Americans: why don't you use kettles?

[izz]

Of course it's acceptable if people want to drink it. Snobbery doesn't have anything to do with it, I like the taste of instant coffee and I like the fact its even less hassle to make than a cup of tea. I also like real coffee but I can't drink it all day because it's bad for my guts.

If you were round someone's house and they offered you a coffee and it turned out to be instant, would you accuse them of 'reverse snobbery' or would you shut the fuck up and drink what you're given?

I wouldn't take the chance and ask for tea instead

 

[High Voltage]

And freshly drawn water. I can taste reboiled water and that means when the kettle clicks off or whistles you use it then, not after a succession of boil agains.

That takes me back to when I was an apprentice and responsible for the twice daily tea break

Once and only once I heard

"Cunt, you've burnt the fucking water - make the tea again"

I'd not burnt the water. What I had done was not totally empty the kettle from the previous breaks boiled water, merely topped one of the kettles up with fresh - a (painfully learned) lesson

 

[Mogden]

That takes me back to when I was an apprentice and responsible for the twice daily tea break

Once and only once I heard

"Cunt, you've burnt the fucking water - make the tea again"

I'd not burnt the water. What I had done was not totally empty the kettle from the previous breaks boiled water, merely topped one of the kettles up with fresh - a (painfully learned) lesson

I love that

 

[High Voltage]

I love that

I was a shy and easily shocked 16 year old at the time

 

[Miss Caphat]

Not that i often visit anyone it's very rare ime that i have ever been in anyone's house that actually served 'real' coffee....with spookyf on this one

and that's why you're a nation of people who actually think instant coffee is ok. you just don't know any better. poor things

 

[farmerbarleymow]

and that's why you're a nation of people who actually think instant coffee is ok. you just don't know any better. poor things

That's because tea is infinitely more important - coffee is just an afterthought.

 

[maomao]

That takes me back to when I was an apprentice and responsible for the twice daily tea break

Once and only once I heard

"Cunt, you've burnt the fucking water - make the tea again"

I'd not burnt the water. What I had done was not totally empty the kettle from the previous breaks boiled water, merely topped one of the kettles up with fresh - a (painfully learned) lesson

In my first job I was responsible for 3 tea breaks a day and had an urn which was brought to the boil several times a day. None of them ever complained about me 'burning the water' but then the ignorant fucking bullies never even noticed when I pissed in said urn so perhaps their palates were not as refined as some.

 

[Orang Utan]

I genuinely would not notice the difference between reboiled and boiled water - it's just fucking water!

 

[DotCommunist]

You can always tell if a cup of cold tea has been microwaved though imo

 

[Orang Utan]

You can always tell if a cup of cold tea has been microwaved though imo

Though that would never happen with me. I have to drink my tea while it's almost impossibly hot

 

[farmerbarleymow]

You can always tell if a cup of cold tea has been microwaved though imo

You can't - or at least some people can't. I once microwaved a cup of tea of a colleague when doing a round to see if he would notice and he was oblivious.

 

[Miss Caphat]

microwaving water's a bad idea....it can get superheated and explode

 

[Mogden]

I genuinely would not notice the difference between reboiled and boiled water - it's just fucking water!

I would agree with you but I really can taste it. It's thinner somehow and slightly metallic. You know when someone offers you a boozy drink and they've watered down the bottle to stretch it and you just know it's not quite right.

If I were to go uberfoodgeeky I could tell you it's due to oxygenation with the tea business but I won't ;P

 

[maomao]

My wife and her family believe that water that has been boiled twice is somehow bad for you. Unless your kettle is made of something slightly soluble I don't see how there could be any difference at all. I suppose it could make a difference with very hard water.

Also, Chinese homes always have a kettle despite having the same voltage as the US. But then I've never had a decent cup of coffee over there. Been served instant in a five star hotel.

 

[SpookyFrank]

You can always tell if a cup of cold tea has been microwaved though imo

The fact that the mug is hot enough to melt the flesh from bones is usually a dead giveaway.

 

[SpookyFrank]

My wife and her family believe that water that has been boiled twice is somehow bad for you. Unless your kettle is made of something slightly soluble I don't see how there could be any difference at all. I suppose it could make a difference with very hard water.

Reboiled water contains less dissolved oxygen and so will react differently with your tea or coffee than freshly boiled water.

I've never bothered doing any tests to see if there's any noticeable effect on the taste though. Mostly I try not to boil more water than I need in the first place.

 

[maomao]

Reboiled water contains less dissolved oxygen and so will react differently with your tea or coffee than freshly boiled water.

Any source for this dissolved oxygen claim? Any chemical change thathappens to water when boiling (such as increased concentration of impurities duet evaporation) is surely down to length of time spent at boiling point rather than the number of times it has reached boiling point.

 

[DotCommunist]

reboiled water is not the same as distilled is it? I'd rather drink what I could drain from my radiators than distilled water

 

[maomao]

reboiled water is not the same as distilled is it? I'd rather drink what I could drain from my radiators than distilled water

Nope, it's the opposite really. Distilled is evaporated and then consensed to lose impurities.

 

[Vintage Paw]

microwaving water's a bad idea....it can get superheated and explode

There's water in everything you microwave.

 

[DotCommunist]

except when you microwave a CD for the lols.

 

[Vintage Paw]

Distilled water is all you fucking get on a Delta flight to the US (well, apart from all the beer and spirits and so on). It's disgusting.

 

[Miss Caphat]

There's water in everything you microwave.

I'm not making this up....Google it

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Any source for this dissolved oxygen claim? Any chemical change thathappens to water when boiling (such as increased concentration of impurities duet evaporation) is surely down to length of time spent at boiling point rather than the number of times it has reached boiling point.

I remember reading some research into this which suggested it wasn't true. It's probably a myth.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I'm not making this up....Google it

Superheated water only happens when you put water by itself in the microwave. The presence of tea nullifies the effect completely - the tannins absorb the extra energy and release it as delicious tea flavours.

 

[Pingu]

I got it. I used to quite enjoy a spot of massively parallel processing.

TD, NZ or GP?

 

[Miss Caphat]

Superheated water only happens when you put water by itself in the microwave. The presence of tea nullifies the effect completely - the tannins absorb the extra energy and release it as delicious tea flavours.

but why would you microwave a cup of tea? I thought they meant microwaving the water for tea?

 

[Opera Buffa]

Because you have become distracted and it's gone cold!

 

[8ball]

but why would you microwave a cup of tea?

Microwaves can be used to accelerate diffusion.

 

[8ball]

Because you have become distracted and it's gone cold!

This too. But take the tea bag out first.