42

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/11138800

An American scientist has sparked a trans-Atlantic tempest in a teapot by offering Britain advice on its favorite hot beverage.

Bryn Mawr College chemistry professor Michelle Francl says one of the keys to a perfect cup of tea is a pinch of salt. The tip is included in Francl’s book “Steeped: The Chemistry of Tea,” published Wednesday by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Not since the Boston Tea Party has mixing tea with salt water roiled the Anglo-American relationship so much.

The salt suggestion drew howls of outrage from tea-lovers in Britain, where popular stereotype sees Americans as coffee-swilling boors who make tea, if at all, in the microwave.

...

The U.S. Embassy in London intervened in the brewing storm with a social media post reassuring “the good people of the U.K. that the unthinkable notion of adding salt to Britain’s national drink is not official United States policy.”

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Itsamelemmy@lemmy.zip 2 points 9 months ago

As an American that also uses a kettle the occasional times I make tea, is it that they think the microwave is unhealthy, or just that a kettle is better. Because I know with the kettle I can set the temp, and from what I understand some teas are better brewed at different temps. With the microwave, you kinda just have boil.

[-] Anamnesis@lemmy.world -5 points 9 months ago

The microwave is literally faster if you're just making one cup of tea. Why should I sit around for a whole kettle to boil if I can just microwave one cup for two minutes? Plus it's already in the container you're going to drink it out of. Absolutely silly.

[-] Psaldorn@lemmy.world 13 points 9 months ago

You don't fill the whole kettle, do you?

Just full it to minimum for a single cup.

[-] Serinus@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

12 seconds from my water filter.

[-] Alxe@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

I have an electric kettle of ~1.6L capacity. I fill it with the minimum 0.5L and it boils in less than a minute.

If you're using a stove kettle, I understand why Microwaves can be faster, but outright saying so is a bit of an exaggeration.

[-] echodot@feddit.uk 3 points 9 months ago

Two minutes. It takes less than that to boil water in a kettle.

What kettle are you using?

[-] klemptor@startrek.website 2 points 9 months ago

They're probably using a stovetop kettle with too much water instead of an electric kettle.

[-] Patch@feddit.uk 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)
  1. You don't fill a whole kettle, you just put in the water you need.

  2. British kettles legitimately boil faster than ones stateside because of our higher mains electricity voltage. A quick boil kettle in the UK is far quicker than a standard domestic microwave.

Edit: I just timed my kettle (I was craving a cuppa anyway); one cup of water, 53 seconds. I bet your microwave can't top that (mine certainly can't).

[-] Noel_Skum@sh.itjust.works 1 points 9 months ago

In the UK they have proper electricity in domestic properties and kettles boil quickly…

this post was submitted on 25 Jan 2024
42 points (85.0% liked)

United Kingdom

4060 readers
74 users here now

General community for news/discussion in the UK.

Less serious posts should go in !casualuk@feddit.uk or !andfinally@feddit.uk
More serious politics should go in !uk_politics@feddit.uk.

Try not to spam the same link to multiple feddit.uk communities.
Pick the most appropriate, and put it there.

Posts should be related to UK-centric news, and should be either a link to a reputable source, or a text post on this community.

Opinion pieces are also allowed, provided they are not misleading/misrepresented/drivel, and have proper sources.

If you think "reputable news source" needs some definition, by all means start a meta thread.

Posts should be manually submitted, not by bot. Link titles should not be editorialised.

Disappointing comments will generally be left to fester in ratio, outright horrible comments will be removed.
Message the mods if you feel something really should be removed, or if a user seems to have a pattern of awful comments.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS