No we did, it was good tea. That's what made the message clear, the value being sacrificed. The popular American predilection for tea up until after the Townshend Acts was well documented by de Tocqueville. It was only after that drinking tea was considered "unpatriotic". Before then we would even eat boiled tea leaves with butter as a side dish. We were mad about the stuff, but as a colony we were only allowed to buy British tea. It was a whole thing.
Anyway I've had an electric kettle for ages. It's more common in Asian-American households perhaps. We didn't fit in that well in the states, so we went back to the UK. Now I only buy British tea again. Full circle.
My family (American) did drink a lot of tea. Surprise surprise, we had a kettle. I did not die of old age from the cumulative weight of all that waiting.
Not sure what you mean. Americans do brew hot coffee, but they generally don't use a kettle to brew it. Hand-brewing methods like pour over are a very recent trend here. In my experience growing up, the vast majority of households used an electric drip coffee machine, or a stovetop percolator before they had electricity. Even now, when pour over and the aeropress are starting to get popular, I'd wager that a vast majority of households are still using a machine - either a drip machine or one of those pod machines - rather than a brewing method that requires a kettle.
Edit: found some stats on American home coffee brewing. Among Americans who brew coffee at home, 48% tend to use a drip machine, and 29% use a pod machine, neither of which requires a kettle. If we assume the entire pour over (5%) and French press (5%) market owns a kettle, and that the entire "other" category (6%) owns a kettle (which seems very generous), that's still only 16% of home coffee drinkers using a kettle. (Another 7% use an espresso machine or percolator, and I think the last 1% was lost to rounding.)
Drip machines make worse coffee and are more of a hassle than just dumping hot water into the filter holder all at once so I'll chalk it up to abysmal US coffee culture combined with consumerism, then.
Our grid uses the same voltages as Europe. Our houses even generally receive 240V from the line. It's just that we went with 120V for most appliances and electronics for some reason.
I'd also argue a lot of Americans technically do have electric kettles, and they just don't realize it because they're advertised as coffee makers. It's not ideal, but you can definitely use a drip coffee machine to boil water, and it'll still be faster than a stove.
Unfortunately for every tea drinker in an American hotel, most coffee makers (at least the drip kind) will make any water boiled inside taste like coffee, unless they've been used exclusively for plain boiled water. Maybe a combo tea/coffee drinker wouldn't mind, but I've always found it intolerable.
But it's a good point about the grid - we have plenty of appliances for coffee that are principally glorified water boilers, and there's no evidence that our appliance voltage has hampered their popularity at all.
As a combo tea/coffee drink, it tastes horrible. Nobody wants tea flavored coffee or coffee flavored tea. Although you usually don't get tea flavored coffee in those hotel drip makers, but only because the grounds they use are shit tier quality and taste too burnt to even get tea flavors.
it really doesn't. european houses generally receive 400V from the line, split into 3 220V phases. you guys get two 120V phases that are fully phase-shifted, rather than 120° offset, and you bridge two phases to get 240 for heavy appliances.
You get 3-phase in the US if you live in a large apartment complex. Especially if it has an elevator. Since this combines to get 208V, the math works out to making your 240V stove only 75% of what it should be.
For residential use, split phase is fine. We just run the two legs to get 240V on the specific things that need it. That's generally electric stoves, water heaters, AC unit, electric dryer, and more recently, EV chargers. 3-phase is great when you're driving something that spins with a high draw, and of those, only the AC unit does that (electric dryers spend most of their electricity heating, not spinning).
Edison distributed +-110V DC against neutral, three wires, your AC system was designed to use those exact wires, then you expanded that compromise to the whole continent.
Europe in the beginning also had those small insular installations with odd systems but once it came to actually hooking up whole countries everyone opted for three-phase because it's the most sensible option. Whether or not the distribution network itself uses three conductors (just the phases) or four (plus neutral, or combined earth+neutral) differs quite wildly. Train electricity is still a clusterfuck.
