3022: Making Tea - Revision history

Jkshapiro: /* Other tea controversies */ No need for both synonyms

2025-12-07T03:01:45Z

‎Other tea controversies: No need for both synonyms

Jkshapiro: /* Other tea controversies */ Simplify pronouns

2025-12-07T03:01:02Z

‎Other tea controversies: Simplify pronouns

98.146.183.226: /* Methods mentioned */ The phrase "borderline heretical" definitely needs citation.

2025-10-28T20:51:48Z

‎Methods mentioned: The phrase "borderline heretical" definitely needs citation.

172.70.86.134: /* Explanation */ Clarify that electric kettles are used to boil water and not to boil anything else - putting the teabag in the kettle is off the scale for annoying the British.

2024-12-20T17:21:53Z

‎Explanation: Clarify that electric kettles are used to boil water and not to boil anything else - putting the teabag in the kettle is off the scale for annoying the British.

Rustykid52 at 20:14, 17 December 2024

2024-12-17T20:14:36Z

Tromag at 15:19, 16 December 2024

2024-12-16T15:19:31Z

172.69.64.236 at 15:11, 16 December 2024

2024-12-16T15:11:35Z

172.71.158.19: /* Methods mentioned */

2024-12-16T04:35:14Z

‎Methods mentioned

Lettherebedarklight: /* Transcript */

2024-12-14T09:35:04Z

‎Transcript

172.70.90.119: /* Explanation */ Water must be boiling, not recently boiled when making tea. This is the issue with using a microwave as well

2024-12-12T13:12:42Z

‎Explanation: Water must be boiling, not recently boiled when making tea. This is the issue with using a microwave as well

@@ Line 40: / Line 40: @@
 The former tends to be a more formal method, to serve in polite company, ''or'' from the traditional need to prepare a large volume of tea for an indeterminate number of recipients and refills, such as in a canteen/cafeteria situation, where the 'pot' stays hot for almost as long as the supply lasts. A prepared teapot of tea allows a fairly consistent 'brew' that is readily poured out into teacups (or mugs) as and when required, and can be readily topped up if an increase in the supply is needed.
-The latter method relies upon individual teabags or loose-leaf tea in an individual infuser, and lets each recipient leave the tea in for as long as they personally prefer (or end up having to), which reflects more individual flexibility. Again, this splits between 'high' and 'low' class use. The infamous "builders' tea" often has the teabag left in for a long time (even during drinking), with plenty of milk and sugar, to perhaps produce an increasingly dense brew as the workers concerned take opportune sips as they can during their work. Conversely, the trend in more stylish restaurants and tearooms tends to be to supply each customer their teacup together with an individual small vessel of freshly boiled water (rarely more than one or two cups-worth) and the recipient's choices of bagged tea (including fruit/herbal) and additions (milk, or equivalent, lemon, etc, plus sweeteners of all kinds), letting them prepare their own infusion exactly in their own way; this is often presented with an air of 'continental sophistication', but may bemuse and confuse the more down-to-Earth British tea-drinker used to their home method, as does the choice of dozens of fancy coffees from a barista when they'd be happy enough with a decent "instant coffee".
+The latter method relies upon individual teabags or loose-leaf tea in an individual infuser, and lets each recipient leave the tea in for as long as they personally prefer (or end up having to), which reflects more individual flexibility. Again, this splits between 'high' and 'low' class use. The infamous "builders' tea" often has the teabag left in for a long time (even during drinking), with plenty of milk and sugar, to perhaps produce an increasingly dense brew as the workers concerned take opportune sips as they can during their work. Conversely, the trend in more stylish restaurants and tearooms tends to be to supply each customer their teacup together with an individual small vessel of freshly boiled water (rarely more than one or two cups-worth) and the recipient's choices of bagged tea (including fruit/herbal) and additions (milk, or equivalent, lemon, etc, plus sweeteners of all kinds), letting them prepare their own infusion exactly in their own way; this is often presented with an air of 'continental sophistication', but may confuse the more down-to-Earth British tea-drinker used to their home method, as does the choice of dozens of fancy coffees from a barista when they'd be happy enough with a decent "instant coffee".
 The issue of whether the milk (not obligatory, but decisively traditional) should be put in ''before'' the tea (or teabag!) is also often considered {{tvtropes|SeriousBusiness|Serious Business}}...

