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A US scientist has brewed up a storm by offering Britain advice on making tea (apnews.com)

submitted 9 months ago by cashews_best_nut@lemmy.world to c/unitedkingdom@feddit.uk

33 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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 43 points 9 months ago (27 children)

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.

[–] Itsamelemmy@lemmy.zip 2 points 9 months ago (8 children)

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 (7 children)

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.

[–] 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.

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