“Kymethra: Kettles typically boil in about 3 minutes or under, particularly the tiny ones you get in hotel rooms (more like 2 minutes, if not full to the max. The mugs are usually ridiculously small as well, barely two mouthfuls of tea, and it never tastes right #personalgripe). How long has this conversation taken to have and when was the kettle turned on? Also, they don’t whistle, they sort of steam and bubble, and then just click off automatically. Kymethra: I just read this back. This is possibly the most British comment I have made on the entire fic. Kettle-gate. I am so sorry.”—
Everywhere You Want to Be: Kettle-Gate: Brit-Picking Betas hard at work
So, following on from this and comments other people have made on my blog, do Americans really not have kettles?
How do you make hot drinks??? Some of you must drink tea. And how do you boil the water for a cafétiere if you don’t use a filter coffee machine or other such abomination.
And while I’m asking and this isn’t aimed at any of you, I’m amazed how some authors don’t think through the length of time tea making takes (and you obviously are) and an unfeasiably short or long stretch of time happens.
As for drinking a freshly made (ie. just boiled water) cup of tea immediately. What the hell?
#it must be allowed to get to the correct drinking temp.
#these things bug me
(via qcumbershaw)
I used to own a stovetop kettle, but the damned things get nasty and rusty down around the bottom. Instead, I just use a pot. It takes eight minutes on the gas stovetop to bring the pot of water to a sufficient temperature to make coffee (just pre-boil) and nine to boil it for tea. Then it goes right into the French press or the carafe, with tea bags. The tea bags come out three to five minutes later.
I could spend a small fortune on a top quality electric kettle that will reach a set temperature and then turn off, or I could spend $15 and buy a cheap one at Target. The cheap ones, however, are plastic and have two modes — plugged in (on) or off — and they whistle when they’re done. I used one at my desk in my old office, and it was loud enough to be heard everywhere.
(viakryptaria)Most kettles these days just click off. Also, I’ve seen multi-temp kettles at Target for $40. Which in my mind is worth it (but then, I’m the sort who wants the $250 Breville tea maker).
Okay.
1: It’s worth noting that for a significant portion of Americans, flavor comes in distinctly secondary to caffeine intake. Plenty of people frankly don’t give a damn about the quality of their coffee or tea so long as it counters the sleep deprivation.
2: Many—I daresay most—Americans don’t drink enough tea at home to bother owning a kettle, although tea is catching on in popularity lately. Most Americans do, however, own coffee makers. Even Americans who don’t drink coffee often own cheapo coffee makers, because sometimes they have friends or family visit who drink coffee.
3: On the other hand, people who are snobs about their coffee often scorn coffee makers, because they do bad things to high-quality coffee. These people are liable to own something like a French Press, or possibly even more esoteric coffee-making equipment. People who are serious about their coffee get way more obsessive about it than I’ve seen even from snobby tea-drinkers.
4: Fucking Keurig machines are everywhere lately. They’re abominations, but they’re despicably popular. (It really ticks me off when I go to a cafe to order tea and they go turn on a Keurig machine. I am not paying $2 for your stupid horrible cup-machine that makes everything taste like stale burned coffee because you never clean it, thank you.)
5: Decent electric kettles in the US get pretty expensive, pretty quickly. You CAN find them cheaper, but if you do a quick browse through local stores and big online sites, the ones you’re likely to see that are sturdy and have anything like multiple temperature settings tend to weigh in starting around $60. You have to put in a bit of effort to find the more reasonably-priced ones.
6: That said, some of us do own electric kettles. I’ve got one ($35 one-temperature Oster, for the record; if I want different temperatures, I cut it with cold water or I turn it off before it boils). I drink enough tea to make it worth it. (I used to use a stovetop kettle, but they get cruddy and also when I got my electric one I noticed a drop in my electricity bill. Score.)
7: Those of us who don’t own electric kettles and do drink tea go about it in a number of ways. Some people—it’s kind of weird, but I’ve seen it—brew tea in their coffee makers (look, I don’t know). Some people have stovetop kettles or use pots (seems awkward, but whatever works, I guess). The most common thing may be to just heat a mug of water in the microwave. I don’t care what you say; I’ve done it and frankly it doesn’t taste any different to me than boiling the water in my kettle, even when I’m using expensive loose-leaf tea. (Then again this city does have excellent water, so that may be part of it.) Some people even heat water AND THE TEABAG in the microwave. I don’t know what to tell you; people can be strange sometimes.
8: On the other hand, a lot of American tea drinkers just use Lipton tea bags and it’s not like you can really do much to those anyway.
9: In the US, almost all stovetop kettles whistle and some electric kettles whistle too. Mine doesn’t—it just sort of gurgles and seethes—but it’s convenient to have your tea-maker shriek at you if you’re a distractable sort of person. Say, the sort of person prone to losing hours at a time on Tumblr. >.>
10: I’ve seen people quaff coffee or tea without letting it cool down first. I think they have mouths lined with iron or something. I don’t know how you do that and still have a tongue. Also yes, the flavor does improve if given time to sit, but not everybody is a SOPHISTICATED drinker of hot beverages. See Point #1.
11: Yes, when I’m writing, I do usually try to pay attention to how much conversation can be had in the time it takes water to boil. On the other hand, I’ve been known to deliberately say, “Screw it” and do whatever I feel like, because it entertains me to use waiting for the water to boil as a time dilation device. #easily amused
12: All bets are off in the American South. They drink sweet tea there. It doesn’t work like how you think tea should work.