this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2024
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xkcd

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No, of course we don't microwave the mug WITH the teabag in it. We microwave the teabag separately.

https://explainxkcd.com/3022/

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[–] feedum_sneedson 3 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah the kettle is just for boiling the water, nobody makes tea in it, that would wreck it. Yes, I'm English.

[–] Shir0a 3 points 5 hours ago

Kettle boils the water, the TEAPOT steeps and serves the tea. Somehow people end up thinking they're the same thing.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 15 hours ago

The patriot in me smiles every time I microwave the water. Yankee Doodle, motherfuckers.

[–] LouNeko 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

You boil water in a pot if you want to drink a cup off tea late at night and don't want the loud kettle to wake up the whole house.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Your kettle is that loud? The loudest part is the 1s jingle it plays after reaching my desired temp...And the volume isnt much louder than the microwave.

[–] TwanHE 2 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

What tf why does it play a jingle and why does it have temp settings?

Didn't know my electric kettle was outdated since it just turns off when it reaches boiling temp.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Jingle as in a signal tone that's not a single beep.
And temp control is very neat to have if you are a serious tea drinker.
Makes it easy to boil water to 60, 70, 80, 90, 95 or 100 °C. And tea can be picky if it shouldnt be bitter ;)

[–] TwanHE 1 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Guess I'm not picky enough to notice a difference between the temps my tea is made at (I just shake the bag until it has broadly the right colour), although I don't have much taste left since covid anyways.

But will have a look for one with multiple temp settings for other purposes, if this one ever kicks the bucket.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago

bagged tea could care less. if you steep it 1min it will more or less taste similar to doing it the recommended time.
Loose leaf tea will notice it. It will either be too light, too bitter or just right and anything inbetween ;)

[–] menemen 2 points 18 hours ago

<Shaking the head with a samovar, smiling slightly disgusted about the paper taste.>

[–] [email protected] 49 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Where's throwing it into the harbor fall on this chart?

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] Darkard 29 points 1 day ago

You disgust me

[–] RupeThereItIs 29 points 1 day ago (17 children)

Ok, but, why is microwaved water any different the water warmed in a kettle?

This seems like a pointless thing to get worked up over.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (2 children)

Water warmed in a kettle has much more even temperature in all points, which affects the brewing process. Generally, the more even the temperature is, the more consistent and rich is your brew.

I would consider microwave boiling as a makeshift method to produce a mediocre result when you need it anyway, not as a daily driver.

[–] redhorsejacket 1 points 2 hours ago

I'm asking this from a place of genuine ignorance: how does the evenness of the heat distribution matter when microwaving a pure liquid? I'm familiar with the microwave's uneven heating qualities. I'm sure we've all bit into food that is scalding hot on the surface and still lukewarm at best in its interior. However, I've always presumed that is a product of microwaving a heterogenous, predominantly solid substance.

So, sure, the microwave applies heat unevenly to the water. But wouldn't the tiny little bits of water which get "over" heated simply diffuse their excess thermal energy into the rest of the homogenous volume in very short order? Furthermore,wouldn't an uneven heat distribution in a mug of water simply lead to convection currents flowing from hot to cold, therefore promoting a relatively even distribution?

[–] SkunkWorkz 5 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (3 children)

How does a kettle warm the water more evenly but a microwave doesn’t? When a kettle has it’s heating element only at the bottom but a microwave blasts the entire mass of water with energy because it sits on a rotating plate.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 14 hours ago

Exactly because of that.

Hot water moves upwards, and if you heat it from the bottom, you get a more even result than if you blast it from all sides.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 day ago

Went to see Randall doing his book promo and being interviewed by Matt Parker (in the UK) recently and this was his exact position on it

The audience were not on his side 😆

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[–] lurklurk 7 points 1 day ago

Loose leaf or bust! Keep the tea bagging to online shooters

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 day ago (5 children)

How about someone who leaves the tea bag in the mug, sometimes for multiple days? Sips the tea with multiple bags still in it? It creeps me out and I am not even a big tea drinker.

[–] Mango 1 points 7 hours ago

But sugar!!!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

i had a co worker - who i assume didn't want others to use his mug - who had a special day each year for washing his tea mug. It was soooo gnarly and crusty the rest of the year, he would gleefully take the clean mug around the office and show everyone on cleaning day. weird dude!

[–] menemen 2 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (2 children)

I once had a colleague who would get hysteric when someone would clean the coffee machine. People are weird. Not cleaning tea potts and even mugs is also quite common among elder germans. They argue it tastes better that way. (They drink the tea without sugar or milk, so it probably isn't thaaat bad.)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 hours ago

The fuck you mean sweetening the tea. Raw or bust for classic loose leaf undbroken tea brews.
Only for things like panning I would consider sweeting or low quality stuff specifically produced to do that.
But never add sugar to my gyokuro!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 12 hours ago

blech, people are weird.

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