Derail any conversation by mentioning "microwaving your water" rule

Europeans when they discover that no, most Americans really do not own a kettle rule.

let alone an electric kettle
- I don't know what happened. We used to be really into tea. Blame the Townshend Acts I guess?
- I can’t imagine life without an electric kettle…
- we are shifting to boiling taps too now
Wait, do Americans not own kettles?
That’s like one of the first things I bought when I moved out.
- their shitty electrical grid means kettles take like double the time to boil.
- Tea isn't that popular here although I'd argue in recent years it has been gaining on what it once was. I think where other countries kettles are the norm, here "coffee makers" are the norm.
  The majority of the more "popular" form of tea we'd have here is probably considered an abomination onto nuggin elsewhere: sweet tea. (Iced tea with about 628648lbs of sugar in it.)
- In my country (and most of northern Europe I presume), induction stoves are becoming very common. I tossed my electric kettle 7 years ago when I got induction.
  It's faster than a kettle in most of my pots.
- I own one because I'm a coffee snob and enjoy pourovers. Before I went down that whole road, no. And neither did anyone I knew well enough to dig through their kitchen
Hmmm. Most of the Americans I know have electric kettles now. It's probably my most used kitchen gadget. Great for making tea or coffee, or boiling water for oatmeal. I just used it tonight to get some warm water to soak my lizard (not a euphemism) and to thaw out a frozen mouse for a snake. Honestly it gets used probably 5 or 6 times a day most days.
- to thaw out a frozen mouse for a snake
  Was... Was that an euphemism?
So, I'm Greek and I also have never used a kettle. In fact, you won't find one in most households. But all of us have a briki. It's like a mini pot!
We use it to boil water/make cofee/tea/boil 1-2 eggs etc
- I don't get it either, I've always made tea with a small pot. It is just something to heat up water. It has a lid. The only time I started seeing a lot of kettles around was when pour over / V60 / Chemex became fashionable and every place started selling gooseneck kettles.
Are we talking about electric kettles or kettles in general?
They're getting more common. I personally used a stovetop kettle as recently as six years ago. But electric kettles are a world of difference.
Minor problem for me is currently living in a very old house that we don't own and using a proper electric kettle will pop a breaker. I recently bought a travel kettle that uses like 1/5 the wattage instead
An electric kettle is a counter appliance and therefore degeneracy. A stovetop kettle is functional decoration though.
- a stovetop kettle is literally bigger takes up a hob takes more time to boil and costs more money

This one extended a little with a great literate addition 😂

wow, actual iambic pentameter, impressive.
the scenography is ass though.
🤣🤣🤣 holy shit my sides
Long live King Pidoop.
That was something.

lol no shit many Americans don’t own a kettle, they apparently rank 36th in tea consumption per capita. Breaking news lads, they aren’t as enamored with it as the next higher usage countries.

List of countries by tea consumption per capita

The UK is 3rd, behind Ireland and Turkey. Get your shit together, UK.

Fun fact, due to the power difference in the US, kettles are much slower here than some other places. You can run a 3kW kettle on the grid in the UK, and boil a single cup's worth of tea water in about 45 seconds. In the US, most outlets won't allow more than 1800W, or 1.8kW, so the best kettles will take almost twice as long.
- That’s almost a minute and thirty one seconds! Daft.
I usually use my kettle to make coffee (handfiltered/pour-over).
Facts.
BUT as an American southerner, our iced tea consumption is through the roof and it fuels our economies, sweet tea and fried chicken
- Growing up, we'd make sun tea, and I feel like that'd send a lot of tea drinkers running. In the morning, you'd take a gallon jar of water, a dozen teabags, bunch of sugar, and let it sit in the sun during the day, and drink it that evening.
- Southern US is the best place for developing new methods to kill yourself in delightful ways.

