I bought the kettle intending to use it not just hiking but also in cafes and restaurants, and when travelling. If you are a confessed tea snob like myself you carry your own tea. The pot helps overcome the problem of servers who have not a clue how to serve tea (or even what it is). I also got the Snow Peak double-walled cup which fits so snugly in the pot (upside down) that it doesn't rattle. Don't ask me why a cup that was clearly designed to fit inside this teapot goes by a different brand name. Titanium makes a good teapot and teacup because it is a poor conductor of heat. On the down side, this makes it slower when the pot is used as a kettle. The double-walled cup is such a great insulator that when filled with boiling water it gets no more than warm on the outside. I turned the drawstring bag (that comes with the pot) into a cosy by lining it with fleece. The bag is actually box-shaped, so a poor fit for the pot especially with my modification. I plan on redoing a drawstring bag/cosy from scratch. Note the bottom of the pot is bulbous. This helps make the pot more bottom-heavy and stable. Although a well-rounded corner will radiate less heat than a sharp corner, I think the intent here is to provide more surface area when heating the pot. The lid fits exceptionally well: it snugs into place with a slight spring tension--another performance aspect only possible with titanium. Sometimes teabags or loose tea will float over to the rather small spout, particularly before they have soaked and sunk, and cause the tea to dribble down the side of the pot. A tea basket or ball would solve this problem, although for myself I modified the pot to overcome this problem in a different way, which for proprietary reasons I won't get into. Here's how I use the pot. When in a cafe etc. I first work out with the waiter/server what temperature water I am likely to receive in order to choose the appropriate tea. My rule of thumb is: 150F = green tea, 180F = oolong, 200F+ = black tea. Often as not the server has no clue how hot their water is, so you just have to use your wits. Then I pull the drawstrings of the cosy/bag down below the spout and around the handles, pull off the lid and drop my bags in. At this point you hand off the pot to your server, who is now likely bug-eyed, and he or she goes and fills the pot. This allows you a period of time in which to pray that the water he or she fills it with will not be tainted with flavors like plastic tubing, coffee, metals, soap, etc etc. That's basically out of your hands, in the average situation, unless you have good relations with a kind and understanding staff, and they are able to get water both hot and good. The servers really appreciate the cosy/pot combo, by the way--it's an easy carry. If you know nothing about tea and care less, you probably think I'm insane right now. But there you are, I know about tea, and give a d-mn. I have surveyed the Web and the competition for this pot appear to be: MSR Alpine Teapot; MSR Titan Tea Kettle; Primus Litech Coffee/Tea Kettle; Primus Litech Trek Kettle; Olicamp Titanium Kettle; and Evernew Tea Pot. These are, respectively, made of: steel, ti, alum., alum., ti, and steel. I am sure there are and have been other pots, good and bad. I give this pot five stars in light of the specific ways I use it and my improvements. The only negative, after all that, is relatively slow heat conduction. I have not done any objective, comparitive testing myself on the latter score, but check out MSR's tables in its catalog where it compares heating times etc of aluminum and titanium cookware, if you are curious.

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Primus Litech Trek Kettle Evernew Tea Pot