Monarch Methods announced changes to their kettles on Monday, December 14, 2015. I had ordered the smaller (320 ml) kettle a few months ago. Unbeknownst to me (and others), we were waiting for the revised units that started shipping after the Monday announcement. I received mine on that Friday.

The two major changes are a new lid and a cork cover that replaces the leather cover.


The new lid is quite heavy (61.6g) and now has a V cut and a concrete handle. The new lid fits in the opening as opposed to the old lid which went over the opening.

As an aside - you can see in the pics a bit of baby blue - that's not part of the kettle, that's a piece of silicone baking cup (IKEA Sockerkaka) that I slid in between the Aluminium plate and the kettle.

I used another piece of the baking cup to secure the old-school Taylor thermometer (sold separately) in the thermo-well. This keeps the thermometer in one position, making it easier to read. It also keeps the thermometer's tip floating above the bottom of the kettle. (After the pic was taken the piece was pushed down so that it is no longer visible.)


The cork cover is attached to an Aluminium plate via nutserts capped with washers and hex button-head bolts to capture the cork. The plate is not attached to the kettle.


So ... how does the kettle perform?

Sweet!

Pouring control is, as expected and predicted, awesome. As for temperature control, the kettle uses the old-fashioned way - mass. The kettle is over 520 g. As with other (non-electric) devices that rely on mass to control water temperature, a strategy of filling with boiling water, holding for 20-30 seconds, pouring out and refilling again with boiling water, hold for a few seconds, and then pouring out and refilling again with boiling water to pour, yielded the highest temperatures on an analog thermometer. Temp graph:


ETA: After using the kettle for a few weeks, I have found that the second refill of the kettle doesn't get you much. Fill with boiling water, hold for 20-30 seconds, dump and refill with boiling water, and the water temp will hold right around 200F-202F for the entire pour.

Finally, I had a couple issues with the fit of the cork cover on my kettle. My hands are small, and the (old-man-flabby) skinfold between my thumb and forefinger was catching on the bolts holding the cork in place. Chris Chekan of Monarch got back to me in two days - on a Sunday even! - and sent me one of the old covers:

The old-style leather cover is a just a bit less effective at insulating than the cork, but I don't mind one bit. This kettle is a joy to use, and I am happy with it .

Yes, that should be the best (hottest) solution. Also, one can then start with flash-boiled water from the machine's boiler like Mark does.

I never thought of either possibility - perhaps as I don't make much espresso these days.

Some FYI: Chris Chekan first made his kettles when he was working at Pilot Coffee Roasters, to work with their brew methods (which he helped develop).

The MK500 was developed first, for Chemex: The MK320 was developed for V60: Thanks to [anonymized] for recently liking Pilot's other videos on Vimeo, and thus leading me to these.

Also, more than you ever wanted to know about Chris, Monarch, the kettle, brew methods, etc.: listen to http://ibrewmyowncoffee.com/9