electric kettles are the way and the light

This is how everyone does it right? Right?! The only people that I know who don't use an electric kettle are in their 80s. Or is this some cultural thing where people in the US/UK/whatever don't use electric kettles?
- As a grown man in the US, I'm not sure that I've ever seen an electric kettle in real life (only on British TV).
- UK here. Everyone has an electric kettle, even those aged 80+. They're seen as a household essential.
- why are you expecting the UK to not use kettles?
- US still has residential power from the last century
- US has 110 voltage that can't run a kettle for shit
They're fast and efficient, by putting the heating element right up against the water, and also safe thanks to shutting off automatically. Great shit!
We have one for every bedroom, for teamergencies
Yep , I never realized how fast they are. 2 cups boils in under 2 minutes.
I tried to get an electric kettle last year, but I guess they don't make the kind that keep the water hot all day anymore. So I had to get a whole hot water dispenser that keeps it hot for days now.
- This is absolutely insane to me. Just boil enough for what you need. You don't need boiling water on demand.
- they don’t make the kind that keep the water hot all day anymore.
  Zojirushi does.
- Everyone in the country I live in just uses a thermos lol
Nope instant boiling water taps are the way or even a standalone hot water dispenser is better then a kettle. Also modern induction cooktops will cook water faster than a kettle, 10kW beats 3kW. Kettles are relics of the past.
Electric kettles are actually a scam. Look up any BIFL forum, they'll all say that stove top kettle is the way to go.
- Nobody wants to use a stovetop kettle when they can just push a button and forget about it.
  Also an electric kettle costs 10-20€ and lasts ~10 years, it's also much more energy efficient.
  No need to "buy it for life"
- Zojirushi. They last. Since it's BIFL, I don't see the extra cost as a big problem. That's what you deal with when you BIFL.

Ur body is already made of like 70% water and also its already warm. Just eat the tea bag, thats what i do.

British Cuisine in a nutshell
- Conquer the world for spices. Never try them.
mmmmmmm......plastic
- You gotta take the wrapper off first obviously

I'm British the entire conversation is deeply offensive to my people. Microwaving??? Putting mugs on a stove??? I am appalled!

I don't even understand how that could work, surely a standard mug would break one way or another if you just stick it on the stove?
- Porcelain has very good temperature shock resistance, stoneware quite good, earthenware bad. Your standard mug should be stoneware and take it just fine. There's even stoneware pots.
  The issue is rather that you shouldn't use standard electric stoves with too small pots, on gas I guess that's half-sensible but you'd be left with a charred mug that's way too hot.
- Just thinking about it makes me want to go and lovingly stroke my kettle
Our electricity is 120v here in the US, so kettles take forever
- US outlet is 120V@20A = 2.4kW UK outlet is 230V@13A = 3.0kW
  It's a 15% difference based on possible power draw.
  Anecdotally the stove will still take many times longer. Even compared to induction my kettle is faster.
  My guess is that in the UK/EU it's not common to have powerful microwaves?
- kettles take forever
  For extremely small values of 'forever'
- Do microwaves have some magic efficiency trick that lets them produce heat faster from the same exact energy? Like, how do they manage to be more than 100% efficient?
One reason that some Americans microwave water rather than use a kettle is that our electricity is half the power of UK electricity. It takes a lot longer for an electric kettle to boil here. That said, I do use a kettle when boiling water for tea.
- When I went, if I ever saw one it was the equivalent of those cheap travel kettles. I think the average person there just doesn't use it enough to justify getting a good one.
- What a bullshit excuse. I'm in Canada with exactly the same 110v power, and it takes very little time to kettle water. People say this all the time as some sort of justification, but it just isn't.
On that note, as someone from a commonwealth nation, I was deeply appalled during the height of the pandemic when kettles couldn't be purchased here as they weren't considered 'essential items'.
- That's a travesty, they're the backbone of the country

What is this lunacy... at least boil it in a pot 😭

what size microwave do you have that can fit a full pot?
Heating up a mug of water in the microwave is fine. I don't get why people are so snobby about this. The water doesn't care where the heat energy comes from.
- It definitely tastes different - flatter somehow. I don't know why, but it does.
- Do you put a spoon in it though?

