I read the article and most of the comments and I still can't figure out why on earth you would care how hot your teawater is, beyond "boiling"/"not yet boiling." All my life I have made tea with a ~$10 stovetop whistling kettle; no one has ever criticized it and it will never break.
Different tea varieties are best at different temperatures. It doesn't matter much if you use generic black teabags from the store, because the tea is usually quite old has lost most of the subtle tastes.
White, green, oolong or really any kind good black tea might require less than boiling temperatures to extract enough out of tea while preserving the taste or other wished effects of the tea. The temperatures, amount and the steep time might be different by each specific tea or batch.
So a kettle with a temperature control can be helpful and save time with tea or cooking if you want finer control than boiling - not boiling.
You can achieve any temperature with a mix of boiling and cold water. A $0.99 food thermometer will work just fine for that. After a while, you should know what the proper proportions are.
But that's exactly the point the guy in the article makes: he has done that since forever and it's not particularly tiring, but he wants a better solution.
So, for tea at least, and green tea in particular, water temperature is actually very important. This is often overlooked by people (at least in my experience in America). I've had many friends who claimed to hate Green Tea because it is bitter. But they changed their minds when I brewed them a cup and explained that it is important not to burn the leaves with hot water and then over-steep the tea---rather than boiling water you often want water considerably cooler, say 150-180 F, depending on the tea. You also don't want to steep for too long (often just a minute or two, again depends on the tea).
When I was younger I used to hate bitter tastes, I used to shiver when I tasted some. But at some point the only thing to drink at our office was the tea, and sugar ran out quickly so I adjusted. I barely feel bitter taste now and only if I put a tea bag in cup of hot water and drink it after a while without taking out the bag or stirring it.
For black tea too, temperature is really important (it should be boiling). Never order black tea in the States, you'll receive a teabag along with container of tepid water.
Different teas require different water temperatures AND different steeping times for the best taste. Generally the less oxidized the tea the lower the water temperature. I find the worst offense is most Americans over steep their tea which makes it very bitter!
People who use a thermometer are very serious. I just guesstimate.
Also, get some high quality tea, the difference in taste is amazing and its not that expensive, only a few cents a cup.
Re-using tea bags (in the UK & Ireland) is a sign of someone who's very cheap and doesn't want to spend any money. Like someone who cuts their own hair to save money.
That's why he said leaves and not bags. It's ok to reuse the leaves, most of the times the resulting brew will be different from the previous, which is sometimes the desired thing.
An example of this that I recently had was a 北斗一号. The first brew is extremely fragrant - smells of bubble milk tea, but has very weak flavour. The second brew brings out the flavour of the tea.
You're supposed to let the first brew fill the smelling cup[0], and drink the second brew, but I drink both
First of all I said tea leaves and not bags and second of all what the hell is wrong with cutting your own hair if you can do a good job of it? My brother liked simple haircuts (buzzed to a certain length) and my mom always cut his hair in the kitchen because it was just easiest. Anyone who keeps their head shaved probably isn't going to a salon either.
Depending on how "into" tea you are, various teas require steeping for a specific duration of time under a specific temperature. See a website he mentions, steepster.com, where people talk almost exclusively about this topic.
ACK!! Steep is an alien word. In the UK you "brew" tea. "A good brew" is a colloquialism for a nice cup of tea. Honestly, tea geeks, tea is just tea. Unless you paid a large sum of money for the actual product, you put a bag in the cup and pour boiled water on to it. Let it brew. Remove bag. Add milk and sweetener as desired. Done.
Bagged tea is shit tea. Good tea doesn't cost a large sum of money. Good tea tastes better if you don't burn it. Before you ask - yes I'm an Englishman ;)
Also who ruins tea with milk and sweetener? Tea is a beautiful thing on its own. Maybe you think tea is just tea because you can barely taste the tea over the milk and sugar?
Also good tea is still cheap tea - only a few cents a cup.
Would you worry as much about coffee? In The UK tea is a commodity. Google "builders tea". It is unusual to drink "black tea" (any Tea made without milk.)
Black tea with milk is the traditional way of drinking Tea in the UK, so no - I really don't think most people give a shit about what you think. It's a cultural thing and would be like me criticising an Indian for eating a hot Curry or a German for their strict beer making codes.
My choice of words was a mistake, they weren't meant to criticize. I was referring to the post that said "tea is tea" which I was just saying if you put milk and sugar in tea, then yes, you are covering up the true taste and tea is in fact tea at that point and you can't really appreciate a higher quality tea.
Using the word "ruins" wasn't meant to be criticizing, it was meant to be playful tongue in cheek. My own mother takes her tea "the British way," that's what tea was in her family when she was growing up, and I tease her about it. However, I have expanded her taste for tea lately and she has thanked me for it.
>Would you worry as much about coffee?
There's plenty of people who appreciate coffee for coffee. I am not one of them. As much as I try, coffee isn't good to me, the flavor isn't something I can enjoy. I do enjoy flavored fake creamer though, so I add that (probably too much if it...) and cut the actual coffee flavor to something creamy and flavored I can drink. In which case, it doesn't matter the quality of the coffee, it can be the shit cheap stuff or the $50 a pound expensive stuff, I'm covering up the true coffee flavor and I can't appreciate a difference. It's kinda a guilty pleasure, I admit...
It isn't about what I think, I was strictly speaking that one can't say there is no difference in high quality tea and low quality tea while putting milk and sugar in it, as you aren't really tasting the tea flavor at that point.
From what I've seen most British people are way behind on their hard core tea nerding. For most of my British friends tea is something you drink large quantities of, not obsess over.
For we Brits, tea is generally the dust of what was once half-decent tea, bagged up and swaddled in obscene amounts of milk and sugar. Many of us don't know anything other than that!
Add a thermometer to the stovetop kettle and it'd be perfect! :-) I would much rather boil water with gas. It's cheaper and there's no risk that it will overload the circuit breaker.
