Hotel Chocolat make this device called a Velvetiser. It’s some where between a kettle and a blender. You put some milk and chocolate in and it heats up the milk while mixing it quickly to make it frothy (Velvetised). It makes one cup, in a short amount of time, very quietly, and is easy to clean. What’s more is that it’s really well designed and pleasant to use.
The mixing paddle attaches via a magnet and magically is spun through that coupling. This makes attaching & detaching the paddle really easy. It also leaves the bottom of the mixing compartment smooth and therefore easy to clean.
It’s barely noticeable while running. There’s a very quiet hum of the paddle spinning and the heating element. It finishes with no fan-fair. No loud bleeps. Just chocolate.
The control is simple. One nice button. Press it and it sets off for a fixed duration and temperature that makes great hot chocolate. A joyful interaction right out of the minds of late 00s Apple product designers.
It sits on a little dock much like how a kettle does. Both the dock and device have rubber feet. An incredibly cheap feature but well considered.
The finish feels premium. A satin-y smooth non stick finish.
A pouring spout that doesn’t drip easily.
Its walls and lid are somewhat insulated so if there’s a pause between making and drinking it doesn’t cool quickly.
It’s a beautiful tool that does it’s job well with no annoyances.
It is completely at odds to the two cups it ships with. These feel like an afterthought. They’re thin and heat up quickly so you burn your hands because they’re handless. They don’t fit nicely in a drying rack. They don’t stack well. Their surface is meant to evoke folded paper with it’s gradually changing ridges as you run around the circumference, this looks weirdly uneven and leaves the thin ridges abruptly turning back into thick ones.