I just write "IRANIAN NUCLEAR SCIENTIST HERE" on the cup, publish the pictures and location everywhere, don't move it for years, and then Israel will heat it up instantly for free.

Following the pattern, by kettle they probably meant the turkish combustion tea kettle.

WTF is happening in the second image? I need my tea making to be that dramatic.
- It's a variant on a samovar. Fire goes in the bottom ring, the cauldron keeps the water hot for refilling the teapot, and the teapot sits on top to keep warm while it brews.

Am I the only one that drinks cold brew tea? Organic decaf loose leaf green tea in a tea bag. Put in a pitcher of water and put it in the fridge for 3 hours. Remove tea bag. Pitcher of tea.

My mom would sun brew tea. I grew up in Florida. She'd take one of those Mt. Olive giant pickle jars and set it out in the sun for a few hours on the porch.

I like Turkish apple tea hot, but I don't really drink other tea hot generally. I use the tea to slow my system down (as I'm doing now.) I have a J pouch and when I get pouchitis (inflammation of the pouch that acts as my colon) I can't keep food or liquids in my system. For some reason, the tea helps calm it down a bit, stop bleeding and reduce diarrhea. It did the same when I had my colon and was fighting UC. I almost exclusively drink water or tea.

Cold brewed tea is great! It has noticeably less tannin tasting, if I know I want tea in the future I generally cold brew c: especially nice if you like making different kinds of syrups!
- Isn’t knowing you want tea in the future just always though?

do british people not have arizona iced tea?

Takes 1 minute 30 seconds for my induction top to boil water

induction top
So enchanted. Got it.
Doesn't it depend on the amount of water?
- No. If that thing ever ends up running in the ocean, we will all die

Trolling the British level: expert

nah, it's just practical.
every time i make tea, i have to wait because it's too hot. and then i forget about it, so it's tepid when i remember. but by then i'm committed so i'm used to just drinking tepid tea now.
plus, it keeps my sour milk from curdling
- I have a kettle with a temperature setting that solved this problem for me. It can also maintain the temperature electronically, but I've usually give through a liter before it has a chance to cool much.

Now we need to get the South Asians and East Asians fighting about putting milk in tea.

I went to a Thai restaurant and they said, "Milk?" And I made a disgust face. A good Thai dude at another table said, "It's not western milk." And I tried it.
Wow.
Then he said, "Try it on toast." And fuck me. Another wow!
This. It's so sweet and good.
- Ooo condensed milk is also great with coffee and is how you make Vietnamese coffee!
  Alternatively, if you prefer tea, Hong Kong milk tea uses black tea and condensed milk too.
- Omg we always had this in the 80s instead of cream and I’m never going back. It is Western milk.
- As someone who's lactose intolerant, I just look at that and cringe.

The best method (arguably not very energy efficient) is a Zojirushi water boiler that keeps the water hot (175F, 190F, 200F) and boils when a temperature change is detected.

It’s so nice to have if you drink a lot of tea, or as some Asian households prefer, hot vs room temp water.

It is so wrong to talk about temperatures that are near boiling using fahrenheit.
- Haha. It boils to 212F and cools down to ideal tea steeping temperatures, which is very convenient.
The Quooker tap seems like a good option. The electricity used for stand by is easily saved by not cooking more than necessary.
A kettle has a minimum amount like half a liter, which is completely wasted when you only need a cup.

Honestly if you want to boil water quickly just use a pan. Takes like 30 seconds.

