Tom's Guide Verdict
Although it’s pricey at almost $200, Fellow’s Corvo EKG kettle does its best to prove itself. The kettle is frankly gorgeous, with a matte black finish and options for wooden embellishments, and boils water like a dream. The precise temperature control means you can get the exact temperature for your specialty tea or coffee, too.
Pros
- +
Gorgeous aesthetics
- +
LED display on base
- +
Precise temperature control
- +
Temperature hold for up to 60 mins
Cons
- -
Smaller capacity than other kettles
- -
Pricey
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The Fellow Corvo EKG kettle could be one of the best kettles for specialty tea and coffee around today. Not only does the kettle have aesthetics that are slick enough to make me swoon, the appliance is quiet, precise, and intuitive.
The Corvo maxed out at just 72dB during testing, and settled in at around 69dB for the majority of its boils. You can easily control your flow rate with the precise spout, which made making my morning V60 much easier than using the office’s standard kettle.
While it does take around five minutes to boil a full capacity of 30 ounces, the Corvo is able to keep your water at boiling point for 60 minutes — so you won’t need to boil again. So, does this $195 price tag justify the Corvo’s premium appearance and intuitive ease of use? Find out in this full Fellow Corvo EKG kettle review.
Fellow Corvo EKG kettle review: Cheat sheet
- What is it? A specialty tea and coffee kettle with a precise spout
- Who is it for? Tea and coffee aficionados who don’t want a gooseneck spout
- What does it cost? $195 / £165
- What do we like? The aesthetics are out-of-this-world gorgeous
- What don’t we like? It’s a little pricey
Fellow Corvo EKG kettle review: Specs
Fellow Corvo EKG kettle review: Price & availability
The Fellow Corvo EKG kettle is available for $195 from Amazon U.S.. In the U.K., the Corvo EKG is available at £165 from Amazon U.K.
This $195 price tag makes it the same price as the gooseneck Fellow Stagg EKG kettle, which is our favorite gooseneck kettle. A gooseneck kettle is best for pour-over coffee methods like the V60 and Chemex, whereas the Corvo’s spout makes it ideal for tea — but can still be used for precise pouring use cases. As this is a specialty kettle, it’s a little pricier than you’d expect for most electric kettles. The Ninja Precision Brewer is just $89 from Amazon U.S. and the Cuisinart kettle is $99 from Amazon U.S. — both of these kettles also have precise temperature control.
Fellow’s EKG base is compatible with both the Stagg and Corvo, and you can buy both the Stagg and Corvo kettles with the EKG base for $245.
Fellow Corvo EKG kettle review: Design & features
There’s no sugarcoating it: the Corvo EKG does one thing phenomenally well, and that’s its looks. There’s no doubt in my mind that this kettle would instantly score cool points for any kitchen. While testing the Corvo EKG, I genuinely couldn’t stop looking at it.
Besides having a sturdy, weighty all-metal exterior and a smooth matte black coating, the kettle is also just fantastically made. The handle is ergonomically designed, so it fits perfectly in my grip. There’s a lovely Fellow logo on the upper notch of the handle with a great sticky pad underneath for thumb support.
As touched on above, the EKG base is compatible with both the gooseneck Stagg kettle and the Corvo. This base has four tactile pads which stops it from slipping around during use. On the bottom right, there’s a PID controller dial for temperature precision, and on the left, you’ll find its LED display screen.
You’ll find two switches on the back of the Corvo’s EKG base: one for changing between Celsius and Fahrenheit, and the other for the ‘hold’ temperature setting.
Fellow Corvo EKG kettle review: Performance
In order to properly evaluate the Corvo EKG, I’ll discuss five key points: Full capacity boiling time; water temperature an hour later with and without the hold setting activated; external temperature of the kettle during boiling; ease of use in tea and coffee preparation; noise.
The Corvo’s full capacity is 30 fluid ounces (0.9 liters), which isn’t that much when you consider the average kettle is usually around 53 fluid ounces (1.5 liters). With the 30 ounce capacity, you’d only be able to boil enough water to fill the 6-cup Chemex, or just under four 8-ounce mugs.
The Corvo takes precisely 5 minutes to boil the full 30 fluid ounces, whereas the Ninja Precision kettle takes 4 minutes to boil 58 fluid ounces. This boiling time is a little slower than the Ninja, but the Corvo was quiet while doing it.
| Temperature | Noise level |
|---|---|
| 140°F/60°C | 72dB |
| 158°F/70°C | 69dB |
| 176°F/80°C | 69dB |
| 194°F/90°C | 69dB |
| 212°F/100°C | 51dB |
After two hours of being switched off, the water in the kettle was 116°F/47°C, which is pretty good considering it was about 60°F/15°C in the office. The Corvo also has a ‘hold’ mode, which keeps your water at the desired temperature for up to an hour.
In terms of ease of use, I can’t really fault the Corvo. There’s absolutely no leakage, even when pouring slowly. I measured the flow rate of the kettle with my Timemore Black Mirror 2 Basic coffee scale.
With an average pouring angle, the Corvo’s flow rate was 30 grams per second. With a fast pour, it can handle up to 84g per second without spilling. And at the other end of the spectrum, it can pour as slowly as 2.4g per second — but that one requires a lot of patience.
I tested the kettle with my V60 Dripper and was really impressed. While you don’t have the precision of a gooseneck spout, the Corvo’s angled spout is still exact enough that you can control the flow of water easily. I was able to get a lovely bloom on my V60 and pour in controlled circles to get the optimum brewing profile.
How does it compare?
| Specs | Fellow EKG Corvo | Fellow EKG Stagg | Ninja Precision Temperature |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $195 / £165 | From $165 / £165 | $89 / £99 |
| Capacity | 30 fluid ounces / 0.9L | 30 fluid ounces / 0.9L | 60 fluid ounces / 1.7 liters |
| Preset modes | None — customizable to the degree | None — customizable to the degree | 6 — but you can customize the temperature to the 5° degree |
| Hold temperature | Yes, 1 hour | Yes, 1 hour | Yes, 30 minutes |
| Dimensions | 6.7 x 8 x 2.6 inches | 11.5 x 6.75 x 8 inches | 9.4 x 7.6 x 9.7 inches |
| Weight | 2.7 pounds | 2.8 pounds | 3.8 pounds |
| Spout type | Large & precise | Gooseneck | Standard |
| Live temperature display | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Rapid boil | No | No | Yes — 1 cup in 50 seconds |
| Warranty | US & Canada: 2 years | US & Canada: 2 years | 2 years |
Should you buy the Fellow Corvo EKG kettle?
The answer to this question depends on what you want to use it for. Do you want a precise kettle to level up your specialty tea and coffee? Then yes, this is a great option I wholeheartedly recommend. The precision spout and exact temperature makes for a great option.
However, are you a coffee drinker who only makes espresso with one of the best espresso machines? Then perhaps this isn’t necessarily for you. There’s little point spending close to $200 on a kettle you’re only going to use for black americanos. However, if you want to delve a little deeper into the world of pour-overs and specialty tea, then this is a great way to get that precise temperature. Some teas steep at 140°F/60°, some at 194°F/90°C, and some at 212°F/100°C — for that level of precision, this is a great kettle.
I thoroughly enjoyed using this kettle — the feeling of it in my hand, the exact pouring control, the gorgeous LED screen — so if all those features tickle your fancy, I’d say go for it.