Pretty much every person I know in Canada has an electric kettle and every single office I've worked in has one, my kitchen has 15a outlets which is still 1800W. I have a simple gooseneck kettle that I usw mainly for coffee, it's only 1kW and holds around 750ml, it's not blisteringly fast but it's boiled before I've ground my coffee.
The whole "120v is holding us back from having kettles" is way overblown (technology connections has a video on electric kettles).
1800W are not out of the ordinary for water cookers in Europe but that's definitely on the weak side. 3000 to 3200 is usually the maximum, probably because pulling the full 3600W would drastically increase the chances of tripping a fuse. My food processor is 600W and I might want to make a coffee while kneading dough.
Have to drop the US number by 20% for continuous loads like a kettle would be.
That said, US homes built in the last 40 years or so tend to have a lot of separate circuits in the kitchen. My house has one for the fridge, one for the disposal, one for the dishwasher, one for the lights that's shared with lights in adjacent areas, stove has its own 240V outlet, and then one for all the other plugs. If I ran the microwave and a kettle and a mixer all at once, I'd probably still trip it, but that's a lot of multitasking going on.
If kettles were continuous loads we'd have to reduce from 16A to 10A (2200W) or 8A (1800W). Schuko are rated for as little as 1h of 16A but for a kettle that's plenty, they're done in a minute or two.
German stoves are connected to at least 2x10A, newer installations (as in since the 70s or such) all provide 3x16A. Not actually three-phase they're still 220V appliances. Whether the outlets, light etc. are on different phases differs widely.
That's not true and also it's not the reason. We just don't drink a lot of tea. There's not a huge reason to own an electric kettle unless you're drinking a lot of tea. It's still much faster than a stovetop kettle.
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.)
I think this is the largest reason right here. People are naturally going to reserve their limited counter space for the stuff they use daily. For Americans, that's more likely to be some kind of coffee maker than an electric kettle.
Growing up where I did, I knew a lot of families that regularly made iced tea. But they usually made a gallon at a time, once or twice a week, and still drank coffee every day - so they had counter top coffee makers, and stovetop kettles that could be stored away the rest of the week.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
I don't need the burner space most of the time, compared to the counter space. Plus, like I said, it looks better, so the aesthetics justify the cost. I agree the boil time is a problem, but it's a small price to pay for clear counters. It's starts with a kettle. Then you have a toaster, and an air fryer and a coffee grinder and a coffee machine and before you know it your house is 37% counter appliances by mass. The only option is to be an extremist.
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.
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.
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.
I loved sun tea growing up, sit your jug out there early when the day is really warming up and by the afternoon you could have a nice icy glass of sweet tea.
Supposedly it's a bit dangerous because the water doesn't get hot enough to kill any bacteria that would be on the bags or something. "Refrigerator Tea" is apparently a thing now but I haven't given it a shot, maybe I will soon, Cold brew coffee is ok, maybe coldbrew tea is great also.
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?
The power is not why Americans don't own electric kettles (well some do but most don't). It's still faster to boil water from an electric kettle than on the stove. Americans don't own electric kettles because they don't drink much tea.
By and large Americans hear "kettle" and think a metal can with a handle and a spout that you put on a stove (aka range aka cooker aka hob) which is used to heat the water inside. Often with a whistle over the spout so you can hear it boiling.
Electric kettles are not the norm although I will say they seem to be catching on a bit. I own a couple now and I've seen them at some small restaurants. But I would say in terms of heating water, in the US it goes, microwave, stove kettle, electric kettle, custom 190°F tap
Even with underpowered 110v an electric kettle still boils water faster than a stovetop IME. Still only a few minutes difference but it's a difference.
Yeah I saw that comment elsewhere. I have to assume kettle/stove material/design/etc have some impact as well. Honestly, I trust TC so I'll defer to them, I need to watch the video.
edit: yeah his testing is in-line with my experience, electric kettles are just faster.