@@ Line 40: / Line 40: @@
 The former tends to be a more formal method, to serve in polite company, ''or'' from the traditional need to prepare a large volume of tea for an indeterminate number of recipients and refills, such as in a canteen/cafeteria situation, where the 'pot' stays hot for almost as long as the supply lasts. A prepared teapot of tea allows a fairly consistent 'brew' that is readily poured out into teacups (or mugs) as and when required, and can be readily topped up if an increase in the supply is needed.
-The latter method relies upon individual teabags or loose-leaf tea in an individual infuser, and lets each recipient leave the tea in for as long as they personally prefer (or end up having to), which reflects more individual flexibility. Again, this splits between 'high' and 'low' class use. The infamous "builders' tea" often has the teabag left in for a long time (even during drinking), with plenty of milk and sugar, to perhaps produce an increasingly dense brew as the workman concerned takes opportune sips as he (usually) can during his work. Conversely, the trend in more stylish restaurants and tearooms tends to be to supply each customer their teacup together with an individual small vessel of freshly boiled water (rarely more than one or two cups-worth) and the recipient's choices of bagged tea (including fruit/herbal) and additions (milk, or equivalent, lemon, etc, plus sweeteners of all kinds), letting them prepare their own infusion exactly in their own way; this is often presented with an air of 'continental sophistication', but may bemuse and confuse the more down-to-Earth British tea-drinker used to their home method, as does the choice of dozens of fancy coffees from a barista when they'd be happy enough with a decent "instant coffee".
+The latter method relies upon individual teabags or loose-leaf tea in an individual infuser, and lets each recipient leave the tea in for as long as they personally prefer (or end up having to), which reflects more individual flexibility. Again, this splits between 'high' and 'low' class use. The infamous "builders' tea" often has the teabag left in for a long time (even during drinking), with plenty of milk and sugar, to perhaps produce an increasingly dense brew as the workers concerned take opportune sips as they can during their work. Conversely, the trend in more stylish restaurants and tearooms tends to be to supply each customer their teacup together with an individual small vessel of freshly boiled water (rarely more than one or two cups-worth) and the recipient's choices of bagged tea (including fruit/herbal) and additions (milk, or equivalent, lemon, etc, plus sweeteners of all kinds), letting them prepare their own infusion exactly in their own way; this is often presented with an air of 'continental sophistication', but may bemuse and confuse the more down-to-Earth British tea-drinker used to their home method, as does the choice of dozens of fancy coffees from a barista when they'd be happy enough with a decent "instant coffee".
 The issue of whether the milk (not obligatory, but decisively traditional) should be put in ''before'' the tea (or teabag!) is also often considered {{tvtropes|SeriousBusiness|Serious Business}}...

@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 ;Microwaving a mug
-:As mentioned above, heating water in a microwave, for any purpose, is considered acceptable and common in the US. To do so to make tea is considered uncommon and borderline heretical in the UK. The reasons for this are difficult to pin down. Some argue that the microwave doesn't allow proper control over the water temperature (which is considered vital for proper tea-making), or doesn't easily allow the water to come to a full boil. Others raise the danger of superheating water which might boil over when the tea bag is added. Some people even argue that microwaving changes the quality or composition of the water in some way. The validity of these theories varies, but it's unlikely that any of them has enough objective basis to justify serious antipathy towards the method.
+:As mentioned above, heating water in a microwave, for any purpose, is considered acceptable and common in the US. To do so to make tea is considered uncommon and borderline heretical{{acn}} in the UK. The reasons for this are difficult to pin down. Some argue that the microwave doesn't allow proper control over the water temperature (which is considered vital for proper tea-making), or doesn't easily allow the water to come to a full boil. Others raise the danger of superheating water which might boil over when the tea bag is added. Some people even argue that microwaving changes the quality or composition of the water in some way. The validity of these theories varies, but it's unlikely that any of them has enough objective basis to justify serious antipathy towards the method.
 :Another disputed theory for the difference in approach surrounds convenience. Electric kettles and microwaves are both highly efficient methods of heating water with electricity, but electric kettles in the UK tend to draw significantly more power than either US kettles or microwaves (due, in part, to higher main voltage in the UK grid). As a result, UK kettles can heat an equivalent volume of water significantly faster than can microwaves. When making a single cup, the difference is unlikely to be significant, but when making tea for a whole family, or for guests (as is much more common in the UK), using a microwave would be much less convenient.
 :Ultimately, though, the difference probably comes down to an accident of culture. Most likely, the preparation of tea simply has a sense of tradition and ritual in Britain, and using a microwave feels crass, modern, and completely disconnected from the cultural associations of tea.

