All your hot and cold filtered water.
A clever all-in-one machine, the Milky Plant The Watery is a reverse-osmosis water filter that delivers hot or cold water. It’s quite bulky and a little loud when making filtered water, but the results are excellent: clean, great-tasting filtered water thanks to added essential minerals, and precisely heated water when you need it. With the cost per litre of filtered water being relatively low compared to the jug-based competition, this is a great machine if you’ve got space and want hot and cold filtered water ready when you need it.
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Hot and cold filtered water -
Large pitcher -
Good running costs
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Raw tank is hard to remove
Key Features
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Hot and cold water
Cold water is available via the spout or pitcher, and hot water via the spout. -
Dual filters
Removes harmful particles and adds minerals back.
Introduction
Tap water might be safe to drink, but it can still contain a lot of contaminants that affect the flavour and that you don’t want to drink. Standard water filters are one way to deal with the issue, but a reverse osmosis machine, such as the Milky Plant The Watery, promises longer filter life, better results and extra features, including instant hot water heating.
It takes up quite a bit of counter space, but it’s easy to use and the convenience of an all-in-one hot and cold machine takes some beating.
Design and Features
- 1.4 litres of filtered water
- Hot and cold water
- Two filters
At 230 x 420 x 375mm, the Milky Plant The Watery is quite a big machine, taking up a fair amount of counter space. However, if you consider that it’s both a filter water jug and a kettle replacement, you probably won’t lose out much by switching two appliances for this one.
There’s a bit of setup to get the Milky Plant The Watery ready for first use, starting with installing the two filters. There’s the main Ultra PR filter, which combines a carbon block, pp sediment filter and reverse osmosis membrane.
Then, there’s the square ACF (Activated Carbon Fiber) filter, which removes impurities but also remineralises your water by adding essential minerals including magnesium and calcium. It should also improve the taste of your water.
In total, the Milky Plant The Watery helps remove fluoride, forever chemicals, microplastics, chlorine, becteria and viruses and heavy metals, while adding essential minerals back. Both filters slot in at the front, so the machine doesn’t need to me moved for replacements.
That’s different to the ZeroWater system, which removes all traces of solids from water, but doesn’t add anything back in.
Using the Milky Plant The Watery is easy. At the back is a 5-litre raw water tank where tap water goes.
As soon as the 1.4-litre pitcher at the front is inserted, the Milky Plant The Watery kicks into action, filtering water into this.
With the Skuma Water, there’s a purification process that takes place in the background, and while it’s performing, you can’t dispense water. The issue with that machine is that you can’t see, at a glance, how much purified water is available at any time.
Having the pitcher with the Milky Plant The Watery is very helpful, as I could quickly grab it and pour out a glass of water. I could also use the touchscreen panel to dispense the right level of water at the touch of a button, dispensing between 50ml and 950ml in 50ml steps, with 999ml the final step. I find this handy for filling up bottles or recipes that require for set amounts of water.
As well as room temperature water, the Milky Plant The Watery can dispense hot water, too. There are preset buttons for different drink types, which include boiling, tea, coffee, honey, milk and room temperature. Water temperature can be adjusted in 5°C increments, and the water volume set.
As the filtered hot water comes from the same pitcher, heated on demand and output via the spout. WIth 1.4-litres of fresh water, a full set of filtered water is enough to make hot drinks for lots of people in one go, and as the jug starts to empty, the purification process kicks in again to start refilling the jug.
I like this hot water feature, as it’s easy to dispense exactly the right amount of hot water. Unlike with a kettle, I don’t create more hot water than I need.
All reverse osmosis machines create wastewater, which is concentrated water that’s not safe to drink. With the Zuma, the wastewater was created at a ratio of 4:1 (every four litres of fresh water creates one litre of waste); the Milky Plant The Watery has a ratio of up to 5:1, so there’s less water wasted.
