Coffee Junkies, Tailgaters & Kool Aid Kids All Agree, The Mr. Coffee Pump Pot Rocks!
Written: Jan 04 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to use, keeps things hot or cold for hours, one year warranty, sturdy.
Cons: Requires preheating or prechilling for best results, not dishwasher safe.
The Bottom Line: One press of a button will heat you up or cool you off .. thanks Mr. Coffee!
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| Freak369's Full Review: Mr. Coffee Pump Pot PP5 |
Over the years I have received a lot of useless gifts and the Mr. Coffee Pump Pot almost ended up in the dreaded ‘hall closet of doom’. I have had several coffee carafes in the past and they were nice to have but practically impossible to keep clean. The insides would get stained from coffee and tea and being borderline OCD about that kind of stuff, I’d spend more time cleaning them than I would actually using them. The idea and concept behind the Pump Pot is pretty simple; you fill it with whatever you want to keep hot or cold then replace the pump section, tighten the lid and you are set to go. With the press of a button you can dispense coffee tea, Kool-Aid, broth [never add soup to this or you will be fishing out noodles from the pump for the rest of your life], hot water [perfect for hot chocolate] and any other type of hot or cold liquid. About the only thing you can’t put into this is carbonated beverages. If you’ve ever added soda to a sippie cup or children’s cup and seen the top shoot off, image that on a much larger scale and that is what could happen with the Pump Pot. It’s a safe alternative to having a pot of water on the stove if you are making cocoa or tea for people and it’s completely portable so you can take your hot or cold beverages with you for picnics, sporting events or parties.
Mr. Coffee Pump Pot PP5
Made of plastic, stainless steel and a thin glass liner, this is something that will last a long time if you take care of it and follow the instructions that come with it. The inside of it is solid stainless steel with a glass liner so it will keep hot things hot and cold things cold - to maximize this you will want to preheat or prechill it but I’ll get into the details of that later. This is a great thing to have around if you are planning a party and there will be a ton of kids there. You won’t have to worry about a small child reaching up and grabbing a pot or reaching for the cord. This doesn’t mean that the Pump Pot is 100% kid safe, burns can still happen if they press the button and the liquid makes contact with their skin. Even so, they’ll need to have a couple of minutes to figure out how it works before they can get into trouble with this but it’s better to be safe than sorry so make sure that it is pushed back away from the edge of a countertop.
The Pump Pot will hold 1.9 liters of hot or cold liquids; for those who aren’t up on the metric system that equals about 65 ounces or a little over two quarts. You don’t want to fill this to the absolute top because you have to insert the vacuum arm into the body of it. When empty it weighs a little over two pounds and filled, about four pounds. The flip up carry arm is very strong and sturdy so if you have to haul it around with you, it’s easy to do. If you plan on using this in the kitchen instead of having your coffee maker on for hours, it doesn’t take up a lot of space and will fit under most cabinets. This is great if you travel in an RV or camp; you can preheat or prechill it and have hot or cold drinks for most of the day. This measures a little over twelve inches high and about eight inches around. Like I said, it doesn’t take up a lot of room in the kitchen and if you are taking it to a party, sporting event or picnic, it’s small enough that it will fit in even the most packed of vehicles.
It’s extremely easy to use once it is filled; just press the button and fill up your cup of choice. You’ll want to release the button when the cup is about an inch from the top of the cup because it will keep dispensing your beverage until the liquid is out of the pump valve. To clean it all you have to do is unscrew the top, wash the pump and replace. This is not dishwasher safe and shouldn’t be put into a dishwasher or soaked in water. To clean the inside of it you can add soapy warm water to it and allow it to stand for a half hour or so then rinse well and allow it to air dry. This will hold up to a moderate amount of getting bumped around but it shouldn’t be tossed around or handled roughly or you run the risk of shattering the glass liner. You should check the inside of the Pump Pot each time you go to use it to make sure that it is clean and that the liner is intact.
Preheating & Prechilling
If you’ve used other stainless steel lined products like a thermos or travel container you know that importance of preheating or prechilling it. For those who are new to this, here’s the details. If you want to extend the heating or chilling capacity of this Pump Pot it’s pretty easy. Just fill it with hot water and allow it to stand for about five minutes; this will heat up the inside of the container and help to keep whatever you are adding to it super hot. The same goes for cold drinks; add ice water or cold tap water to it and allow it to sit for five minutes. Never add cold drinks to something that you’ve preheated or add hot beverages to something that you have prechilled. That might sound silly but if you have several of these that you are prepping for a party or event, it is easy to get them mixed up if you aren’t paying attention. If you add a hot liquid to a chilled container or cold liquid to a heated one, the drastic change in temperature can cause the glass liner to shatter. This isn’t something that is covered under the warranty so please, be careful when you are filling more than one of these at a time.
Warranty
This comes with a one year warranty against manufacturer defects but you have to remember to fill in and mail out the card that comes with it. If you have any trouble with this within the first year of ownership you can contact Sunbeam, the manufacturer, to have it repaired at an authorized repair location or have it sent to them for repair or replacement. You can also check the website [www.mrcoffee.com] for more information about the warranty and ordering replacement parts. If you need assistance, please call their toll free customer service number at 800672-6333
Price
This was a gift but when I checked the prices online most sites were charging about fifteen dollars for this. Is it worth it? It all depends on how often you drink coffee or tea or have the need for something that will keep things hot or cold. If you are looking for a way to save money on your electric bill this might take a while to pay off - if you leave your coffee maker on for a few hours a day you can look for the Pump Pot to pay for itself in about ten months. Above and beyond that, if it is taste that matters you to, the Pump Pot will almost eliminate that burnt taste that can happen after coffee has been left on the heating element for a while. Since this seals completely you don’t have evaporation to deal with - something that almost always leads to a bitter cup of coffee. If you are after something that will keep coffee and tea fresh tasting - the Pump Pot is for you.
The Bottom Line
Even though I wasn’t all that enthused about this when I first received it, it has been something that has gotten a lot of use. It is great for making a huge pot of tea or coffee and a necessity if you want to make hot cocoa for a group of people at a sporting event. For cold drinks like Kool-Aid it eliminates having to haul ice to a party or outside. I wish I made use of this when we lived in San Diego; I could have filled it up with ice water or Kool-Aid for the kids so they wouldn’t have to run in and out of the house to get something to drink during the summer. The Pump Pot is well made, easy to use and does what it is supposed to do - it keeps hot stuff hot and cold stuff cold. This would made for a great gift for someone that drinks a lot of coffee or hot tea and for the office or home office, it is a great way to have fresh coffee piping hot without worrying about a coffee maker being left on hour hours at a time.
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2005 Freak369
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Recommended:
Yes
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