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Comment by vwoolf | Hacker News Reader

Depends on the kind of tea. For black tea, near boiling is good, but for whites and oolongs it's not. Though I suppose the British are famous for black tea.

(I got a electric tea kettle with a built in thermometer not too long ago, so this is an interesting issue for me.)

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Depends on the kind of tea. For black tea, near boiling is good, but for whites and oolongs it's not. Though I suppose the British are famous for black tea.

In the UK (& Ireland) "tea" means black tea. You can get fancy teas, but "tea" on it's own just means black tea.

We put milk in it aswell.

And then you drink that swill?

We tried washing our hands with it instead, but that worked out even more poorly. :P Don't worry, the milk (and quite possibly sugar) kills the taste of the black tea nicely.

The milk and sugar is what I'm asking about. Black tea is just fine on its own, maybe with a bit of honey.

milk or cream tend to cut the bitter flavor in coffees and teas.

I drink my coffee with a fat source sometimes, but never my tea.

I thought the bitter flavour was the reason for drinking them?

Here's a sound guide: http://www.booksatoz.com/witsend/tea/orwell.htm

I prefer Adams' guide.

It's the nectar of the gods.

With it's own ISO standard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3103

So much so that you can't make black tea at high altitudes.

(An acquitance of mine has a kettle like yours at 1000m elevation, and with the thermostat set to 100°C it does not stop boiling of its own accord).

That's why normal electric kettles stop boiling when there's enough steam pressure.

I'm amazed that British adventurers ever managed to climb mountains if they couldn't make a decent cuppa on the way up.

We solve that problem by carrying a pressure cooker.

Well, British Tanks have a tea brewing device [1]:

"Similar to every British tank since the Centurion, and most other British AFVs, Challenger 2 contains a boiling vessel (BV)[citation needed] also known as a kettle or bivvie for water which can be used to brew tea, produce other hot beverages and heat boil-in-the-bag meals contained in ration packs.[9] This BV requirement is general for armoured vehicles of the British Armed Forces, and is unique to the armed forces of the UK."

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenger_2#Crew_and_accommoda...

We've got our priorities straight; tea first, crushing & explosions later.

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