Wastewater is kept in the raw water tank. When the machine beeps and says ‘change water’ the raw tank should be removed, emptied and refilled. It’s not too hard a job, but it needs a bit of force to pull the tank up and out of the back of the machine, and you need enough clearance to be able to do so.
Performance
- Relatively cheap water
- Takes just over 14 minutes to purify a jug
- Spot-on hot water
I like the way that the Milky Plant The Watery works. Its 1.4-litre jug is big enough that I always have water ready to go; with other water filters I’ve tested, there have been plenty of times when I’ve needed to filter water and wait for the process to finish.
Once the jug is empty, it takes just over 14 minutes to fill up, and there’s a distinct noise as it filtering takes place (around 54dB), but it’s a clever system, as it generally means that I’ve got filtered water ready to go whenever I need it.
I like the taste of the water, too. By adding back some minerals, there’s a nice, bottled-water style finish, rather than the nothingness that the ZeroWater jug delivers. Overall, I measured the Total Dissolved Solids at 50ppm, and that’s partly because minerals are added back in. That’s a very good level for drinking water, considering my tap outputs water at around 258ppm.
Hot water dispensing is spot on, too. Set to 85°C, I measured the output at 84.4°C, which is excellent. There was a similar disparity at 100°C, so you’re getting the temperatures that you want, and won’t need a kettle for most jobs.
Filling a 250ml jug with boiling water used 0.02kWh of power, so you’re looking at around 0.5p per mug of hot water, and slightly less if you drop the temperature. That’s not cheaper than using a kettle with the equivalent amount of water, but the big difference is that The Watery only produces as much hot water as you need.
Fill half a mug with 85°C water because you’ll top up with an espresso, for example, and you’re looking around 0.25p for 150ml of water. With the best kettle you have to heat at least 250ml of water, even if you won’t use it all.
The one issue with hot water is that you have to get a cup under the spout, and dispensing is relatively slow; if you normally boil water in the kettle for cooking, such as for pasta, then you’ll struggle to fill a saucepan from the Milky Plant The Watery.
One of the advantages of a reverse osmosis system is that the filters last for a long time. The Ultra PR filter is rated to last a year (up to 2500 litres), and costs £69.99.
The ACF filter needs to be replaced every three to six months at costs £29.99 for a new one. Per year, then, you’re looking at a cost of £129.97.
I measured electricity use of 0.01kWh for producing a 1.4-litre jug of water, which is way under 1p per litre of water. Overall, The Watery costs around 8p per litre of filtered water (not including the cost of the raw tap water). That’s a good deal cheaper than the cost of the water from the ZeroWater.
Should you buy it?
Buy if you want one device that does everything
Hot and cold water on tap, and tasty filtered water, what more could you want?
Don’t buy if you don’t have much room
This water filter is bulky and takes up quite a lot of counter space.
Final Thoughts
Although it’s a little loud and a little bulky, the Milky Plant The Watery is a clever bit of kit that’s relatively cheap per litre of filtered water.
Its large pitcher is a nice touch, as filtered water (hot or cold) is always ready to go, and you can also dispense water from the spout for precise dosing. Happily replacing a filter and a kettle, the Milky Plant The Watery is the only device you need for hot and cold water.
How We Test
We test every water filter that we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
- Used as our main water filter
- Cost per litre of purified water calculated
- We measure the TDS level of purified water
- Electricity costs calculated
FAQs
It takes two filters: the ACF filter has to be replaced every six months, and the Ultra PR filter yearly.
It makes up to 1.4-litres of filtered water per go, filling the pitcher at the front.
Test Data
| Milky Plant The Watery |
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Full Specs
| Milky Plant The Watery Review | |
|---|---|
| UK RRP | £499 |
| Manufacturer | – |
| Size (Dimensions) | 230 x 420 x 375 MM |
| Release Date | 2025 |
| First Reviewed Date | 24/10/2025 |
| Water capacity | 5 litres |
| Kettle type | Jug |
| Integrated filter | Yes |
| Multiple temperatures | Yes |
