I think they’re talking about an electric kettle. here’s the one I have
I don’t think I’ve ever been in a house that doesn’t have a kettle, is this not a common applience in all kitchens?
To my knowledge, they’re not very common in the US because their low voltages in households means that kettles take ages to boil.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity_by_country
Relevant Technology Connections-video on the subject: https://youtu.be/_yMMTVVJI4c
iirc, the power thing made a slight difference but probably doesn’t explain the issue entirely.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/_yMMTVVJI4c
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
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Yeah, I’m an American tea drinker, always have used an electric kettle. It still just takes a couple minutes or something, nothing major. I think it’s just fewer tea drinkers, maybe.
It’s great for heating a thing but the kettle is faster I think. Also to properly extract a teabag you need to pour over it.
What if you’re making tea for multiple people. I can do about 5 good mugs with a couple of minutes boil in the kettle.
I’m not saying a microwave is better or not to get an electric kettle. I’m just saying folks never seem to even consider a microwave. In the US it is more likely that a microwave is present than an electric kettle and it is much easier to use than a stove top kettle (unless maybe you have an induction stove).
I think another part of it is that in the US hot tea is often seen as a more quaint sort of ritualistic thing than hot coffee is. Yeah, some folks like to do fancy pour over coffee but it’s rare. I think stove top kettles just feel more whimsical than a microwave. I think many US hot tea drinkers would view someone saying “why don’t you use a microwave” the same way an audiophile listening to vinyl might react to someone asking why don’t they just use Bluetooth with Spotify. That’s all fine and good, I don’t see a problem with it, but even apart from those folks people just never seem to even realize they can use a microwave to heat water.
Two cups?!
Look at the queen of England over here, drinking outah cups…
I got a Breville kettle that only boils a cup worth at a time. Game changer, meant I could brew up between games of COD back when I played it. I’ve never gone back to a regular kettle.
