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).
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
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
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 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.
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
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 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 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
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 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
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 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.
We have one for every bedroom, for teamergencies
Yep , I never realized how fast they are. 2 cups boils in under 2 minutes.
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!
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.
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.
Everyone in the country I live in just uses a thermos lol
they don’t make the kind that keep the water hot all day anymore.
Zojirushi does.
I got their hot water dispenser but didn’t see any kettles except ones that timed out after like an hour.
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.
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.
What is this lunacy… at least boil it in a pot 😭
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.
what size microwave do you have that can fit a full pot?
💀
Cattle
Use one of those mixing bowls that has a spout.
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.
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.
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.
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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
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.
do british people not have arizona iced tea?
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.
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.
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)_/¯
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.
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Ur body is already made of like 70% water and also its already warm. Just eat the tea bag, thats what i do.
mmmmmmm…plastic
You gotta take the wrapper off first obviously
microwaving water is plain wrong
What difference does it make?
energy efficiency, and most importantly, vibes
Actually, it has a lot of vibes. About 2 billion of them.
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.
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.
Takes 1 minute 30 seconds for my induction top to boil water
induction top
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
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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.
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.
Are you boiling 50ml?
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.
I’m British the entire conversation is deeply offensive to my people. Microwaving??? Putting mugs on a stove??? I am appalled!
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.
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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.
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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.
Our electricity is 120v here in the US, so kettles take 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?
Microwaves are designed to heat water molecules. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven
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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.
kettles take forever
For extremely small values of ‘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.
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
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
