We bought a Loutytuo travel kettle back in 2021 as part of the kit for our month-long road trip across the country from Charleston, SC to Seattle. We’re usually up before 5am and enjoy a hot beverage right away. The kettle allowed us to make coffee or tea at will in the various hotel rooms we stayed at along the way without depending on the room having a coffee maker or kettle, or the hassle of getting something from our hotel or a coffee shop, assuming they were even serving early enough, or going without until something was available later in the morning. Along with a YETI 20 oz Tumbler, a Kuissential SlickDrip collapsible coffee filter holder, some #2 filters, and a package of pre-ground coffee, we’re good to go.

Left: Testing the travel kettle in Charleston before our road trip. Right: Making coffee on the road.

When full to the maximum 19 fl oz (550ml), the kettle takes 3-5 minutes to come to a boil and then shuts off automatically. Both the kettle and filter holder are made of high-temperature silicone, collapse flat, and store together in a small black case that came with the kettle.

The kettle and filter holder collapse flat and store together in the kettle case.

The kettle worked out super-well on the road trip—we loved having fresh coffee and tea on demand in our room. We didn’t expect to use the kettle much after that trip, but we’ve been carrying it with us on most of our travels since and it’s continued to be a valuable part of our travel kit. So much so that we even bought a second one when we accidently left the power cord behind in a hotel room. The only time we don’t travel with the kettle is on cruise ships, where anything with a heating element typically is prohibited.

The kettle also has a switch to convert between 110 and 220V power, and we made good use of it on our trips to Switzerland and Barcelona. On both these trips we brought carry-on luggage only, and the kettle takes up such little space that it makes the cut. And we’ve had no problem passing through airport security in various countries with the kettle in our carry-on.

Making coffee on 220V in Switzerland.