It's not even really about speed. My induction stovetop boils water much much faster than my kettle, but I use the kettle because it can be used unattended, go to a specific temperature, and hold a temperature.
My cheapo countertop induction stove can be programed and has power/temp settings. I spent some time testing the temp feature and it was pretty accurate
Nah, a high power gas stove beats it in the "heat a cup of water as fast as possible with no regard to energy usage" competition, and is many areas will still cheaper because electricity is so expensive.
I mean, induction is literally only a specific kind of electric stove. I don't think I've ever actually seen or used an induction cooktop and I've had plenty of electric. They heat up an iron coil that you put the pan on, radiative/conductive heat same as a gas stove.
The crazy thing is we have 240V service to the home, but we only use it for large appliances that also use high current. My stove is induction and is one of the things plugs into 240V, and I bet it can boil a cup of water (though in a pot/pan) faster than most kettles.
There are plenty of cases where having the higher voltage in our outlets would be nice. For me it’s probably corded power tools more than kettles. But the vast majority of devices are fine either way.
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.
I don't need to drink tea at all. But if I have to sit and wait for water to boil, I just don't drink as much. Maybe it's my ADHD, but I'll just put it off and then suddenly it's the end of the day.
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.
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.
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?
Microwave magnetron efficiency is around 65%. Since a kettle turns electricity directly into heat, it's basically 100% efficient.
A caveat is that microwaves will heat water directly and won't lose as much to its surroundings. This is similar to why induction stoves are more efficient; they're less efficient on paper than direct electric heating or burning gas, but they heat the thing you want in a more direct way.
Even so, a microwave isn't great for this task. If you're short on space and don't want even a small travel kettle, I can see why you'd take this option. Otherwise, no.
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.
We have a Zojirushi. 120V does limit it somewhat, but it's fine.
The water in our area of country is also hard as shit. We have undersink RO now, but before then, mineral buildup in the kettle was bad. Crusted like concrete if we didn't stay on top of it.
US water softeners are usually only on the hot pipe. They tend to add sodium to the water, and it's not recommended to make it your primary drinking water source.
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.
Wow, that was a little strong given the subject. I'm not sure what I did to deserve being cussed at when I was just talking about electric kettles. Especially since I said I do use a kettle myself.
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'.
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.
Tea will taste different depending on what temperature water it's brewed in, but I can't think of any reason the water itself would be different.
e: The material of the vessel would matter. Perhaps you like the taste imbued by your kettle, which would be lacking if you heated the water directly in a mug.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
How many British Thermal Units does it require to heat one gill of water to 212F from a room temperature of 72F if you have a 1/2 horsepower electric kettle?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I didn’t bring my 3Kw UK kettle over because I heard it would probably blow the circuit. But my Australian colleague who moved back over here brought his UK toaster and it actually did blow the circuit.
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.
Not the ones I was thinking of. Great, you found a cheap kettle at mediamarkt, good for you. Here's a 1500W one, also not the one I was thinking of. I was thinking of one I once had. The one that's the reason why my current one is 3000W and wide enough to not risk tipping over.
People who buy consumer electronics at Amazon from made up Chinese throwaway brands are beyond rescue.
They don't care if their products are unsafe because they will never face consequences.
You can't even be sure if the material is food grade.
MediaMarkt does, because it's their own brand and would damage their reputation and financial bottom line
No argument from me there but when I bought that 1500W kettle Amazon was still a book shop. I'm not saying that 15 Euro were a good price but it's what I think REWE (as in the supermarket, do they still use that brand for physical stores?) sold it to me for because I couldn't be arsed to make a trek into the city to visit a proper appliance store.
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.
Magnetrons are a lot less efficient than magnetic induction (which most modern electric kettles use). Magnetic induction is about 90% efficient at converting electricity to heat in the vessel, whereas the most efficient microwaves are about 60% efficient at converting electricity to microwaves.
Theoretically it should be the most energy efficient method. You're transferring all the energy directly into the water molecules, not heating up a container and hoping that heat transfers to the water.
