American Ilxors: Do you use Kettles to make tea?

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

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

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

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

Electric kettle. Mostly for coffee.

Electric kettle for me.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Update: it's 139 now

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stove kettle, whistles and everything

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But it doesn't prevent it staining

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

how I handle mug staining: I wash them

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

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

i use a saucepan (for coffee anyway)

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

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

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

Let's get one thing straight buck

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

U clear now?

American Ilxors: Do you use Kettles to make tea?

Kettle electric.

Teapot stainless steel.

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

Three sugars, added to mug with milk in advance.

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

i do not make or drink tea

microwave

can't imagine ever buying a kettle

didn't we just do this

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

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

lol @ microwaves

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

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

xxpost A decent explanation of this phenomenon.

electric kettle is the way to go

ours is still rocking after like 13 years

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

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

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

Yeah, the knife goes in whichever had is your dominant one and the fork in the other.

I'm right-handed but i've always held fork in right hand, knife in left... this works for me and i've never thought anything about it.

However If i'm cutting something substantial (like, say, slicing bread ) then i'm using the knife in my dominant hand.

Interesting, when playing guitar, that you do all the fiddly intricate bits with your "wrong" hand - but then strumming with my left hand is absolutely impossible - and it's kind of the opposite on piano.

― Posts That Witness Madness (Tom D.), Friday, July 25, 2025 9:32 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

this really depends on the style of guitar you're playing

Yeah — when I’m cooking I cut/chop/dice/trim with my left hand but when I’m eating I use my right.

how about when you're playing guitar and chopping vegetables at the same time?

Not a problem

(I don’t play guitar)

Somebody should manufacture a backwards piano for left-handed people so all the upper-register keys are on the left and the lower ones on the right.

Interestingly lots of great pianists have been lefties: Arthur Rubinstein, Vladimir Horowitz, Glenn Gould.

I am generally left-handed on fine motor tasks and right-handed for gross motor tasks.

So I write with my left hand but do drums, guitar, mandolin as a righty would. Ditto swinging a golf club or baseball bat.

Note that this isn't from lack of access to left-handed equipment; it just always felt natural to use my stronger right arm.

I have never watched myself eat but I suspect I am doing it wrong (in somebody's eyes). Left hand has dexterity so it gets the fork or spoon. Cutting requires arm strength so I use a knife with the right.

Switching hands sounds bonkers to me. I simply pick a knife when needed, use it, then put it back down.

My dad was and my sister is ambidextrous. Chaos at the dinner table!

the good thing about there not being any rules is that you dont have to be mad about the rules nobody really demanded of you, even better if anyone did and you just laughed at the idea of rules

my stepmother is very big on table manners and has often complained, tutted and eye-rolled at me "having the knife and fork the wrong way round" (I hold the fork in the right hand for doing almost everything, occasionally use the knife in my left hand for pushing food onto the fork, therefore I am an embarrassment who will never be invited to dinner with the queen) but arriving in China I found that after a month or two I could use chopsticks as well as anyone and there were no manners to follow, apart from a couple of things you shouldn't do as they are bad luck.

all that stabbing, sawing and pronging of food does seem best avoided anyway

yeah but how else are you gonna eat lasagna

first time I flew to China there was this HK businessman next to me on the plane, he held both his knife and his fork like pens and tried to balance morsels of food between them. to carry to his mouth, went on for a few minutes before the flight attendant saw him and gave him some chopsticks

haha that's amazing

british ilxors: do you wash your bread knife?

I don't always wash a glass that just had water in it when only I drank from it. It's just going to be me, glass, and water again.

Ditto black coffee. Nothing has happened to the cup in between my uses of it that would make it go "bad."

(Note, not for perishables like milk.)

depends on how, uh, moist the bread is

i live alone so what gets washed is just a function of what i consider gross. my coffee cup only gets washed when it starts to get gross. ditto my bedside water glass.

“do you” and “should you” are different questions and imo it’s fine to not do things and admit you should

I also almost never eat bread at home because I’m weird like that so my bread knife is clean 99% of the time hah

if I'm putting things in the dishwasher then I'll chuck in things that aren't visibly dirty but aren't OK to go back in the drawer, this usually means the bread knife.

the guardian bit is funny because the implication is “I leave my bread knife festering among the crumbs and wash my bedding once a month because that’s my british culture!”
except for the living in france, which becomes “i was my gym clothes every three uses” which.. god, I hope the french don’t leave them in their gym bag between uses

if I'm putting things in the dishwasher then I'll

ok posho

stoked for another round of "i don't even own a _____" discourse, sadly i can't play the dishwasher card (i love mine #posho) but car, pet and carpet i certainly can

pretty sure privately-educated Oxford graduate Emma Beddington has a dishwasher, surprised she doesn't have a maid tbh

I'm in debt from the rent I'm paying for this house and still paying off the car after five years, however the dishwasher and the dog are 100% mine

Apparently 49.5% of households in the UK have a dishwasher, so you're the minority here. (It's 70% in the US).

I have a stove top kettle, only used an electric at one of my former workplaces, yes it was a lot quicker but why am I rushing to boil water now when I’m working from home, part of my nap-heavy, slow-walk every task to fuck with my hateful bosses SOP

My bread comes pre-sliced.

Or "sliced," if you want to get technical.

Sliced bread is the greatest thing since ripped-up bread

sainsburys have a bread slicing machine now, so i barely use the bread knife.

You know, any knife can be a bread knife, if you think about it.

I want a bread spoon

^ the nonviolent path

my mom used to make something called 'spoonbread'... a sort of corn-based pudding, almost like a souffle

how many times have I mentioned I need to remodel my kitchen on here? I, an American, do not have a dishwasher. Some choices were made by prior homeowners that were regrettable.

I had a dishwasher in like 1998 but have not had once since then

my mom used to make something called 'spoonbread'... a sort of corn-based pudding, almost like a souffle

Save me, I'm together with your flan.

In about 1980-84 we had the dishwasher that one rolled across the floor and attached to the sink. Loooxury etc.

After a couple of weeks bread knives start building up what I can only describe as a "sheath" of glutinous fibres that is hard as a rock and requires soaking and scrubbing to remove. It's not the end of the world but... idk it's kind of weird not to clean this off from time to time

Sheath of Glutinous Fibres is my favorite bread-metal band

Sorry brëad metal

spoonbread is so good!!

also we do not have a dishwasher machine -- my dishwasher is human and not me

(it is my boo, we do not have a separate human dishwasher in case anyone wanted to deliberately misunderstand me)

he'll be starring in a new film called The Washing Machine in the vein of current theater release The Smashing Machine

Now that Im using a kettle to make coffee I know I spill water all the time and its harder to cealup - how can the grounds live

In about 1980-84 we had the dishwasher that one rolled across the floor and attached to the sink.

that is my world in 2025 and I couldn't be happier, bcz we cook and eat all our meals at home and those dirty dishes pile up fast.

I am watching a terrible TV show and it's full of Brits pretending to be American and in the background of one of their kitchens in 'Houston, Texas' is a white electric kettle that looks like it came from Argos.