Just a footnote on the Sunbeam Hotshot. I adore mine. Have had one for YEARS and wouldn't want to be without it. BUT I would never consider traveling to Europe with it. The usual voltage things and it is too big. Also, you must take care to never hit the "on" button when there is no water in the tank. And, you can only put water in the tank.

YOu could always drink tea :-) Sorry I couldn't resist.

Thanx mkdiebold - I'll check it out.

for those of you reading this and interested in the immersion heater:
the ones years ago were good put could present a fire hazard..I personaly would never forget to unplug it but now the gov. has decreed that they have a onetime overload switch-off.
I spent 15 bucks on one and my partner took it out of the liquid and it was dead the first time.why cant they make this thing with a reset? That was the white one however there is one that is black(squareish) and it contains lead and other cancer causing metals so beware.

As an American living in Europe, my problem is finding a good cup of coffee when I return for visits to the US.

What brand of coffee to buy? Go to any supermarket in the UK, and you have a huge selection of ground coffee from Kenya, Columbia, and many other countries. I assume the same would be true in France. You can choose different blends, from the strong, full roast used for espresso, medium roast, etc. Nowadays you can buy Fairtrade coffee, where the growers are guaranteed a fair price for their beans. My favourite ground coffee comes from Rwanda.

I have bought the immersion coil in Paris and in Nice, and it was labeled as a thermoplongeur. However, they are not easy to find and I never saw one in MOnoprix. I finally found one in a small neighborhood electronics shop, and then it wasn't on display and I had to explain what it was in French before they knew what I was looking for and went and found one out back.

These are easy to buy dual-voltage or just European voltage and plug ahead of time in North America, why not do that instead of spending your time trying to find one in France.

I don't know about where you live, but travel stores in the US sell them with Eur. plugs and 220 voltage. I bought one at AAA travel store. They are also readily available dual voltage but then you'd need a plug adaptor, although I always carry one of those, anyway.

Don't spend your time on vacation looking for one of these, take it from me, it won't be that easy to find probably when you want it.

on the subject of tea [very close to my heart, being a Brit] i had decent tea abroad for the first time ever in several cafes in venice on a recent trip.

nowhere else in Italy can make tea. Why Venice?

"...I found a dual voltage travel coffee maker at packinglight. It's called a Zelco Brisk Brew. It's roughly 6" x 4" x 3". Perhaps you want to look that up?I plan to get one for our upcoming trip to Italy. It has decent reviews. Does anyone here have first-hand experience with this product?..."

Yes, I got one as a gift. It worked fine on a weekend jaunt here in the States. That's the only time I've used it so far. It's quite compact and not heavy. The little containers won't hold enough ingredients, though. I'd just buy coffee and cream at the grocer in Europe. You have to let it cool off maybe 1-2 minutes before you can brew a 2nd cup.

I also have a Zelko Brisk Brew which I take to Europe. I love this little coffee/tea maker and won't travel without it. If I put it in my carryon, however, I usually get a good going-over by security. I just explain that it is a coffeemaker and that usually satisfies them (it is a little strange looking).

I would guess, annhig, because Venice was a major East-West trading port for a few centuries...same reason you find some fairly exotic oriental spices in Venetian cooking...

Or maybe the OP should learn to make do with a couple of espressos -- should be cheaper than the ones sold in the US -- while abroad.

Or take a capuccino in the morning instead of jumping through hoops, taking a bit of Americana overseas.

>>>>>>
My friends in London never use pots of water anymore when making tea, they just put the kettle on and it is boiling hot in what seems to be seconds!
>>>>>>

this post is precious and so quaint. 99.9% of homes and hotel rooms in britain have an electric kettle that boils water in seconds...and have had for decades.

sorry, this just sounds very funny to us. very charming.

like saying you have a friend who no longer makes toast on the cooker but in an electric appliance that toasts the bread in a minute!

Well, while I like foreign coffee, I'm stuck on my Folgers most of the time. We take a small "hotpot", about 800 watts. We can stuff it full of socks and stuff, so it doesn't really take up any room. Then we use the Folger's individual coffee bags, take some sugar and flavored creamers with us and we are set.

The hotpot plugs into our 1500 watt voltage converter and boils water in about a minute. It's great for a couple of cups of coffee or hot chocolate. You can also use them to heat soup or something like that if needed.

I think I paid like $10 for mine at Walgreens and it finally quit working on this trip.

"Hello, my name is still Kathy and I'm still a coffee-aholic!"

It's a funny feeling to see one of your posts from 8+ months ago pop up in the flow of new messages. Guess that proves that the search/archives feature of this board really works.

Just to update you, I did purchase an immersion coil for our trip to France. Yes, it did require a converter. No problem there. It worked fine for a couple of times until my husband decided to "make the coffee" and he totally immersed the entire coil. That was the end of that handy-dandy tool!

Before we travel again, I'll purchase a small electric kettle. Hopefully he won't be able to destroy it!

I was interested in the comments about the overload thing on the coil, and looked at the Franzus website and AAA, and sure enough, they don't sell that model anymore. I have several of them and they've lasted for years, though.

However, AAA online travel store does have just a regular white one that is a different brand than Franzus still for sell.

I can actually understand the point about fire hazard, although you could easily do the same thing with many tools and appliances, so not sure how they handle that (like irons, or those hot pots, etc., which you could leave on with no liquid in them).

I like that Hot Shot thing. I have a similar electric pot that boils water in a minute or so that I just got at CVS drugstore for about $10. It's about the size of a small teapot.

What is wrong with your husband, I can't even imagine why you'd stick the whole thing in the water. Don't let him around machinery or the kitchen or a hair dryer in the bathroom (he'd probably put it underwater).

Christina, don't be too hard on the husband. He picked up something apparently labeled or at least called "an immersion" heater, and he immersed it. What could be more logical than that?

yeah, I suppose, but the coil itself isn't labeled anything and doesn't say that, it's only on the packaging. It also has warning instructions on it about how to use it (although you could rip them off, I'm sure). It's just obvious that the metal part is the part that gets hot and heats things and the plastic part with cord is not. I'm just glad no one got hurt.

Does anyone know why the Uk habit of providing a kettle plus tea/coffee in hotel rooms hasn't caught on elsewhere? It's now standard here and I really miss it when i go abroad. [ie out of the UK]

>>>>>
Does anyone know why the Uk habit of providing a kettle plus tea/coffee in hotel rooms hasn't caught on elsewhere?
>>>>>

-costly requirement that electrics in hotel rooms be inspected by electricians periodically (many european countries-including britain).
-hard to clean (people try to cook in them and they get gunked with calcium)
-hazard when an idiot tries to use with no water.
-they are small and can be easily stolen
-they provide little or no advantage to the hotel in increased sales
-you must then provide assortment of coffee or tea which is often just taken by guests.
-it detracts from restaurant/room service sales.

in britain they are expected - like towels in the bath. innkeepers have no choice. they are not expected in most other countries so innkeepers generally do not bother.

btw, i have often seen them in china as well as britain.

I agree that a room kettle would be a fantastic amenity. We traveled around France for 3 weeks in September. The only place that provided the kettle was in Dijon. We were there only one night, then caught the fast train to CDG.