Why should using a microwave to boil water for tea?? I will not use a microwave for anything else because a microwave can produce tasteless but toxic chemicals in food. But it cannot harm pure water; this seems like a good use for it.
I drink instant coffee and use microwaved water for that. The microwaves excite the so-called vibrational modes of the water molecule, that’s all. There’s nothing sinister about it.
Yes, pretty uncivilised, isn’t it? Who could possibly think up such a barbarous way of making tea, and yet that is exactly what you generally get (teabag in micro-waved water) in high-street bars and cafés in most European cities.
Your comment made me think of on the funniest moment of the Fleabag series, when a couple of yoga moms came to Fleabag’s restaurant and one of them ordered risotto. Fleabag then goes to the market next door, buys frozen risotto and microwaves it for the guest.
I drink 4-5 cups of of tea per day. We don’t have a kettle in my office, so I unfortunately have to microwave the water. It’s never the same as boiling water from the kettle.
I was told that using the (electric) kettle results in platelets of lime scale in your tea. Which is probably true, but it still feels wrong to me to heat water in the microwave if you have a perfectly functional kettle…
Our well water is so thick with minerals that even our non-electric kettle (and our coffee maker!) get flakes in them. But we are happy to report that after a year, the well is finally clear enough that the water doesn’t smell like farts 🙂
In the early days of my relationship with my Russian husband, I offered him tea out of a teabag. His reaction taught me never to suggest such a perverted act again. I had to learn the whole ritual, and still it never came out good enough.
But then I bought him a Breville machine, the hugely expensive one, and now everybody is happy.
Yes, but the best tea brewing machines in the world can’t guarantee that you won’t get tea-leaf fragments between your teeth, the way a dollar-a dozen tea-bag purchase does.
The tea-bag tea tastes exactly the same, and you don’t to floss afterwards.
Why should using a microwave to boil water for tea?? I will not use a microwave for anything else because a microwave can produce tasteless but toxic chemicals in food. But it cannot harm pure water; this seems like a good use for it.
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Sorry. I meant why should it be illegal.
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I drink instant coffee and use microwaved water for that. The microwaves excite the so-called vibrational modes of the water molecule, that’s all. There’s nothing sinister about it.
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It’s not a health thing. It’s the insult to kettles that hurts. :-))
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:-))
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Now I understand why there is such a paucity of kettles at the store. There’s never any choice of brands of types. It always mystified me.
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Yes, pretty uncivilised, isn’t it? Who could possibly think up such a barbarous way of making tea, and yet that is exactly what you generally get (teabag in micro-waved water) in high-street bars and cafés in most European cities.
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They microwave water in restaurants??? My whole worldview is crumbling down.
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They microwave a lot of things in (bad) restaurants. Gordon Ramsay has an entire show about it.
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Your comment made me think of on the funniest moment of the Fleabag series, when a couple of yoga moms came to Fleabag’s restaurant and one of them ordered risotto. Fleabag then goes to the market next door, buys frozen risotto and microwaves it for the guest.
I drink 4-5 cups of of tea per day. We don’t have a kettle in my office, so I unfortunately have to microwave the water. It’s never the same as boiling water from the kettle.
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I was told that using the (electric) kettle results in platelets of lime scale in your tea. Which is probably true, but it still feels wrong to me to heat water in the microwave if you have a perfectly functional kettle…
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Our well water is so thick with minerals that even our non-electric kettle (and our coffee maker!) get flakes in them. But we are happy to report that after a year, the well is finally clear enough that the water doesn’t smell like farts 🙂
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I’m reminded of this excellent essay by Christopher Hitchens on how to make tea: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2011/01/how-to-make-a-decent-cup-of-tea-following-george-orwell-s-golden-rules.html
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Great link!
In the early days of my relationship with my Russian husband, I offered him tea out of a teabag. His reaction taught me never to suggest such a perverted act again. I had to learn the whole ritual, and still it never came out good enough.
But then I bought him a Breville machine, the hugely expensive one, and now everybody is happy.
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Yes, but the best tea brewing machines in the world can’t guarantee that you won’t get tea-leaf fragments between your teeth, the way a dollar-a dozen tea-bag purchase does.
The tea-bag tea tastes exactly the same, and you don’t to floss afterwards.
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Tea bags taste “the same” like instant coffee tastes “the same” as freshly brewed coffee.
And we’ve been using the Breville for 6 years without a single tea leaf bit in that whole time.
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There is no other way to make tea at the office.
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