Primus Litech Coffee/Tea Kettle

Lightweight, fast boil time, and just enough outdoor "snootiness" to be fun.

I've had my Primus Tea Kettle for several years now and I continue to use it more often than not on my car camping and day trips. It's nice to have a 'civilized' piece of cooking equipment, expecially for the ritual of daily tea or coffee.

The kettle is made of anodized aluminum, and while it does make it a tad heavier than a comprable titanium kettle might be, I find aluminum to produce faster boil times than titanium. With a full kettle of water, that's a real plus.

I find that the handle rarely gets so hot I need a pot holder or bandana to take it off the stove, but one must be careful to keep the handle in the upright postion to make that happen. When boiling a full pot, the handle does get pretty warm though, so a pot holder should be used.

They say a watched pot never boils, but I am usually anxious to get that brew going, so I'm always lifting the kettle lid to take a peak inside. To do this I always use my multitool pliers (a Leatherman Squirt PS4) as it does get pretty hot in that area while coming to boil. But when it is ready, a healthy steam rises out of the spout.

I've used this kettle over a number of stoves: Brunton Cub (my favorite for car camping and day trips); Snow Peak Lite Max (a bit small and a little unstable for use with the kettle, but doable with care), the Swiss Army M7 gel stove that comes with a pot stand, and a Trangia with pot stand. The isobutane works the fastest.

My latest and most fun use of this kettle was on a road trip with my 83-year-old mother a couple weeks ago on the Olympic Peninsula. We used in our cabin at Lake Quinault and for tea/coffee breaks along the road.

DETAILS:

Material: anodized aluminum

Size: 1.5L - 5.9" x 4"

Weight: 7.4 oz

Folding handle

Comes with net carry bag.

I have had the Primus tea pot for about 5 years and it has served me well. The first reason that I bought it was price, very reasonable. The second reason was how light it was, yet extremely tough.

The lid has always fit snug from day one and still does. The fold flat handle is very strong but even though the handle has a plastic type cover over the handle, it can still get very hot. I have not really noticed any leaks from the spout but because it is so short any water leakage will just drip into the cup/bowl anyway.

I use the Primus exclusively for boiling water only. I do not cook in it or mix tea or coffee or anything thing else in it. I believe it would be too hard to clean out.

Yes, it is heavier than a titanium equivalent (if there is something like out there), but the trade off is that it is almost indestructible on the trail and in the pack. You do not have to worry about placing it carefully in your pack so it will not crush or bend out of shape. Since it does have a low profile you can fit it easily in your pack.I do a lot of day hikes and multi day off road four wheel drive trips, both are hard on gear.

One downside is that since it has such a low profile you can’t put your fuel canister/stove inside, homemade alcohol stoves aside. However I just picked up the Esbit titanium wing stove and that with my Esbit tablets will fit inside no problem.

On a side note to see how efficient the tea pot is I did a non scientific boil time test with the Esbit titanium wing stove. First I used my homemade Heineken 24 oz beer can pot and then the Primus tea pot. I boiled one cup of tap water temperature water in each. The Heineken pot took about 5 minutes and the Primus teapot took about 3 ½ minutes to bring to a boil. There are several factors involved but that is my test result. Buy it!

I've had one of these for several years now and I like it.

Number one the shape. Because it is real flat it fits in the pack well. The flat bottom is great for catching all the heat from a stove. A pepsi can stove will fit inside it.

The main drawbacks to it is the capacity which is low, and when it starts to boil water starts coming out of it if you fill it pretty much up to the top. I guess that comes with the size.

I like to use this on solo hikes or when my wife and I are backpacking, leaving it at home when cooking for 3 or more people in favor of larger things.

A lot of times if you've hiked a long way and are really bushed when stopping for the evening I can prop it up on some rocks and build a stick fire or stick the alcohol stove under there and make some tea to get me up to make camp and get a campfire going.

I have owned the Primus kettle for about 3 months now. I have sent it back to the distributor once because it has a bad habit of dripping from the pour spout. This can be a little annoying especially with hot water. The handle does get HOT! Very Hot! And no the flame from the stove wasn't over the edges of the kettle. It boils water. That's it. I would highly recommend a tall pot that is multi purpose. This pot will probably go into my "I wish I hadn't bought it box". Save yourself some money, burns and the headache of a single use pot and get a tall multi use pot!

Happy Trails!

Even though I'm not an afternoon-tea type of guy, I find this kettle charming as well as handy. It's great for solo trips where everything is just-add-water. The traditional shape indeed fits packs and flattens flames.

There are 2 drawbacks. It leaks from the base of the spout--quickly solved by wrapping that joint with some waxed dental floss. And I'd kill for a whistle, as I always forget it's on the stove!

It's wonderful, light and sturdy, boils 48 oz water in one setting, snuggles neatly inside my GSI hard anodized cook set, so it does not take additional space inside the pack.

I love and recommend it.