American Ilxors: Do you use Kettles to make tea?

I drink my tea iced, and sweet enough to give you instant diabetes.

I use a kettle. I have to make sure that the water is exactly 205 degrees when I pour it in the press pot, or else the coffee flavor crystals won't be able to find their new homes in the new order of hot liquid and my entire day will be ruined.

The 13th Floor Elevators, a band from Austin, Texas, formed as an electric jug band, featuring Tommy Hall as electric jug player. A similar revival began in the UK in the 1960s, possibly as an offshoot of the revival in the United States.[citation needed]

Oops, this is about tea. I also use the kettle to make water for tea, in the 180 degree range

Electric kettle. Mostly for coffee.

Electric kettle for me.

I used a kettle on the stovetop for those rare times I'd make tea.

Then I married an Australian, whose mother occasionally visits and prefers to make her coffee with an electric kettle. So now I use that when I need it, but mostly it stays unplugged in the corner for most of the year.

Actually, when I made hot chocolate this winter, I'd use the Keurig without a cup.

stovetop kettle tho i've v nearly gotten an electric on a number of occasions

Once you get the electric you can't go back. The water is 118F...now it's 121F! How did I live before knowing this??

The electric ones don't seem to be any faster than the stove kettles, which may have more to do with the 120/240 volt difference.

Electric ones don't whistle a song of their people when they're done either.

Update: it's 139 now

Dang, mine's not that fancy. It won't even turn itself off when the water boils.

It's just a cultural difference, but it was weird for me to visit Australian relatives and have them pull out this steampunk contraption to make coffee.

I mean, yeah, I guess they've never heard of Joe DiMaggio either except for that one song.

A Nice Cup of Tea
By George Orwell
Evening Standard, 12 January 1946.

If you look up 'tea' in the first cookery book that comes to hand you will probably find that it is unmentioned; or at most you will find a few lines of sketchy instructions which give no ruling on several of the most important points.

This is curious, not only because tea is one of the main stays of civilization in this country, as well as in Eire, Australia and New Zealand, but because the best manner of making it is the subject of violent disputes.

When I look through my own recipe for the perfect cup of tea, I find no fewer than eleven outstanding points. On perhaps two of them there would be pretty general agreement, but at least four others are acutely controversial. Here are my own eleven rules, every one of which I regard as golden:

First of all, one should use Indian or Ceylonese tea. China tea has virtues which are not to be despised nowadays — it is economical, and one can drink it without milk — but there is not much stimulation in it. One does not feel wiser, braver or more optimistic after drinking it. Anyone who has used that comforting phrase 'a nice cup of tea' invariably means Indian tea.

Secondly, tea should be made in small quantities — that is, in a teapot. Tea out of an urn is always tasteless, while army tea, made in a cauldron, tastes of grease and whitewash. The teapot should be made of china or earthenware. Silver or Britanniaware teapots produce inferior tea and enamel pots are worse; though curiously enough a pewter teapot (a rarity nowadays) is not so bad.

Thirdly, the pot should be warmed beforehand. This is better done by placing it on the hob than by the usual method of swilling it out with hot water.

Fourthly, the tea should be strong. For a pot holding a quart, if you are going to fill it nearly to the brim, six heaped teaspoons would be about right. In a time of rationing, this is not an idea that can be realized on every day of the week, but I maintain that one strong cup of tea is better than twenty weak ones. All true tea lovers not only like their tea strong, but like it a little stronger with each year that passes — a fact which is recognized in the extra ration issued to old-age pensioners.

Fifthly, the tea should be put straight into the pot. No strainers, muslin bags or other devices to imprison the tea. In some countries teapots are fitted with little dangling baskets under the spout to catch the stray leaves, which are supposed to be harmful. Actually one can swallow tea-leaves in considerable quantities without ill effect, and if the tea is not loose in the pot it never infuses properly.

Sixthly, one should take the teapot to the kettle and not the other way about. The water should be actually boiling at the moment of impact, which means that one should keep it on the flame while one pours. Some people add that one should only use water that has been freshly brought to the boil, but I have never noticed that it makes any difference.