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.
I just mean an electric kettle and not a stovetop one they're faster smaller don't take a hob and they're literally cheaper there is literally no reason whatsoever to use a non electric kettle
I looked them up and have never seen one or seen anyone use them that I've noticed. Maybe at events? Is it faster than 2 minutes? Because that's how long it takes for me to get the exact temp I need in the microwave.
if you put in just one mug of water yeah like 30 seconds but it can also boil the entire kettle full in like 3 minutes so you don't have to wait 15 minutes every time you want boiling water to cook with
Ahhh, that makes more sense. I wasn't picking up why you thought it was better. It's not the cup of tea in the morning, it's the boiling of a pot of water. Thanks for explaining it..
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?
Cultural taste can change over time for various reasons. Tea has been inherently traditional to many countries, not as much to others.
We dumped that tea into the Boston Harbor because we didn't want that crap.
No we did, it was good tea. That's what made the message clear, the value being sacrificed. The popular American predilection for tea up until after the Townshend Acts was well documented by de Tocqueville. It was only after that drinking tea was considered "unpatriotic". Before then we would even eat boiled tea leaves with butter as a side dish. We were mad about the stuff, but as a colony we were only allowed to buy British tea. It was a whole thing.
Anyway I've had an electric kettle for ages. It's more common in Asian-American households perhaps. We didn't fit in that well in the states, so we went back to the UK. Now I only buy British tea again. Full circle.
we asian muricans use those kettles for instant ramen lol
Tea, instant ramen, oatmeal, eggs, electric kettles are awesome and really convenient.
ngl there's a tea from Cornwall that is my absolute favorite black tea now
They do things right out in Cornwall. We were vacationing at lands end when storm Henk made landfall, it was memorable to say the least.
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.
Great video on this from technology connections. tl;dr it takes more time, but not, like, that much more. We mostly just don't have a huge tea-drinking culture here.
My family (American) did drink a lot of tea. Surprise surprise, we had a kettle. I did not die of old age from the cumulative weight of all that waiting.
Not yet. Just you wait.
chronic exposure to time dramatically increases your chances of getting terminally old.
...you don't brew your coffee hot?
Not sure what you mean. Americans do brew hot coffee, but they generally don't use a kettle to brew it. Hand-brewing methods like pour over are a very recent trend here. In my experience growing up, the vast majority of households used an electric drip coffee machine, or a stovetop percolator before they had electricity. Even now, when pour over and the aeropress are starting to get popular, I'd wager that a vast majority of households are still using a machine - either a drip machine or one of those pod machines - rather than a brewing method that requires a kettle.
Edit: found some stats on American home coffee brewing. Among Americans who brew coffee at home, 48% tend to use a drip machine, and 29% use a pod machine, neither of which requires a kettle. If we assume the entire pour over (5%) and French press (5%) market owns a kettle, and that the entire "other" category (6%) owns a kettle (which seems very generous), that's still only 16% of home coffee drinkers using a kettle. (Another 7% use an espresso machine or percolator, and I think the last 1% was lost to rounding.)
Drip machines make worse coffee and are more of a hassle than just dumping hot water into the filter holder all at once so I'll chalk it up to abysmal US coffee culture combined with consumerism, then.
So why does Japan at 100V have electric kettles everywhere? It's a cultural reason not the electrical grid.
good point! i don't know much about their grid, only that it's 50Hz in the west and 60Hz in the east.
I've never heard of anywhere in US using 50Hz and I've lived on the West Coast my whole life.
that may be because we were talking about japan!
I love that you've come into a discussion about Japan's electrical grid and still assumed that the conversation is about America.
I mean, the conversation started about America's electric grid. It was ambiguous from context.
Not that East and West, the East and West.
Our grid uses the same voltages as Europe. Our houses even generally receive 240V from the line. It's just that we went with 120V for most appliances and electronics for some reason.