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 ==Explanation==
-{{w|Tea}} is exceptionally popular in the United Kingdom (although [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpll9l535o decreasingly so], and not as serious a business as in {{w|Japanese tea ceremony|Japan}} and {{w|Chinese tea culture|China}}). Electric kettles are a standard appliance in British homes (used to make tea, coffee, soup powders, instant mash, etc) and teapots and other related crockery can be found in many cupboards, or even on a shelf in full display, whether or not regularly used. British people are perceived as taking tea seriously, having very specific and strongly held opinions on the proper way to make tea. In contrast, tea (especially hot tea) is less commonplace in the United States of America (Randall's native country), and few people are particularly serious about it. Coffee is a much more common hot beverage, and both homes and offices are far more likely to have automatic coffee makers than electric kettles. While some US households have kettles that can be put on a stove top, many do not have any specific device to boil water. As a result, when Americans need a cup of hot water — for tea or otherwise — the options are usually to use a pan on the stove, or to simply microwave a mug of water (the latter probably being more common in modern times).
+{{w|Tea}} is exceptionally popular in the United Kingdom (although [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpll9l535o decreasingly so], and not as serious a business as in {{w|Japanese tea ceremony|Japan}} and {{w|Chinese tea culture|China}}). Electric kettles are a standard appliance in British homes (used to boil water for tea, coffee, soup powders, instant mash, etc) and teapots and other related crockery can be found in many cupboards, or even on a shelf in full display, whether or not regularly used. British people are perceived as taking tea seriously, having very specific and strongly held opinions on the proper way to make tea. In contrast, tea (especially hot tea) is less commonplace in the United States of America (Randall's native country), and few people are particularly serious about it. Coffee is a much more common hot beverage, and both homes and offices are far more likely to have automatic coffee makers than electric kettles. While some US households have kettles that can be put on a stove top, many do not have any specific device to boil water. As a result, when Americans need a cup of hot water — for tea or otherwise — the options are usually to use a pan on the stove, or to simply microwave a mug of water (the latter probably being more common in modern times).
 British people are stereotyped as taking genuine offense to microwaved water, believing it to be an objectively incorrect way to make tea. Randall mocks this stereotype through exaggeration, saying British people would be significantly less offended by someone stealing {{w|Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom|the Crown Jewels}} and using those for tea-making than they would be by tea made with a cup of microwaved water.

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:14, 17 December 2024
Line 10:		Line 10:

	==Explanation==		==Explanation==
−	~~{{incomplete\|Microwaved by a BRITISH PERSON RAGING OVER TEA MADE FROM THE GREAT LAKES - Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}~~
	{{w\|Tea}} is exceptionally popular in the United Kingdom (although [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpll9l535o decreasingly so], and not as serious a business as in {{w\|Japanese tea ceremony\|Japan}} and {{w\|Chinese tea culture\|China}}). Electric kettles are a standard appliance in British homes (used to make tea, coffee, soup powders, instant mash, etc) and teapots and other related crockery can be found in many cupboards, or even on a shelf in full display, whether or not regularly used. British people are perceived as taking tea seriously, having very specific and strongly held opinions on the proper way to make tea. In contrast, tea (especially hot tea) is less commonplace in the United States of America (Randall's native country), and few people are particularly serious about it. Coffee is a much more common hot beverage, and both homes and offices are far more likely to have automatic coffee makers than electric kettles. While some US households have kettles that can be put on a stove top, many do not have any specific device to boil water. As a result, when Americans need a cup of hot water — for tea or otherwise — the options are usually to use a pan on the stove, or to simply microwave a mug of water (the latter probably being more common in modern times).		{{w\|Tea}} is exceptionally popular in the United Kingdom (although [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpll9l535o decreasingly so], and not as serious a business as in {{w\|Japanese tea ceremony\|Japan}} and {{w\|Chinese tea culture\|China}}). Electric kettles are a standard appliance in British homes (used to make tea, coffee, soup powders, instant mash, etc) and teapots and other related crockery can be found in many cupboards, or even on a shelf in full display, whether or not regularly used. British people are perceived as taking tea seriously, having very specific and strongly held opinions on the proper way to make tea. In contrast, tea (especially hot tea) is less commonplace in the United States of America (Randall's native country), and few people are particularly serious about it. Coffee is a much more common hot beverage, and both homes and offices are far more likely to have automatic coffee makers than electric kettles. While some US households have kettles that can be put on a stove top, many do not have any specific device to boil water. As a result, when Americans need a cup of hot water — for tea or otherwise — the options are usually to use a pan on the stove, or to simply microwave a mug of water (the latter probably being more common in modern times).