Seventhly, after making the tea, one should stir it, or better, give the pot a good shake, afterwards allowing the leaves to settle.

Eighthly, one should drink out of a good breakfast cup — that is, the cylindrical type of cup, not the flat, shallow type. The breakfast cup holds more, and with the other kind one's tea is always half cold before one has well started on it.

Ninthly, one should pour the cream off the milk before using it for tea. Milk that is too creamy always gives tea a sickly taste.

Tenthly, one should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed in every family in Britain there are probably two schools of thought on the subject. The milk-first school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable. This is that, by putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round.

Lastly, tea — unless one is drinking it in the Russian style — should be drunk without sugar. I know very well that I am in a minority here. But still, how can you call yourself a true tealover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt. Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter. If you sweeten it, you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make a very similar drink by dissolving sugar in plain hot water.

Some people would answer that they don't like tea in itself, that they only drink it in order to be warmed and stimulated, and they need sugar to take the taste away. To those misguided people I would say: Try drinking tea without sugar for, say, a fortnight and it is very unlikely that you will ever want to ruin your tea by sweetening it again.

These are not the only controversial points to arise in connexion with tea drinking, but they are sufficient to show how subtilized the whole business has become. There is also the mysterious social etiquette surrounding the teapot (why is it considered vulgar to drink out of your saucer, for instance?) and much might be written about the subsidiary uses of tealeaves, such as telling fortunes, predicting the arrival of visitors, feeding rabbits, healing burns and sweeping the carpet. It is worth paying attention to such details as warming the pot and using water that is really boiling, so as to make quite sure of wringing out of one's ration the twenty good, strong cups of that two ounces, properly handled, ought to represent.

i microwave my water and i am too pretentious to even use teabags half the time (i have a spoon for looseleaf tea)

i have an electric kettle and it's very fast; like it boils the water in about a minute and a half, as opposed to 10 with my stovetop kettle, which is now on a shelf in the garage

Stove kettle, whistles and everything

be interesting to compare the orwell with commentaries on japanese tea-making ceremonies -- orwell writing it (knowingly?) as if such didn't exist tho i feel he likely knew they did, via arts & crafts movement ppl

(bernard leach had invited hamada shoji over to st ives on his own return from japan in the 1920s: japanese rituals of teaware making and tea-making were intimately folded into one another -- orwell wasn't very kindly disposed to the arts & crafts movement but also wasn't very distant from it, class-wise and politics-wise)

pity skidmore isn't with us to talk about this :(

as soon as I read that first sentence I thought how much I'd love to talk about this with Martin.

George Orwell kind of a Nazi when it came to tea, ironically.

Only thing I know about japanese tea-making ceremonies is that they always pour away he 1st cup undrunk.

My mum still does the hot water in the teapot then pour it out despite the fact it's bags she uses not leaves so it defeats the purpose and it wastes water.

Also if making it in a cup she will stir the bag in the cup ARGH.

also they put milk in my dads cup first. That is so wrong. It ends up far too often as too much or too little.

If you have milk with darjeeling you only need a splash. If it's assam or a strong builders tea you need more.

the handy thing for me re tea protocols of all and various stripe is i hate tea so i can ignore everyone one

But I bet you still know how to make it for friends and family.

Milk in the cup first is correct. Prevents cup staining.

But it doesn't prevent it staining

I am American, I drink tea every morning, and I use a kettle. I drink it with soy milk and I would never pour the milk before the tea.

how I handle mug staining: I wash them

Why Only Fascists Wash Their Mugs
George Orwell
Evening Standard, 6 April 1944

Bonavita electric kettle. I was also given a Breville automatic tea maker that's pretty awesome but it's still easier to just use the electric kettle.

i use a saucepan (for coffee anyway)

even my anglophilic mom who is absolutely obsessed with old english shit has upgraded from stove kettle to electric

Oops, this is about tea. I also use the kettle to make water for tea, in the 180 degree range

― Karl Malone, Saturday, 11 March 2017 16:02 (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Let's get one thing straight buck

In a poll about tea, water is steam at 180 degrees

U clear now?