I'd also argue a lot of Americans technically do have electric kettles, and they just don't realize it because they're advertised as coffee makers. It's not ideal, but you can definitely use a drip coffee machine to boil water, and it'll still be faster than a stove.
Unfortunately for every tea drinker in an American hotel, most coffee makers (at least the drip kind) will make any water boiled inside taste like coffee, unless they've been used exclusively for plain boiled water. Maybe a combo tea/coffee drinker wouldn't mind, but I've always found it intolerable.
But it's a good point about the grid - we have plenty of appliances for coffee that are principally glorified water boilers, and there's no evidence that our appliance voltage has hampered their popularity at all.
As a combo tea/coffee drink, it tastes horrible. Nobody wants tea flavored coffee or coffee flavored tea. Although you usually don't get tea flavored coffee in those hotel drip makers, but only because the grounds they use are shit tier quality and taste too burnt to even get tea flavors.
it really doesn't. european houses generally receive 400V from the line, split into 3 220V phases. you guys get two 120V phases that are fully phase-shifted, rather than 120° offset, and you bridge two phases to get 240 for heavy appliances.
It's mostly for commercial installations, but you can get 3-phase 480V here if you want it.
I don't think this has much to do with the grid, though. It's more that we started with 120V appliances, so that's what we built our homes to support.
You get 3-phase in the US if you live in a large apartment complex. Especially if it has an elevator. Since this combines to get 208V, the math works out to making your 240V stove only 75% of what it should be.
For residential use, split phase is fine. We just run the two legs to get 240V on the specific things that need it. That's generally electric stoves, water heaters, AC unit, electric dryer, and more recently, EV chargers. 3-phase is great when you're driving something that spins with a high draw, and of those, only the AC unit does that (electric dryers spend most of their electricity heating, not spinning).
Edison distributed +-110V DC against neutral, three wires, your AC system was designed to use those exact wires, then you expanded that compromise to the whole continent.
Europe in the beginning also had those small insular installations with odd systems but once it came to actually hooking up whole countries everyone opted for three-phase because it's the most sensible option. Whether or not the distribution network itself uses three conductors (just the phases) or four (plus neutral, or combined earth+neutral) differs quite wildly. Train electricity is still a clusterfuck.
Pretty much every person I know in Canada has an electric kettle and every single office I've worked in has one, my kitchen has 15a outlets which is still 1800W. I have a simple gooseneck kettle that I usw mainly for coffee, it's only 1kW and holds around 750ml, it's not blisteringly fast but it's boiled before I've ground my coffee.
The whole "120v is holding us back from having kettles" is way overblown (technology connections has a video on electric kettles).
1800W are not out of the ordinary for water cookers in Europe but that's definitely on the weak side. 3000 to 3200 is usually the maximum, probably because pulling the full 3600W would drastically increase the chances of tripping a fuse. My food processor is 600W and I might want to make a coffee while kneading dough.
Have to drop the US number by 20% for continuous loads like a kettle would be.
That said, US homes built in the last 40 years or so tend to have a lot of separate circuits in the kitchen. My house has one for the fridge, one for the disposal, one for the dishwasher, one for the lights that's shared with lights in adjacent areas, stove has its own 240V outlet, and then one for all the other plugs. If I ran the microwave and a kettle and a mixer all at once, I'd probably still trip it, but that's a lot of multitasking going on.
If kettles were continuous loads we'd have to reduce from 16A to 10A (2200W) or 8A (1800W). Schuko are rated for as little as 1h of 16A but for a kettle that's plenty, they're done in a minute or two.
German stoves are connected to at least 2x10A, newer installations (as in since the 70s or such) all provide 3x16A. Not actually three-phase they're still 220V appliances. Whether the outlets, light etc. are on different phases differs widely.
not true, that's a myth
That's not true and also it's not the reason. We just don't drink a lot of tea. There's not a huge reason to own an electric kettle unless you're drinking a lot of tea. It's still much faster than a stovetop kettle.
It's still just a few minutes. Don't heat up more water than you are going to use.
