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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.”

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[-] obinice@lemmy.world 44 points 9 months ago

Their ideas have some merit and I'll test out the salt thing, BUT they immediately lose all credibility when they say that heating water in a microwave is unhealthy.

I make my tea with a kettle like everyone else, that's beside the point. Heating water in a microwave is absolutely in no way whatsoever unhealthy, and I seriously question the competency of anyone - and the voracity of their claims - who suggests heating water in a microwave is unhealthy.

That's just.... wild. Haha.

[-] Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

Perhaps because people rarely clean their microwave, and boiling water can splash up on the top of the microwave and drip back into the cup

[-] thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

you don't boil it that hard...

[-] Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

Now, you say that, but the concentration of heat in a microwave is completely random. You can have parts of the water at 60° while other bits are being superheated to a couple of hundred degrees

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

also, that's why they have spinning plates

[-] thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world 0 points 9 months ago

you use your eyes, superheating only happened with distilled water. just don't use distilled

[-] PatMustard@feddit.uk 2 points 9 months ago

How hard do you boil it? Does your microwave have an in-built thermometer which stops the heating at the right temperature like a kettle?

[-] thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago
[-] PatMustard@feddit.uk 2 points 9 months ago

You stare through the radiation-shielding mesh for the entire time hoping to see the bubbles and stop it before it froths everywhere? No wonder I keep seeing all these warnings about superheated water!

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

you can only super heat distilled water. that's not a thing with regular drinking water lol

[-] PatMustard@feddit.uk 1 points 9 months ago

It's the main thing that people seem to talk about regarding microwaving water. But regardless of that, do you sit and watch the water through the microwave window?

[-] thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

no, you get used to how long it takes pretty quickly and can ignore it for the first 30 seconds safely no matter what. after like 5 attempts you just know how long to do it and there's no actual danger so...

[-] PatMustard@feddit.uk 1 points 9 months ago

Fair enough, still seems like a lot more effort than just using a kettle!

[-] thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

i don't drink much tea or have much counter space. i have a microwave anyway, i see no reason to own a kettle.

[-] 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…

[-] echodot@feddit.uk 1 points 9 months ago

People hear about microwave radiation and they think about ionizing radiation.

[-] jak@sopuli.xyz 1 points 9 months ago

Is that in the article somewhere? I saw the reference to it being an American thing, but no mention of its healthiness.

[-] GiveOver@feddit.uk 8 points 9 months ago

There's a quote in the BBC article

But chief among her advice is to never, ever heat up the water in a microwave: "It's less healthy and it does not taste as good," Prof Francl says.

[-] Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

Same applies to putting salt in your tea ya daft cunt 😂

[-] Patch@feddit.uk 2 points 9 months ago

"Unfounded fears about spooky microwaves makes using them unhealthy. But take my advice and add extra salt into your diet in new and inventive ways because it might make things taste marginally, subjectively better."

this post was submitted on 25 Jan 2024
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