Coffee or tea?

[Steo]

I have to use a Keurig K-Mini for my tea, the tea pods work just fine though it's probably meant for coffee and tea.

We just use tea bags for ours after boiling the kettle. The coffee machines though are definitely much better than instant coffee.

I actually had a manual one, but then we switched to electric a few years back. I actually remember boiling instant ramen in the kettle once.

I'm surprised that it didn't explode. Someone tried that with milk before and it basically destroyed it and blew up the elements.

[The Jonster]

Oh snap, I wouldn’t want hot milk all over me!

[Steo]

I wouldn't want that either lol. I like coffee a lot though I just wish my stomach would handle as much of it as I'd like to drink.

[The Jonster]

Oh I guess you still suffer from the reflux huh? Feels like ages since that’s been mentioned

[PluMGMK]

Reminds me of when Father Ted and Dougal thought about boiling the kettle with no water in it

I used to be team tea, because I used to think coffee tasted like soil water. Now I'm team coffee because I now think tea tastes like soil water.

Maybe another for my collection?

Doesn't tea require hot watter so you'd need a kettle?

Yeah I have one (electric kettle), but I actually never knew that most American's don't have kettles due to their power output being too low (110-120v vs 220-240v that Europe has). That was interesting to hear.

Oh wow… Because you can't get enough current to flow to get the required wattage, without coming close to overloading the circuit? Man, that's gotta suck…

[The Jonster]

Where as if you guys bought something electric that’s American and brought it home, it would blow up if you connected it to an outlet somewhere….unless there’s like some voltage converter or something.

[DaveRattlehead]

As you said, you can always buy adapters, like the ones you use for the phones.

[Mortamon Saturn]

Can't believe I missed participating in this topic back when my rank was turned into an English Teapot years ago.
Guess I would pick coffee since I still haven't tried tea to this day.

[Ambidextroid]

I remember once hearing that Americans don't have kettles because they take too long to boil, I'm not sure I actually believed it though... But I guess the voltage thing explains it. I never use a kettle these days because we have one of those fancy taps that dispenses boiling water. Very handy but also really rather scary. I once scolded my hand with it filling a hot water bottle, although that was actually the water bottle's fault not the tap's.

[The Jonster]

Ok that one is again a new one. A tap that dispenses boiling water?

Usually when we heat water in the kettle it takes a few minutes depending how much liquid is inside.

[Steo]

Oh wow… Because you can't get enough current to flow to get the required wattage, without coming close to overloading the circuit? Man, that's gotta suck…

Yeah exactly this. I recently seen it in some joke on YouTube about an American trying to make tea in the microwave, then it was disclosed that they literally don't have kettles. I never even considered the wattage being an issue with their power system, but yeah that sucks.

[PluMGMK]

I remember trying to make tea in the microwave at work once. I had a spreadsheet where I calculated the time necessary from the microwave wattage, the specific heat capacity of water… and a guesstimated volume that was way too big and resulted in the mug overheating and weakening to the point that it broke after its next cycle through the dishwasher!

[The Jonster]

Yup I know this, mom uses it to heat up water for her tea.

But I guess stranger things have been boiled in the microwave, for dangerous or worse. I wonder if anyone here risks boiling eggs in a microwave?

[Steo]

I remember trying to make tea in the microwave at work once. I had a spreadsheet where I calculated the time necessary from the microwave wattage, the specific heat capacity of water… and a guesstimated volume that was way too big and resulted in the mug overheating and weakening to the point that it broke after its next cycle through the dishwasher!

I like how much effort you put into it, but that's too bad that it went wrong.

Yup I know this, mom uses it to heat up water for her tea.

But I guess stranger things have been boiled in the microwave, for dangerous or worse. I wonder if anyone here risks boiling eggs in a microwave?

My mother literally cooked turnips in the microwave.

[PluMGMK]

We tried the grapes-in-the-microwave trick at work last year. It was less spectacular than those YouTube videos make it look

[The Jonster]

Oh my gosh, what. Really?

[Steo]

That sounds funny, I love how fake the videos can be given it doesn't even work how they say it.

[Ambidextroid]

I've heard horror stories about water in the microwave. Apparently it's possible for water to superheat in a microwave to over 100°C without boiling, due to a lack of nucleation sites. Then when you drop in a spoon or some granulated substance, the surface tension that was holding back the vapour pressure gives way and the whole thing explodes in a burst of steam. Best to stick something rough like a wooden stirrer in to make sure it can start boiling.

[Steo]

That's really strange that it's able to do that, but I guess it makes sense too. I prefer having a kettle lol.

[PluMGMK]

That sounds funny, I love how fake the videos can be given it doesn't even work how they say it.

Well, it's definitely a real thing, I think the problem was more that the microwave filled up with steam before we got a chance to see the sparks properly (But I definitely saw some small ones!)