American Ilxors: Do you use Kettles to make tea?

Kettle electric.

Teapot stainless steel.

Water poured scalding hot onto bags (one per mug and one for the pot) and then onto the stove top until the bags develop sentient thought and pop out to remind you that the tea is now ready

Three sugars, added to mug with milk in advance.

The whistle in the morning is for instant espresso, Cafe Bustelo usually. The whistle in the evening is for tea, any kind of tea.

i do not make or drink tea

microwave

can't imagine ever buying a kettle

didn't we just do this

You're thinking of POLL: ILX Puts the Kettle On. As polls go, they are fraternal, not identical, twins.

US electrical mains are rated about 100 V lower than those in the UK, which is why US kettles come to a boil slowly enough that we might as well just use granny stovetop kettles (which I do).

lol @ microwaves

American and use a stovetop kettle -- I put the kettle on, go outside and smoke a cigarette, come back in, water is ready for tea

i tell the replicator 'tea, earl grey, hot'

xxpost A decent explanation of this phenomenon.

electric kettle is the way to go

ours is still rocking after like 13 years

American, rare but occasional tea drinker, electric kettle. I intend to brew a cuppa right now, bcz of this thread.

personally, I don't see a reason to devote one of the precious few electrical outlets in my kitchen to a kettle, when I have a perfectly serviceable stove and stovetop kettles can be come by at the thrift store for $2. Being able to make tea during an electrical outage was a proud moment in my life.

I want one of the fancy electric kettles that will heat water to the right temperature for green tea and opposed to letting it boil and then cool

i am here to make the case that there are times that we must allow the bastards to grind you down and this is very definitely one of them

also imo if you dont drink yr coffee before it gets cold you forfeit

where were you guys when i was describing my aeropress re-use experiment on the coffee thread lol, the way-too-precious crowd were stomping all over me

tmfd from HFW there

I just chew on leaves and then drink from a hot spring

heraclitus: you can never drink from the same hot spring twice
me: well now…

I suppose all this bravado about small differences in how we prepare our beverages of choice is miles better than spending the same mental energy quarreling about theological minutiae, which people used to do endlessly in the Good Old Days. We still get to condemn members of the alternate sects to hell, but it's much less likely to inspire bloodshed, he said cheerfully.

i am a coffee and tea reheater and i’m not afraid to say it

in fact i really don’t think you love coffee or tea that much if you’re not willing to crawl over broken glass as it were, to consume a substandard version, just in order to prolong your time with it

tea is still nice when it's cold, in fact that's a beverage in itself... no need to reheat

I have one of those plug-in mug warmers but no space to use it at the moment. Also kinda scared of it.

what do we think about making a black tea first thing and leaving the bag in and drinking 3/4 of it and then making an orange cinnamon tea for dessert or with breakfast and doing the same thing, then adding the two contents together and topping up with boiling water for a blend

we think that's ok

Anyone else sometimes steep unground coffee beans like a tea?

i am a coffee and tea reheater and i’m not afraid to say it

in fact i really don’t think you love coffee or tea that much if you’re not willing to crawl over broken glass as it were, to consume a substandard version, just in order to prolong your time with it

cold coffee is fine, especially the way I make it using freeze dried coffee powder with added drop of honey and pinch of sweet cinnamon. Fucking sophistication.

honestly if I couldn't reheat I would be making upwards of 15 cups per day, it always gets left somewhere.

i am a coffee and tea reheater and i’m not afraid to say it

in fact i really don’t think you love coffee or tea that much if you’re not willing to crawl over broken glass as it were, to consume a substandard version, just in order to prolong your time with it

― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 25 January 2024 19:36 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

rcr hand

honestly if I couldn't reheat I would be making upwards of 15 cups per day, it always gets left somewhere.

That is a normal amount of tea to drink without reheating.

How is a cooled drink the same entity ito enjoyment…

there's some vague studies hinting that hot fluids increase esophageal cancer risks but these are presumably from populations that enjoy their tea scorching.