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.)
I think this is the largest reason right here. People are naturally going to reserve their limited counter space for the stuff they use daily. For Americans, that's more likely to be some kind of coffee maker than an electric kettle.
Growing up where I did, I knew a lot of families that regularly made iced tea. But they usually made a gallon at a time, once or twice a week, and still drank coffee every day - so they had counter top coffee makers, and stovetop kettles that could be stored away the rest of the week.
I had a dedicated saucepan to make iced tea to ensure my tea only tasted like tea.
I guess I’m surprised, I’m in Canada so expected we’d be very similar.
But you also have garbage disposals and I’ve never seen one here.
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
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.
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.
Was... Was that an euphemism?
Is that weird? I would assume snakes wouldn’t want to eat a frozen mouse.
It was not.
Not the poster you're responding to by my spouse has snakes and uses our kettle to boil water to thaw out their mice
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
I don't need the burner space most of the time, compared to the counter space. Plus, like I said, it looks better, so the aesthetics justify the cost. I agree the boil time is a problem, but it's a small price to pay for clear counters. It's starts with a kettle. Then you have a toaster, and an air fryer and a coffee grinder and a coffee machine and before you know it your house is 37% counter appliances by mass. The only option is to be an extremist.
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 just start the kettle first, by the time I've got my mug and tea all gathered up the water is ready.
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.
I loved sun tea growing up, sit your jug out there early when the day is really warming up and by the afternoon you could have a nice icy glass of sweet tea.
Supposedly it's a bit dangerous because the water doesn't get hot enough to kill any bacteria that would be on the bags or something. "Refrigerator Tea" is apparently a thing now but I haven't given it a shot, maybe I will soon, Cold brew coffee is ok, maybe coldbrew tea is great also.
Southern US is the best place for developing new methods to kill yourself in delightful ways.
I usually use my kettle to make coffee (handfiltered/pour-over).
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).
Idk anyone else who has one but im also in the US and have had an electric kettle for at least 10 years. Its pretty handy sometimes
The US just keeps surprising me
We also have machines in our kitchen sink drains to chop up food so it will go down it
That apparently fascinates the fuck out of Brits
UK here. Everyone has an electric kettle, even those aged 80+. They're seen as a household essential.
We have a whistle kettle. It's just as fast and prettier. Although definitely less efficient.
If you use on an induction stove, it's probably more efficient
I've only used one once and it was an old model, absolutely hated it. Although I've heard they're great now.
why are you expecting the UK to not use kettles?
Yeah in hindsight that was foolish haha
US still has residential power from the last century
The power is not why Americans don't own electric kettles (well some do but most don't). It's still faster to boil water from an electric kettle than on the stove. Americans don't own electric kettles because they don't drink much tea.
Or use a French press for coffee, apparently.
I actually own a kettle because I use an aeropress for coffee but most Americans make coffee with a coffeemaker.
By and large Americans hear "kettle" and think a metal can with a handle and a spout that you put on a stove (aka range aka cooker aka hob) which is used to heat the water inside. Often with a whistle over the spout so you can hear it boiling.
Electric kettles are not the norm although I will say they seem to be catching on a bit. I own a couple now and I've seen them at some small restaurants. But I would say in terms of heating water, in the US it goes, microwave, stove kettle, electric kettle, custom 190°F tap
US has 110 voltage that can't run a kettle for shit
Even with underpowered 110v an electric kettle still boils water faster than a stovetop IME. Still only a few minutes difference but it's a difference.
Technology Connections tested that
Yeah I saw that comment elsewhere. I have to assume kettle/stove material/design/etc have some impact as well. Honestly, I trust TC so I'll defer to them, I need to watch the video.
edit: yeah his testing is in-line with my experience, electric kettles are just faster.
It's not even really about speed. My induction stovetop boils water much much faster than my kettle, but I use the kettle because it can be used unattended, go to a specific temperature, and hold a temperature.
