2025 - buy the latest teasmades and teasmade alternatives

Tea in bed is something we all cherish, but somehow the teasmade isn't as popular as it used to be. It's not entirely surprising. These days most of us set our alarms on our phone or our smart devices. We wake up in our centrally heated, beautifully insulated homes, and pad down to the kitchen in total comfort.

But what if we don't want to leave our beds to make the tea? Do you wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to head to the kitchen to make that all important first cuppa? No, me neither. Maybe you need a teasmade in your life!

There are only three teasmades on the market with the ultimate trifecta of features: the clock/alarm/teamaker combination. There's the two Swan teasmades. The digital model:

And the traditional model:

You can buy these Swan Teasmades direct from Swan Brand if you prefer.

And then there's the stunning and sleek Joy Resolve Barisieur.

Nothing else comes close for the authentic triple-function teasmade enthusiast.

But when our bedside cabinets are already loaded with smart gadgets, all many of us really need is something which provides instantaneous tea or coffee making at the touch of a button, ideally without the extra kerfuffle and high risk of boiling a kettle and pouring scalding water into a mug when you're not fully conscious!

So, what are the latest options in the world of bedside teamakers? Here are the best alternatives...

Let's kick off with the smaller 1.5L version of the Breville HotCup. This has been around for a while now, and it's a compact crowd-pleaser for the bedside. It boils faster than a kettle, and it's easy to set up the mug for your morning cuppa with a teabag, or some loose tea in a tea strainer. This unit dispenses a fixed amount of water every time - 250ml.

Here's its big brother, the Breville HotCup 2.0L model, with a bit more capacity for those long weekend lie-ins. This one has a special feature for those of you who prefer a bit more or a bit less than 250ml - you can set the HotCup to dispense water in the perfect quantity to suit the size of your mug!

If and you're confident that you can turn off your teamaker manually, the 1.7L Breville HotCup may suit you better. It dispenses 250ml exactly, but you can stop it earlier at the touch of a button. The design is a bit more contemporary and stylish, too.

If you prefer, there's a 2L version of this model in silver.

Here's another idea that's been around since the 80s (see the old Philips Tea4Two). This is the Ex-Pro Dual Coffee Maker. It has an integral reusable coffee filter in the lid, and dispenses two 250ml drinks into the ceramic cups provided. I suppose you could put loose tea or a teabag in the filter instead!

At the top of the range, and perfect for purists, is the 1.8L Breville BRITA HotCup with its built in Brita Maxtra cartridge filter. It has a variable single cup dispenser allows you to choose from nine different cup sizes, and a manual override to stop the flow if you need to.

It seems like Breville has sewn up the market - I found little to compete with them in terms of value or design.

However, my favourite water dispensing unit, with the best overall spec, is a Philips - the Philips Water Station. It provides hot filtered water within seconds, at the exact temperature you like, with six temperature presets, five capacity presets, and touch screen controls. It also dispenses ambient filtered water. It is the largest unit on this page, at 2.2L.

I'm going to give you a wild card entry now. You must be familiar with coffee pod machines, so I'm not going to cover these in any detail. Suffice to say that they are mainly designed for the kitchen, and there's a huge choice of models out there. Imagine my surprise when I saw one which would look fabulous in the bedroom and makes just hot water, ground coffee, K Pod coffee, and tea too!

This is the MiniQ Single Serve Tea and Coffee Maker. It comes in three colours: champagne, grey, and the pink one illustrated here.

I'm tempted to give this one a try myself, but there is a downside. You'll notice the i Cafilas dolphin branding on the MiniQ. Unfortunately I have not found a direct UK supplier for these units, They all seem to come via Ali-Express, and stores like Temu. These examples are via Benfuchen. Haven't heard of them? Me neither! I would worry about service and replacement of these models. The reviews on Amazon confirm this risk - people are either thrilled to bits, or bitterly disappointed.

Finally, let's get back to a trusted brand with consistent after-care.

This is the Russell Hobbs Calm Kettle. It's my favourite kettle for a bedroom. The Calm Kettle has a 1.7L capacity and features gentle colour-changing illumination with optional soothing sounds, quiet boil technology, a digital display with touch control, and a useful keep warm function for those moments when you get lost in a book and forget to finish your brew! I like its stable design, and its variable temperature control from 40-100°C. This is not just a joy for creating the perfect brew, but also adds to its safety if it's going to be used in the bedroom.

As Russell Hobbs say, who knew kettles could be so stylish?

You can see some more pretty kettles here.

Let me know if you spot any other teasmade alternatives before I do!