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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/11138800
An American scientist has sparked a trans-Atlantic tempest in a teapot by offering Britain advice on its favorite hot beverage.
Bryn Mawr College chemistry professor Michelle Francl says one of the keys to a perfect cup of tea is a pinch of salt. The tip is included in Francl’s book “Steeped: The Chemistry of Tea,” published Wednesday by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Not since the Boston Tea Party has mixing tea with salt water roiled the Anglo-American relationship so much.
The salt suggestion drew howls of outrage from tea-lovers in Britain, where popular stereotype sees Americans as coffee-swilling boors who make tea, if at all, in the microwave.
…
The U.S. Embassy in London intervened in the brewing storm with a social media post reassuring “the good people of the U.K. that the unthinkable notion of adding salt to Britain’s national drink is not official United States policy.”
As an American that also uses a kettle the occasional times I make tea, is it that they think the microwave is unhealthy, or just that a kettle is better. Because I know with the kettle I can set the temp, and from what I understand some teas are better brewed at different temps. With the microwave, you kinda just have boil.
The microwave is literally faster if you’re just making one cup of tea. Why should I sit around for a whole kettle to boil if I can just microwave one cup for two minutes? Plus it’s already in the container you’re going to drink it out of. Absolutely silly.
You don’t fill the whole kettle, do you?
Just full it to minimum for a single cup.
12 seconds from my water filter.
I have an electric kettle of ~1.6L capacity. I fill it with the minimum 0.5L and it boils in less than a minute.
If you’re using a stove kettle, I understand why Microwaves can be faster, but outright saying so is a bit of an exaggeration.
Two minutes. It takes less than that to boil water in a kettle.
What kettle are you using?
They’re probably using a stovetop kettle with too much water instead of an electric kettle.
You don’t fill a whole kettle, you just put in the water you need.
British kettles legitimately boil faster than ones stateside because of our higher mains electricity voltage. A quick boil kettle in the UK is far quicker than a standard domestic microwave.
Edit: I just timed my kettle (I was craving a cuppa anyway); one cup of water, 53 seconds. I bet your microwave can’t top that (mine certainly can’t).
In the UK they have proper electricity in domestic properties and kettles boil quickly…