Morphy Richards Meno One Cup 43922 Hot Water Dispenser, Black/Stainless Steel

I was on the look for a new tea machine to replace my Tefal Quick cup Mark 2 as in my opinion was noisy and crude.
I saw this in my local currys liked the look of it very modern, its works in a different way to the tefal, it boils the water like an ordinary kettle but it takes 40 secs to bring to the boil so much faster. It's not loud at all, it's not as quick as the tefal but I much prefer it. All you do is fill it with water I use a jug press the button on the front, you have a button on the top so you can adjust the amount of water reguired between 150-300mls and it has 2 little lights which gives you illumimnation a really nice feature,it also has a removable drip tray so no spillages! also if you register it on the Morphy Richards website you get a 2 year guarantee which is good to know as both my tefals broke down just after the 1yr guarantee expired. Only thing I would say is it hasn't got a removeable water tank at the back, but thats not a problem just use a jug, also you don't need a claris water filter for it. I would recommend it.

There seems to be several makes of dispensers available from the likes of Tefal, Russell Hobbs and Breville, but reviews are mixed as to their reliability and whether the water is hot enough to make a decent cup of tea. I was about to purchase the Breville VKJ318 Hot Cup when I came across this Morphy Richards Meno. It was certainly more stylish than the rest, went better with our kitchen decor and seemed to fit the bill, so despite the lack of reviews I bought it. I am glad I did, and so is my partner, she loves it (brownie points here). It takes approx 45 secs to boil and dispense the water, (the water is boiling) and makes a decent cup of tea. The Meno can be filled by lifting it off the base, which opens the reservoir lid at the same time, and held under the tap, or you can just use a jug, for people who find full kettles too heavy. There is an adjustable sliding lever to set the variable cup size, from a small cup to a large mug, so you can find a setting thats just right for you, and the cup sits on a magnetic drip tray to catch any spills. Just press the button, it lights up and off it goes, after a cup is filled there is a popping sound, which takes you by surprise to start with but this is normal and is just the Meno resetting for the next cup. There is also a safety cutout, so it won't try to boil if there is insufficient water in the reservoir. I have also found that I can use it for cooking as well, because the drip tray is oval, you can easily sit a jug underneath to make gravy, just put the cup size to max and keep pressing the button until you have the quantity of water required, I have also been able to fit pans underneath to get instant hot water for my veggies! There is a 2 year guarantee when you register on the website and mine came with an offer of a free Brita Water Filter for the cost of P&P. I have had the Meno for about a month now, (it was priced at £46 then), it gets plenty of stick every day and has been reliable so far, on that basis it gets my definite thumbs up.

Decided to wait a month before writing a review in order to give a good feedback on it's quality etc. I bought this for my wife as she really likes drinking hot water, tea etc and I like the occasional hot chocolate. As we didn't always drink at the same time it felt like a waste to boil water all the time either boiling too much or not enough water. Hence the reason for buying this.

1st thing is the meno heat is relatively large (larger than a standard kettle). But looks very smart in a stainless steel finish and frost/smoke black plastic container for the water at the back. On the measurement it says it stores 6 cups of water which is pretty much true unless you own those very large mugs. It takes round about 40-45 secs for the water to boil and come out and the sound is no louder than a normal kettle boiling, probably just slightly quieter when compared to my Breville kettle that I use. There is a handle on the top which you pull up in order to take the unit out from the base and it will open the hole to pour the water in as you lift the handle up. There is a sliding adjuster at the top so you can work out how much water you would like in your cup. There is a stop button as well in case it is too much, both very easy buttons to push. As the water comes out 2 lights come on which illuminates the cup as the water is pouring and switches off when the water stops. The water is very hot but I don't think it is as hot as a conventional kettle can boil it. When the water finishes coming out normally it makes a sound, difficult to describe its like when you get pressure problems with your tap and a spurt of water comes out, it makes that kind of sound but it's just air. Took me by suprise at first and had to check the manual but it says that is normal as it is resetting the machine ready for the next cup. Great having a magent drip tray on the bottom so I don't have to worry about any spillages on the worktop.

I really like this product however there are a few things that stops this from getting 5 stars. There isn't a built in filter you will need to purchase a separate water filter jug to pour in. This maybe ok or not ok for some people but thought I should mention. I live in hardwater area anyway (London) so already have a jug and to be honest I did find that pouring from the jug felt a lot safer that collecting from the tap directly. Also it does get very heavy quickly once you fill with water so probabably not recommended to be holding under a tap, especially for those who may not be that strong. You wouldn't be able to place in the sink and fill up by tap as the bottom has to connnect with the base unit and would not be happy being wet as that is the electrical part. The adjusting slider for the water is a bit hit and miss, it's not very accurate and I had to use it a few times to adjust properly. There are times where you would have to stand next to it just in case it is too much water and need to press the stop button. The water storage on the back is great but because it is made of smokey/black frost plastic it is difficult to see how much water is left inside and every now and again I would find out I had no water left and only half a cup of hot water. The 2 lights over the cup when dispensing is very nice to look at but more of a gimmick as it switches off when the water stops dispensing. I think it would have been more useful to have the lights stay on for a little while longer as your taking the cup away so can see a little bit better.

Apart from these relatively minor niggles it does exactly what it says it does and very well too. My friend has a Tefal Quick Cup the latest model and I found it very loud and quite small so could only really place low height cups under it. The Morphy Richards looks great, very smart and stylish. The water is very hot with an easy to use adjuster. It can fit pretty much most cups and sizes. If they can perfect the small problems then it would be a perfect 5 star product. If there is anything I haven't covered here please ask me and I will try to answer as best as I can! :-)