That sentence you constructed. I have some opinions about it.
My kettle doesn't even boil in 30s....
- They might have an induction stove. The community housing project that owns the apartment I rent recently joined this pilot program to switch appliances from gas to electric to see how much it helped air quality and energy use in the home. It used to take me like 3 minutes to boil 2 cups of water on the stove, now that they replaced it with an induction stove it's like 30 seconds. It's amazing.
Are you boiling 50ml?

1 coffee mug/tea cup of water in the microwave for 1 minute is perfect for a single serving bag of tea. it doesn't have to be boiling, just hot. 1 min is also not long enough to dangerously superheat water. hot is water is hot water, it doesn't matter if you do it kettle or microwave.

edit: lol

No. Just no. You get shit cups of tea from coffee houses because the espresso machine doesn't dispense boiling water. The water needs to be boiling for black tea.
Also how do you microwave water? It takes ages to get water to boil in there and can explode. Use a stove if you must, buy a kettle if you can.
Also if you put a cup, teabag, and milk in the microwave at the same time I will find you, and I won't just force you to make a good cup of tea I will force you to make a perfect cup of tea that will ressurect the Queen of bloody England!
The culinary arts of my home country may be shit. But you fuckers make it worse by fucking up the most simple recipies!
- It takes ages to get water to boil in there and can explode
  Theoretically, if it's an old-style microwave without one of those rotating trays, sure. But, "exploding" requires the water to be completely undisturbed as it's heated beyond its boiling point. The smallest shake of the mug will disturb it enough that it just heats up and starts steaming/boiling normally if it gets hot.
  I use an electric kettle so that I can heat green, oolong, black and herbal teas to the appropriate temps. But, I'm not scared of microwaves causing mugs of water to explode. It's not that it's impossible, but with modern microwaves with a rotating tray it goes from extremely uncommon to just not worth thinking about.
- Also how do you microwave water? It takes ages to get water to boil in there and can explode.
  Uh, I don't use a microwave but this doesn't sound correct. My wife boils one mug of water in about 2.5 minutes in the microwave. And I'm curious to see a citation for a microwave safe mug (no metal bits or decorations) full of water exploding in the microwave.
doesn't have to be boiling
Depends on the tea.
Black generally should. Green absolutely shouldn't.
microwaves water for tea
this is why america is fucked
- The microwave melts out the microplastics tho
How tiny are your mugs

Using cold water is the quickest, most energy-efficient and convenient way to make tea. Or coffee. Or hot chocolate.

How are you making hot chocolate with cold water? Lithium mixed in with the chocolate?

How much are you making? For one single cup it’s quicker in the microwave. Just over 2 minutes. No point in heating a water kettle’s worth. Doesn’t save much time. If you’re making 2 or more cups, then the kettle’s fine.

You do not need to fill up a kettle. The less you put in it the less time it takes too.

I once had a four-year long argument with an Argentinian man who insisted you could "burn" water.

I kept on driving him to the point that not heating water to the boiling point will provide less bitter tea, yes, but you cannot burn water.

It was like pouring water on a duck's back. Hence 4 years of sustained bickering.

Edit for clarification, he would pour out water if it ever reached the boiling point because in his mind it was now permanently spoiled, burnt

Oxygen content will differ which can actually make a difference when brewing tea.
I usually don't drain my kettle but when I'm pulling out the yixing pot and good leaves, I'm using all fresh water and set the thermostat so that it'll stop well before boiling.

this is one of my favourite dumb conversations

Something something typical US circuits can deliver less power than typical Euro circuits. ~~Not a lot less though.~~ Turns out it depends, but the power rating in the EU is in theory usually about 2x that of US circuits, assuming similar current draws.

I used to own a $15 plastic electric kettle, but it died after a year or two. When I went to target to get a new (hopefully better) one, I realized I could instead buy a plug-in induction plate on sale for $50, and a plain stainless steel kettle that somehow cost only $1.50 (less than the shitty bread that I was also buying? how?). The induction plate was honestly one of the best purchases I've made in a long time. Sure, I have to wear earplugs to tolerate the high-pitched scream that the frequency driver makes, but it boils water just as well as an electric kettle and is also soooo much nicer to cook on than the resistive curlicue burners that came with my apartment.

