this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2024
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xkcd

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No, of course we don't microwave the mug WITH the teabag in it. We microwave the teabag separately.

https://explainxkcd.com/3022/

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[–] [email protected] 65 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 35 points 2 months ago

You disgust me

[–] [email protected] 55 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Where's throwing it into the harbor fall on this chart?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 months ago (20 children)

Ok, but, why is microwaved water any different the water warmed in a kettle?

This seems like a pointless thing to get worked up over.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 months ago

Went to see Randall doing his book promo and being interviewed by Matt Parker (in the UK) recently and this was his exact position on it

The audience were not on his side 😆

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

In my experience you won't actually boil water in the microwave because it takes an eternity so you end up with tea in "warm" water instead. Or apparently some people also put the tea bag in the microwave ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Brother it takes 3 minutes to boil water in the microwave. I have done this without fail.

It cools down much faster though. Not sure how that works.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago (3 children)

It doesn't cool down faster. That makes no sense.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 2 months ago (5 children)

How about someone who leaves the tea bag in the mug, sometimes for multiple days? Sips the tea with multiple bags still in it? It creeps me out and I am not even a big tea drinker.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 months ago

What the fuck

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago

Made me think of that eternal stew, but you instead add in more and more tea bags

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I've done that a few times. Mostly when the previous bag was used the night before, and I was super sleepy in the morning, so didn't even bother ditching it, saving 1.3 seconds and thinking it would make my new tea stronger.

...yeah, I don't do that anymore. But this is why I used to.

UPDATE: I just made my tea just the regular way this morning. While stirring, I realised I had left the previous night's red berry tea bag in it. I didn't want to waste an otherwise perfectly fine bag of Earl Grey, so I did it again. Not intentionally, though. Also, note to self: red berry Earl Grey is not great.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 months ago (7 children)

I’m an American who drinks tea. I’d love to hear from our distant countrymen on how accurate this is.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 months ago (3 children)

100% spot on. Microwaved tea is comparable I would say to microwaving a steak

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago

The state of education is extremely depressing holy shit.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It’s foul. Cup of Tannin, more like.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 months ago (4 children)

... wait, there are some americans who put the tea BAG in the microwave with the water?!?

I've MADE tea using a microwave before and it was ALWAYS "heating the water in the microwave, then adding the teabag to the hot water", it never even crossed my MIND to have the tea bag inside the microwave, and frankly that sounds AWFUL.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Maybe, who knows? Reheating tea though is absolutely foul. Worse than reheating coffee, somehow, and reheating coffee is pretty bad.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Why would you reheat tea in the first place? Just pour more boiling water in it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Preaching meet choir.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago (3 children)

For a start, you don't make tea in a kettle, you boil the water in that, then either pour into a mug or a teapot

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

I refuse to believe that Randall doesn't know how tea is actually made, so it has to be a meta-joke / troll.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

That’s how I do it. Electric kettle. Glass.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The patriot in me smiles every time I microwave the water. Yankee Doodle, motherfuckers.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (2 children)

is it even on the chart when my water cooler at home has a hot spigot that dispenses water at just the right temperature for tea brewing? it's basically like having a kettle that's always ready...

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (4 children)

My husband is Northern German, close enough to England that he was horrified at the thought of making tea in the microwave. And he doesn't even really drink tea when he's not sick.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

Austrian here and I too would never make tea in the microwave. (I too drink tea mostly when I am sick.)

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Patrick Stewart once said American tea was one thing he would never get used to. "For a proper cup of tea the water must be boiling when it hits the leaves." He really didn't like being brought a carafe of somewhat hot water with a teabag next to it. Even as an American I can relate.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yeah the kettle is just for boiling the water, nobody makes tea in it, that would wreck it. Yes, I'm English.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

Kettle boils the water, the TEAPOT steeps and serves the tea. Somehow people end up thinking they're the same thing.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

Loose leaf or bust! Keep the tea bagging to online shooters

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

Not perfectly relevant, but I've always enjoyed Professor Elemental's take on tea.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (6 children)

Do Americans make tea in a kettle? Teabag inside the kettle?

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (5 children)

So, where do I put my gaiwan on the spectrum?

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

Needs to map sweet tea that the south enjoys.

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