This “Luxury” Item Is a Non-Negotiable in My Ultralight Kit

If you had told me a few years ago that a teapot would be a regular part of my backpacking kit, I would not have believed you. “What else should I bring?” I would have asked you mockingly. “Maybe I should swap my backpack out for a little wicker picnic basket? Should I wear a top hat and a monocle too?”

Well, reader, consider me humbled. Today, that little teapot has earned itself a regular place in my cook set, displacing my other pots even on some of my lightest-and-fastest trips.

Like a lot of my favorite backpacking gear, I stole the teapot from my wife, who’s both more practical and less self-conscious than me. She picked up the MSR Pika—1 liter, anodized aluminum—mostly to make coffee on our family camping trips. Whether on a canister stove or the big green Coleman two-burner we used to car camp, it did its job admirably, boiling quickly and sitting quite stable on its wide, flat base.

I don’t remember exactly when or why I started swapping it for my pot. Once I did, however, it didn’t take me long to realize that it could do everything my usual titanium pots could do, only better. As someone who almost always hikes with dehydrated meals, my cookware only ever needed to do two things: boil water and pour it precisely. The Pika could do that. Thanks to its thoughtful design, it rarely boiled over and I could grab the handle—located on top of the kettle, not on the side—without worrying about scalding myself. It poured in a smoother stream than my usual go-to—a 900 ml MSR Titan Kettle—meaning that all of my water ended up neatly inside my bowl or bag. At 5.2 ounces, it was just a bit heavier than the 4.4-ounce Titan, and like it, my canister stove packed neatly inside.

Call it capitulation if you like, but I’d prefer to think of my embrace of the kettle as a triumph of lateral thinking: Sometimes the piece of gear that works best for you isn’t the most conventional one. And I won’t lie, carrying it does make me feel a little bit fancy.