My cheapo countertop induction stove can be programed and has power/temp settings. I spent some time testing the temp feature and it was pretty accurate
Nah, a high power gas stove beats it in the "heat a cup of water as fast as possible with no regard to energy usage" competition, and is many areas will still cheaper because electricity is so expensive.
Gas Stoves are unhealthy and make you dumb
I'll respect electric stoves when they support ceramic pans and get hot instantly
I don't get the appeal of ceramic stove top pans but their are plenty of ceramic pans that support induction. Here is a random example
It's okay, the two red triangles next to your username indicate that there might be already some damage done
I mean, induction is literally only a specific kind of electric stove. I don't think I've ever actually seen or used an induction cooktop and I've had plenty of electric. They heat up an iron coil that you put the pan on, radiative/conductive heat same as a gas stove.
I really don't know where this myth comes from. Electric kettles run fine over here.
Comparative for you maybe, but not for those of us who've seen them run on higher current
They run fine, but basically the same as a microwave, British kettles are just magic
Microwave is gonna be at least 25% slower.
This is true, but for how often Americans boil water, it's just not worth having a dedicated device for most of them
The crazy thing is we have 240V service to the home, but we only use it for large appliances that also use high current. My stove is induction and is one of the things plugs into 240V, and I bet it can boil a cup of water (though in a pot/pan) faster than most kettles.
There are plenty of cases where having the higher voltage in our outlets would be nice. For me it’s probably corded power tools more than kettles. But the vast majority of devices are fine either way.
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.
I don't need to drink tea at all. But if I have to sit and wait for water to boil, I just don't drink as much. Maybe it's my ADHD, but I'll just put it off and then suddenly it's the end of the day.
Zojirushi does.
I got their hot water dispenser but didn't see any kettles except ones that timed out after like an hour.
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.
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.
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.
OK so the mug acts like a small pot, but isn't the handle also crazy hot then?
How about a fucking $15 electric kettle? I don't understand the need to complicate things so much.
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?
Most residential outlets in the US are going to be a 15A limit. You also have to reduce that by 20% for a continuous draw.
UK might be able to get away with the full usage because their plugs are designed to have a fuse built in. Not entirely sure on that, though.
That said, kettles are still a better option most of the time. Technology Connections has real world tests of this.
Yeah, makes sense. The statement that "half the voltage is half the power" is what started me from another reply. Then this was the next one.
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?
They don't, kettles just aren't that much more efficient at 120v. Like a kettle will still be faster, just not by enough for people to care.
Microwave magnetron efficiency is around 65%. Since a kettle turns electricity directly into heat, it's basically 100% efficient.
A caveat is that microwaves will heat water directly and won't lose as much to its surroundings. This is similar to why induction stoves are more efficient; they're less efficient on paper than direct electric heating or burning gas, but they heat the thing you want in a more direct way.
Even so, a microwave isn't great for this task. If you're short on space and don't want even a small travel kettle, I can see why you'd take this option. Otherwise, no.
Microwaves are designed to heat water molecules. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven
They are, in fact, designed to resuscitate frozen hamsters.
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.
We have a Zojirushi. 120V does limit it somewhat, but it's fine.
The water in our area of country is also hard as shit. We have undersink RO now, but before then, mineral buildup in the kettle was bad. Crusted like concrete if we didn't stay on top of it.
US water softeners are usually only on the hot pipe. They tend to add sodium to the water, and it's not recommended to make it your primary drinking water source.
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.
Wow, that was a little strong given the subject. I'm not sure what I did to deserve being cussed at when I was just talking about electric kettles. Especially since I said I do use a kettle myself.
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?
💀
Cattle
Use one of those mixing bowls that has a spout.
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.
Tea will taste different depending on what temperature water it's brewed in, but I can't think of any reason the water itself would be different.
e: The material of the vessel would matter. Perhaps you like the taste imbued by your kettle, which would be lacking if you heated the water directly in a mug.
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.
And the metre-long column of fire is just for funzies?