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 ==Explanation==
 {{incomplete|Microwaved by a BRITISH PERSON RAGING OVER TEA MADE FROM THE GREAT LAKES - Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
-{{w|Tea}} is exceptionally popular in the United Kingdom (although [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpll9l535o decreasingly so], and not as serious a business as in {{w|Japanese tea ceremony|Japan}} and {{w|Chinese tea culture|China}}). Virtually every home has an electric kettle as a standard appliance for boiling hot water (used to make tea, coffee, soup powders, instant mash, etc) and teapots and other related crockery can be found in many cupboards, or even on a shelf in full display, whether or not regularly used. British people are perceived as taking tea seriously, having very specific and strongly held opinions on the proper way to make tea. In contrast, tea (especially hot tea) is less commonplace in the United States of America (Randall's native country) and owning tea-making equipment is probably far less common than having coffee-makers and/or juicers of various kinds. While some US households have kettles that can be put on a stove top, many do not have any specific device to boil water. As a result, when Americans need a cup of hot water — for tea or otherwise — the options are usually to use a pan on the stove, or to simply microwave a mug of water (the latter probably being more common in modern times). {{w|Instant hot water dispenser|Instant hot water taps}} are also common in many homes, water coolers, and public drinking fountains in the US; they are being marketed for "high-end kitchens" in the UK, in particularly fancy multi-function taps (US: 'faucets'), but the British are still somewhat reluctant to accept the 'mixer tap' concept, and probably will take quite some time to accept that tea-appropriate boiling water can be obtained directly from the sink's plumbing.
+{{w|Tea}} is exceptionally popular in the United Kingdom (although [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpll9l535o decreasingly so], and not as serious a business as in {{w|Japanese tea ceremony|Japan}} and {{w|Chinese tea culture|China}}). Virtually every home has an electric kettle as a standard appliance for boiling hot water (used to make tea, coffee, soup powders, instant mash, etc) and teapots and other related crockery can be found in many cupboards, or even on a shelf in full display, whether or not regularly used. British people are perceived as taking tea seriously, having very specific and strongly held opinions on the proper way to make tea. In contrast, tea (especially hot tea) is less commonplace in the United States of America (Randall's native country) and owning tea-making equipment is probably far less common than having coffee-makers and/or juicers of various kinds. While some US households have kettles that can be put on a stove top, many do not have any specific device to boil water. As a result, when Americans need a cup of hot water — for tea or otherwise — the options are usually to use a pan on the stove, or to simply microwave a mug of water (the latter probably being more common in modern times). The exception would be if a hot water dispenser was available, but dispensers hot enough to make tea are uncommon in American homes.
 British people are stereotyped as taking genuine offense to microwaved water, believing it to be an objectively incorrect way to make tea. Randall mocks this stereotype through exaggeration, saying British people would be significantly less offended by someone stealing {{w|Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom|the Crown Jewels}} and using those for tea-making than they would be by tea made with a cup of microwaved water.
@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 ===Methods mentioned===
 ;Making it in a kettle
-:Perhaps an intentional misnomer. Water may be ''boiled'' in a kettle, but the tea itself is made in a separate {{w|teapot}}, with loose or bagged tea-leaves, ready for pouring into any number of {{w|teacup}}s, {{w|mug}}s or {{w|vacuum flask|thermos flask}} as required. Making tea actually ''in'' the kettle, by placing the tea in with the water and then boiling it, would be considered ''very'' bad form  and render the kettle less useful for its other purposes (and likely void your warranty). Boiling the water in a kettle is standard practice (occasionally a {{w|Water heating|potable water geyser}} or similar may be available), leaving the tea-making process to occur in the teapot (as above) or the drinking vessel (as below). Randall may be suggesting that the spectacle of someone making tea directly in a kettle would be so bizarre that a British onlooker would be so baffled that they would completely forget to be angry about it, but the absence of a data point for the historically standard method "making it in a teapot" could suggest more that he's accidentally written "in a kettle" when he meant "with a kettle".
+:Perhaps an intentional misnomer. Water may be ''boiled'' in a kettle, but the tea itself is made in a separate {{w|teapot}}, with loose or bagged tea-leaves, ready for pouring into any number of {{w|teacup}}s, {{w|mug}}s or {{w|vacuum flask|thermos flask}} as required. Making tea actually ''in'' the kettle, by placing the tea in with the water and then boiling it, would be considered ''very'' bad form  and render the kettle less useful for its other purposes (and likely void your warranty). Boiling the water in a kettle is standard practice (occasionally a {{w|Water heating|potable water geyser}} or similar may be available), leaving the tea-making process to occur in the teapot (as above) or the drinking vessel (as below).
 ;Boiling water in a pot, steeping in a mug
-:Identical to the basic boiling process above, except using a pot (commonly called a 'saucepan' in the UK) on the stove, rather than a kettle. This is slightly less convenient than using a kettle (since the pan often lacks a dedicated spout for pouring, and either whistle, which the steam sounds when the water boils, or the automatic cut-off found on most electric kettles), but is otherwise functionally identical. Nonetheless, the comic notes that Brits would take mild offense, considering it to be inferior to using a kettle.
+:Identical to the basic boiling process above, except using a pot (commonly called a 'saucepan' in the UK) on the stove, rather than a kettle. This is slightly less convenient than using a kettle (since pans generally lack a dedicated spout for pouring and a whistle to signal when the water boils), but is otherwise functionally identical. Nonetheless, the comic notes that Brits would take mild offense, considering it to be inferior to using a kettle.
 :To confuse matters, British people would normally take '{{wiktionary|pot#Noun|pot}}' (in the specific context of tea-making) to be [https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/one+for+the+pot short for 'teapot']. However, a ceramic teapot should ''never'' be directly heated in the manner of a pan or a kettle. It should be filled with freshly boiled water, ''ideally'' after an initial small splash of hot water is swirled around it to warm the teapot to prevent cracking and then the requisite number of teabags (or quantity of tealeaves) dropped in.