Damn ya’ll be moseying and dawdling through your beverage-drinking lives. The sign of a true coffee-tea lover is getting just one sip and then sucking down the sweet nectar as quickly as you can.

Cold tea is not a real beverage, as it’s either just sugar syrup with tea flavouring (children’s drink), or it’s the most bitter, nasty concoction this world can produce. If you take it the last way, you have my respect, but it’s more a bitter broth than beverage at that point.

I’d also like to retroactively add myself to the mark s pile-on. Reusing coffee grounds is the biggest crime mentioned in this thread

sucking down the sweet nectar as quickly as you can

with a lump of sugar in your teeth, hopefully

The amount of sugar you put in your coffee or tea is directly proportional to how much you dislike coffee or tea. They’re perfect as they are, get your sugar fix elsewhere imo

mostly agree, but I do add a little turbinado to my 'cafe americano' which I make with a bialetti moka pot, but that's for another thread

If you’re drinking black and it’s just a dash, I’ve got some wiggle room for my above proposed law

Totally use an electric kettle but am also a tea dawdler and apostate who leaves the teabag in the cup and either drinks the cold tea, nukes the cold tea, or adds more boiling water to the cold tea. All several times every day - I probably get the equivalent of 4 cups of tea, all with that same sad teabag.

One time I was introduced to a "Cuban espresso" where you put a teaspoon of raw or brown sugar on top of the grounds before tamping. I'm usually a no-sugar guy but that can be a great pick-me-up (e.g. when hungover). Having the sugar in the extraction process alters what comes out of the coffee grounds as well. I'm sure Alfred will raise an eyebrow and tell me it's no more Cuban than Ron DeSantis' boot heels, but I'm ignorant.

Wait what, no, for a cubano you put the sugar in a little metal creamer and then you add a few drops of brewed coffee to it and you mix that up into a light brown slush. Then you add the rest of the brewed coffee and stir it up.

How dare you all use my beautiful thread to discuss ewww coffee! I blame you Sinker!

I am drinking tea right now, electric kettle, two tea bags in 12oz mug, Rington's Gold

Rington's tea is really nice.

i am drinking a “first flush” darjeeling blend

I love the rington's instant coffee! Haven't had the tea but I don't really drink tea.

But the instant coffee is the best I've had. I have it at home for if I run out of the real stuff.

I'm sad because the US distributor for Rington's is kaput... I'm going to Newcastle in April so I can stock up then but what will I do next year?!?

My Dad loved Rington's coffee. There's a near half empty jar there and with him just passing away (funeral was yesterday) I dunno if it will get used as my mum doesn't really drink coffee and I don't like it at all. He loved the smell of it especially.

Wait I had no idea ^ was who you are until you just said that. I'm very sorry about your dad, K.

Thanks ENBB

I'm drinking a big mux of Twinings Strong Breakfast Tea (pyramid loose leaf teabags) right now.

My Dad loved Rooibos tea. Because there was no caffeine in it the cardiac doctors said he could drink as much of it as he wanted over the last 20 years despite having heart failure. He did. His heart stayed strong til the end too. It was sepsis (which he had beaten before) that got him.

Next time you guys have a tea or a coffee, you can toast him. He loved his tea and coffee.

Raising a mug to his memory right now. My condolences to you and yours, 7th

really sorry about that news - just copped the new username too

Just made a fresh cup... cheers to your dad!

Raising one up to him now

my go-to black tea is just Trader Joe's irish breakfast - round bags, no string
God only knows who makes it but it's pretty solid everyday tea

I'm also a fan of rooibos anytime after noon but despite it's non-stimulant claims, I sometimes get wired on it -- anyone else get revved up on rooibos?

yes me because it is so effin good

I'm gonna start salting my tea because I'm annoyed by how much attention this story is receving

Josefa apparently you can do the Cubano either way. I find it easier to tamp down the sugar on the coffee, and I think it improves the extraction that way ...

To comply with thread etiquette I will agree that rooibos is the shit, very pleasant tea.

xp I'll keep that under advisement. I only have a Moka pot so I can't do it that way.