Tea

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/30792667

Tea drinkers:

Most people use water kettles, either stovetop or electric. Some of us use realtime hot water dispensors, which are sometimes a function of coffee machines but in some rare cases they are dedicated stand-alone units.

Pros and cons to each:

stovetop water kettle on ⌁electric stove:
— slow to boil and brew
— wasteful/lossy, esp. if not induction (fuel→heat energy→steam→turbine→AC power→grid transmission→conversion back to heat energy)
— no temp control (green tea drinkers must wait for water to drop to 80°C)
+ BifL: never breaks down and generally outlives you

stovetop water kettle on 🔥gas stove:
— slow to boil and brew
+ energy efficient (fuel→transmission→heat energy); more heat loss on the stove than with electric, but still much less loss than all the electric stages
— …but all city gas pipelines are inherently leaky and unburnt gas is 25× worse for climate than CO₂ (OTOH, this leakage happens wheter you consume gas or not)
— no temp control (green tea drinkers must wait for water to drop to 80°C)
+ BifL: never breaks down and generally outlives you

⌁electric water kettle:
+ fast to boil (1m 20s to boil 25cl in my kitchen)
— …but slow to brew (brewing cannot start until all water is boiled)
— wasteful/lossy (same chain of energy losses as stovetop electric but less waste between the wall and the water)
± /some/ kettles have temp ”control”, but you have to watch it. Some exceptional units can be set to shutoff at 80°C.
+ BifL: never breaks down?

hot water dispensor (⌁electric):
— slow to boil (1m 50s according to YT video X2VdGK2t5vo)
+ …but overall faster to brew because the infusion begins instantly, and this is what matters. So what if it takes 30s longer for hot water if brewing is 1m 20s ahead of the kettle method?
— wasteful/lossy (same chain of energy losses as stovetop electric but has the least energy waste between the wall and the water as the water passes through a small heated pipe; OTOH some energy is used on the pump)
+ all appliances have true temp control, so green tea can be instantly infused with 80°C water automatically and without excessive heat
— non-BifL; it breaks! The usual electro appliance shitshow: complex design; no service manuals; no wiring diagrams; undocumented commands; booby-trapped; spring-loaded… self-destructs when disassembled; spare parts cost more than a new unit [if you can find them] because they bundle several parts together instead of selling individual components… the market seems to have abandoned the dedicated (water only) hot water dispensors

My question: after boiling water in an electric water kettle, I poured it into a glass with a meat thermometer, which went up to ~88°C. Where did the other 12 degrees go? Is it normal for water to fall so rapidly in temp, or is my thermometer dodgy?

After visiting Marocco with my siblings in 2009, I even have photo evidence of it:

I drink my mint tea with a lot of sugar, just like they thought me there. If you haven't tried maroccan type mint tea then you really should, but not if you're on a diet.

I'm just going to keep posting pictures of tea in various situations until someone tells me to cool it.

Description: a small white mug of dark English Breakfast tea with a longhaired cat looming over, all illuminated by a sunbeam.

Description: a brown cup of tea, with milk in it, on a countertop

As for the middle one I think I'd just be impressed at the effort

This community never appears in the list when I try to do a crosspost.

Crossposted from: https://rss.ponder.cat/post/71149

Typhoo Tea has fallen into administration as the 120-year-old brand's sales slump, losses widen and debts rise.

Advisory firm Kroll has been appointed to handle the administration and find a buyer for the tea business.

Vape and battery maker Supreme is front runner to buy Typhoo, but it said there was "no certainty" a deal will go ahead.

Typhoo has been trying to turn itself around for some time, but it suffered a setback after trespassers damaged its former factory in Moreton, Merseyside last year.

Sathnam Sanghera tells the story of our national drink and its imperial past.

Warning: offensive lyrics

I've not been able to drink tea for months until I bought a new mug cos my other one is infused with coffee stains.

It was only £1.30 but I can finally drink tea!!! 😀

It was once considered so important to the British way of life that the government bought up nearly the entire world’s supply of it. But the humble cup of tea could, once again, be at risk.

Shoppers have been warned there is a “nationwide” shortage of black tea linked to Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

Sainsbury’s was the first supermarket to warn of the problem. A sign in one store read: “We are experiencing supply issues affecting the nationwide supply of black tea. We apologise for any inconvenience and hope to be back in full supply soon.”

The supermarket later confirmed it was an “industry-wide issue”.

Archive link (original)

Drinking three cups of green tea a day can help reduce the risk of dementia, a doctor has revealed.

Michael Mosley discussed the benefits of drinking green tea on his BBC Radio 4 podcast Just One Thing, released today (24 January).

He spoke to Dr Edward Okello from the Human Nutrition Research Centre at the University of Newcastle about how green tea can boost brain power and health.

Professor Okello explained that there is a chemical in green tea called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) that kills off an enzyme in the brain cells that harms our mind.

The episode is here.

Looking past the sacrilege some people see in adding milk to black tea, what do milkers use in theirs?

After trying half a dozen milk-replacement products over the year, I've found Barrista-spec oat milk is the winner.
In fact, we've now ditched buying cow milk entirely.

This was a bit of a hot topic between me and my friend so I'd like more opinions on this. Some people like putting a stick of cinnamon in their tea but I find it just tastes weird. Just me?