Sometimes people fill the chimney with burning coals to make it heat up faster, you get a good breeze across the bottom, and you get funzies.
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?
But can you ever really know you want something in the future? I think it’s more of a prediction. I predict tomorrow me will want tea
do british people not have arizona iced tea?
Takes 1 minute 30 seconds for my induction top to boil water
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
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.
Oh god Vietnamese coffee is so fucking good, it's like crack I swear.
Thai iced tea is absolutely incredible and makes use of it as well, highly recommend.
edit: I actually just had Hong Kong milk tea just last week, it was great!
As someone who's lactose intolerant, I just look at that and cringe.
Omg we always had this in the 80s instead of cream and I’m never going back. It is Western milk.
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.
your kettle kinda sounds like we need another tea party
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.
How many British Thermal Units does it require to heat one gill of water to 212F from a room temperature of 72F if you have a 1/2 horsepower electric kettle?
¯_(ツ)_/¯
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.
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?
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!
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.
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.
2.5 minutes. My microwave made a mug made of lava and water that I was able to put my finger in and only hurt a little.
I may have a shit microwave. But meat or soup it's 3 minutes and boiling no matter what.
Depends on the tea.
Black generally should. Green absolutely shouldn't.
this is why america is fucked
The microwave melts out the microplastics tho
How tiny are your mugs
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?
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.
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.
this is one of my favourite dumb conversations
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.
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.
I didn’t bring my 3Kw UK kettle over because I heard it would probably blow the circuit. But my Australian colleague who moved back over here brought his UK toaster and it actually did blow the circuit.
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.
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
Not the ones I was thinking of. Great, you found a cheap kettle at mediamarkt, good for you. Here's a 1500W one, also not the one I was thinking of. I was thinking of one I once had. The one that's the reason why my current one is 3000W and wide enough to not risk tipping over.
People who buy consumer electronics at Amazon from made up Chinese throwaway brands are beyond rescue.
They don't care if their products are unsafe because they will never face consequences.
You can't even be sure if the material is food grade.
MediaMarkt does, because it's their own brand and would damage their reputation and financial bottom line
No argument from me there but when I bought that 1500W kettle Amazon was still a book shop. I'm not saying that 15 Euro were a good price but it's what I think REWE (as in the supermarket, do they still use that brand for physical stores?) sold it to me for because I couldn't be arsed to make a trek into the city to visit a proper appliance store.
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.
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.
microwaving water is plain wrong
What difference does it make?
energy efficiency, and most importantly, vibes
But isn't it more efficient in the microwave, since you're only heating the water, not the vessel?
Magnetrons are a lot less efficient than magnetic induction (which most modern electric kettles use). Magnetic induction is about 90% efficient at converting electricity to heat in the vessel, whereas the most efficient microwaves are about 60% efficient at converting electricity to microwaves.
So, if you don't have an induction stove, nor a kettle...?
Yeah. Microwaves are more efficient than most non-induction stoves.
Actually, it has a lot of vibes. About 2 billion of them.
Theoretically it should be the most energy efficient method. You're transferring all the energy directly into the water molecules, not heating up a container and hoping that heat transfers to the water.
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
As an American, what is a proper electric kettle? Fr.
I just mean an electric kettle and not a stovetop one they're faster smaller don't take a hob and they're literally cheaper there is literally no reason whatsoever to use a non electric kettle
I looked them up and have never seen one or seen anyone use them that I've noticed. Maybe at events? Is it faster than 2 minutes? Because that's how long it takes for me to get the exact temp I need in the microwave.
if you put in just one mug of water yeah like 30 seconds but it can also boil the entire kettle full in like 3 minutes so you don't have to wait 15 minutes every time you want boiling water to cook with
Ahhh, that makes more sense. I wasn't picking up why you thought it was better. It's not the cup of tea in the morning, it's the boiling of a pot of water. Thanks for explaining it..
I'm surprised superheated water injuries aren't more common with all these people microwaving single cups at a time.