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> Heck, you need more accuracy than that for a proper cup of tea or coffee.

No, 2 degrees C is about the right accuracy you need for a "proper" cup of tea or coffee. You'll lose that much heat in the transfer from kettle to cup. Inaccuracy of 5 degrees C in brewing will be indistinguishable for most people.

Precision also has a placebo effect. Coffee or tea will taste better to you if you put a lot of work into it.

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> Coffee or tea will taste better to you if you put a lot of work into it.

This is very true but, tangentially, this is the opposite when you make drink/food for others. I found that you get the best effect when you spend a lot of effort to cook and perfect the dish but when asked, you have to pretend you basically winged it and it wasn't a hassle

> Coffee or tea will taste better to you if you put a lot of work into it.

This is commonly known as the IKEA effect.

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