@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 :Another disputed theory for the difference in approach surrounds convenience. Electric kettles and microwaves are both highly efficient methods of heating water with electricity, but electric kettles in the UK tend to draw significantly more power than either US kettles or microwaves (due, in part, to higher main voltage in the UK grid). As a result, UK kettles can heat an equivalent volume of water significantly faster than can microwaves. When making a single cup, the difference is unlikely to be significant, but when making tea for a whole family, or for guests (as is much more common in the UK), using a microwave would be much less convenient.
 :Ultimately, though, the difference probably comes down to an accident of culture. Most likely, the preparation of tea simply has a sense of tradition and ritual in Britain, and using a microwave feels crass, modern, and completely disconnected from the cultural associations of tea. It may also feel wrong because it inverts the expectation that the hot water is poured over the tea, requiring instead that the tea be submerged in the water. Meanwhile, electric kettles have simply never really caught on in the US.
-:The title text continues with this theme, by reassuring us that the microwaved mug doesn't have a teabag in it (analogous to the 'boiling tea-kettle' version). It then strays into farce, though, by suggesting it is separately microwaved. There is no obvious reason to microwave a teabag. Microwave ovens heat water molecules almost exclusively, and tealeaves (and bag) should be dry before use, with no water molecules to heat. The wrongheadedness of this claim does little but provoke a skeptic's doubts about how utterly perverse this colonial variation on tea-making has become.
+:The title text continues with this theme, by reassuring us that the microwaved mug doesn't have a teabag in it (analogous to the 'boiling tea-kettle' version). It then strays into farce, though, by suggesting it is separately microwaved. In reality there is no obvious reason to microwave a teabag: Microwave ovens heat water molecules almost exclusively, and tealeaves (and bag) should be dry before use, with no water molecules to heat. The wrongheadedness of this claim does little but provoke a skeptic's doubts about how utterly perverse this colonial variation on tea-making has become.
 ===Other tea controversies===

@@ Line 49: / Line 49: @@
 ==Transcript==
 :[A line chart is shown. Above the chart are, from top to bottom, a heading, a subheading, and an arrow pointing right with a label above. On the line there are four labeled tick marks, with the labels written beneath the line. A small curved line is going from each label to below their tick. The first two ticks are close together on the far left side of the graph, the third is approximately in the center, and the fourth is on the far right side of the graph.]
-:<big>Ways of Making Tea</big>
+:<big>Ways of making tea</big>
 :By how angry British people get when Americans do them
 :More angry