggie, but in the battle of stovetop Vs electric gooseneck kettle, the unanimous winner is of course, an electric gooseneck kettle.

Only the electric version can and will give you the ability to control and set the temperature of your water.

Frequently Asked Questions About Is A Gooseneck Kettle Worth It?

Do Gooseneck Kettles Make A Difference?

Yes,

A gooseneck kettle will give you full control over the pour, the flow rate and help you to get a significantly better cup of coffee when you are making pour over coffee. A digital temperature control gooseneck kettle will give you exactly that – precise control of the temperature.

Pour over coffee brewing gets more total dissolved solubles from the coffee grounds into your cup of coffee which is why this brewing method is the best for your expensive and delicious coffee beans.

It’s a brewing method that gets all the delicate and intricate flavors into you cup. To do that perfectly you need to use a gooseneck kettle to get the level of control needed. A gooseneck kettle makes a big difference.

What Are The Benefits Of A Gooseneck Kettle?

The main benefit of a gooseneck kettle is the level of control that they give you over the flow rate and the pour. The more modern versions have the benefit of full control of the temperature as you can set them to heat your water to an exact temperature.

How Important Is Gooseneck Kettle For Coffee?

A gooseneck kettle is important if and when you are going to use it frequently for pour over coffee. If you really enjoy those medium and light roasts and want to coax out the delicate flavors of origin a gooseneck kettle will help you a lot to perfect the extraction.

What Kettle Do Baristas Use?

The gooseneck kettle that you see baristas using at your local coffee shop is probably the Hario V60 Buono.

It’s a popular choice for coffee professionals.

Can You Put Milk In A Gooseneck Kettle?

No, just as you would never put milk in a normal kettle you should never put milk in a gooseneck kettle. Putting milk in your kettle will destroy it as milk, especially burnt milk is difficult to clean off and will spoil further brews. 

Should You Leave Water In Kettle Overnight?

No.

If you leave water in your kettle, any kind of kettle, you will be encouraging limescale to build up. When you are finished empty your kettle.

To help prevent the build up of limescale rinse it out and dry it after each use.

Frappé-Ing It All Up – Is A Gooseneck Kettle Worth It?

When the question, is a gooseneck kettle worth it? is asked, the answer is undoubtedly yes!

The shape of a gooseneck kettle helps you to have incredible control over the water flow, which in turn gets you an even extraction of the coffee oils. An electric variable temperature gooseneck kettle is the best kind as it will help you to get the optimal water temperature and the temperature control that you need for making great coffee.

Even if pour over is not your preferred brewing technique this rather elegant kettle will help you with the important aspect of blooming your grounds with the Aeropress, French press and other brewing techniques.

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