I recently read a post on Uniquely tea, about tea kettles, in which Denise asks the question of what type of tea kettle people use. I originally posted my comment on that blog, but then I realized that it was interesting enough to share here as a post of its own:
My confession...I do not even own a tea kettle! I exclusively heat water for tea using a regular pot on the stove, usually, a copper bottom revere ware pot, to be precise. When the water is sufficiently hot, I pour it into a mug, teapot, or gaiwan, depending on what mood I'm in.
Why no tea kettle?
My apartment has a very small kitchen, with limited storage space. As I love food and love to cook, I have a variety of large implements, including a blender, toaster oven, and lots of food supplies. I also have a lot of cupboard space taken up by loose-leaf tea. I don't need a tea kettle to heat water, and as such, a tea kettle takes up unnecessary space. A pot, on the other hand, can be kept perpetually on the stove, because I can use it for a wide variety of purposes, including both heating water for tea, and cooking. Sometimes, especially when cooking for others in the winter, I cook using all four burners, so any implement that goes on the stove that cannot be used to cook food is taking away from my valuable kitchen space.
In the past, I've lived with people who had tea kettles, including an electronic water boiler from Zojirushi. As nifty as this device was, I did not really miss it. Electric kettles also take up a lot of space, and are less efficient from an energy usage standpoint, when compared to a gas stove, although they tend to be more efficient than electric stoves. (Gas is more efficient for heating than electricity, because over 3 times as much fuel needs to be burned to capture the free energy to produce a given unit of electricity, whereas when burning fuel directly, all available energy is converted to heat). And there's something I love about the old-fashioned process of heating water up in a pot on the stove.
I've been living without a tea kettle for well over three years now. I'm quite adept at pouring water from a large pot, into a small brewing vessel, and I rarely spill hot water, but in case I do, I usually pour over the sink anyway. And it works for me just fine!
What do you think?
Do you think I'm crazy for being such a die-hard tea enthusiast, and not owning a tea kettle? Do any of you also go without a tea kettle for heating water?
We don't have a tea kettle either, as you may remember. I think owning things is overrated. Some people have been surprised at the things I don't own for being such en enthusiast of various things.
ReplyDeleteThat's not so crazy. I'm spoiled rotten by my Breville but I make tea at my boyfriend's house the same way that you do several nights a week. Even though we can have all these fancy gadgets at the end of the day all we really need is tea and water.
ReplyDeletesuch a rebel!!
ReplyDeleteI usually heat water in the same way when we are at friends of family, or even traveling. At home I have a plain ol' stainless kettle and a gas stove. nothing fancy or electric. I was thinking of getting an electric kettle, but almost all of them have plastic parts somewhere that touch the hot water, and I stay away from that. I also think my old school kettle works just fine.
ReplyDeleteIt's perhaps surprising that you don't have a kettle, but now that you've brought it up, it seems a pan would work just fine. Maybe the heat would dissipate a little faster for the water left behind fro a refill, but probably not much.
ReplyDeleteMicrowaving water is something I avoid because it makes the water slimy.
So THAT's why I always have you over for tea, and never the other way around! ;)
ReplyDeleteYes, and why I talk about brewing "Gong Fu Style" instead of Gong Fu...haha. It's weird, I own a Gaiwan and Yixing teapot and a variety of small cups but no kettle.
DeleteI have an extra gooseneck electric kettle. If you change your mind, you're welcome to it. Maybe you just want to borrow it, and see how it feels?
DeleteGasp if you must but I don't own a kettle anymore and I've actually been using the microwave to heat water. I wrote about it at the URL listed below. I know a lot of people don't care for this method but it works okay for me. What I would be interested in knowing is if there are any reliable studies on what effect microwaving water might have. I was not able to find any.
ReplyDeletehttp://englishtea.us/2012/07/23/tea-water-to-microwave-or-not/
I haven't found any studies for this either. I do know that from my own experience, I don't tend to like the results as much when brewing tea in a microwave, but I haven't done a systematic test--I've only ever done this when I'm not at home, because I don't own a microwave, so I'm not in my ideal tea brewing environment.
DeleteI have found a rather crazy video about the superheated water, which you can find on RateTea's page on making tea using a microwave. That page offers some tips, and also addresses the question of energy efficiency, but it doesn't really compare the quality of the outcome for people who place a lot of care in brewing.