Technology Connections did a video on this rule.
regular US outlets are 120V. regular EU outlets are 240V. P=VI, so to produce the same amount of power as a 240V kettle, a 120V kettle needs to draw twice as much current.
the gauge of a wire determines how much current it can carry without setting insulation on fire. home outlets are typically wired for 15A, around the world. so in EU, 15A service can deliver twice as much power since that's 15A of current at 240V = 3.6kW, while in the US at 120V = 1.8kW.
so EU kettles are twice as powerful, typically.
- At least here in Australia, 15A circuits are not very common. Only one of the places I've ever lived had a 15A outlet in a shed, which was likely installed by the previous owner for running a welder or plasma cutter, or some other high peak power tool like that. 3.6kW is massive overkill for general household use.
  The standard circuit here is 10A, which gives you 2.4kW to play with. It's been a while, but if I recall correctly that was part of the point Technology Connections was making - that the difference isn't actually that great between 120 and 240V countries in practice. The change to boiling time from an electric kettle was pretty inconsequential between the two.
  I believe he postulated that the real reason Americans don't have electric kettles was that they didn't have much need for them. They mostly don't drink tea, and their coffee is largely prepared using drip coffee makers that heat their own water.
- Hmm for some reason the numbers 1600 and 2000 W were rattling around my head for US and Europe respectively. I know most US appliances don't like to pull the full 15 A because that's when the breaker trips, but that would scale roughly the same for Europe so the power ratio should still be as you describe. I guess I either was misremembering or got the EU number from an abnormally low-current circuit.
  I forgot TC did a video on this. I'll have to watch when I have the time.
Something something typical US circuits can deliver less power than typical Euro circuits. Not a lot less though.
It's a lot less. Half of what an European delivers. So your electric kettle takes twice the time
https://www.electricaltechnology.org/2025/02/americans-gas-kettles-europe-electric-kettles.html
- Yes, looks like I was misremembering some numbers like I mentioned elsewhere.
A European 15 buck plastic kettle will likely also not pull more than 1500W. And probably only hold a litre. And still be overpriced.
- Even a 10€ (sales tax already included)Kettle pulls 2200W and holds 1,7 Litres.
  I love how confidently you say wrong stuff. It's not like you could research this in one minute
  https://www.mediamarkt.de/de/product/_ok-owk-103-b-wasserkocher-weiss-2885881.html

You know if you have a metal mug and an induction stove, you could put it right on the burner. Just don't use the handle after.

Btw if you steep tea too long it turns bitter, so that's what happens if you steep it cold. It is possible though.

Of course the tea tastes different hot: cold tea is better! 😜 🧋

But does cold brew tea?
But tea made without heating the water can have botulism or other bad bacteria.
- It also will literally taste different, the same way cold brew coffee tastes different
- Do you boil everything you eat or drink? Botulism is hardly a realistic risk for tea.

I went through a coffee snob phase and got really into French Press coffee. And for that I bought an electric kettle. And its fantastic. Coffee, Tea, instant noodles. The thing is very useful. I love it.

I only microwave my water for 2 minutes.

Here I am, not even having a microwave.

I do have an electric kettle though which I need multiple times a day.

No, I’m not British.

microwaving water is plain wrong

What difference does it make?
- energy efficiency, and most importantly, vibes
Seriously, I do it every morning. You don't have to go in the other room and get distracted when waiting for the whistle and it tastes better imo. We have a stainless kettle, not sure why it tastes different. Especially if I try and speed the process. I kind of feel like it doesn't matter.
- "waiting for the whistle?" mate are you living in the 1800s or amish or something just buy a proper electric kettle
I'm surprised superheated water injuries aren't more common with all these people microwaving single cups at a time.