cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/11138800

An American scientist has sparked a trans-Atlantic tempest in a teapot by offering Britain advice on its favorite hot beverage.

Bryn Mawr College chemistry professor Michelle Francl says one of the keys to a perfect cup of tea is a pinch of salt. The tip is included in Francl’s book “Steeped: The Chemistry of Tea,” published Wednesday by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Not since the Boston Tea Party has mixing tea with salt water roiled the Anglo-American relationship so much.

The salt suggestion drew howls of outrage from tea-lovers in Britain, where popular stereotype sees Americans as coffee-swilling boors who make tea, if at all, in the microwave.

The U.S. Embassy in London intervened in the brewing storm with a social media post reassuring “the good people of the U.K. that the unthinkable notion of adding salt to Britain’s national drink is not official United States policy.”

    • PatMustard
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      10 months ago

      You stare through the radiation-shielding mesh for the entire time hoping to see the bubbles and stop it before it froths everywhere? No wonder I keep seeing all these warnings about superheated water!

        • PatMustard
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          10 months ago

          It’s the main thing that people seem to talk about regarding microwaving water. But regardless of that, do you sit and watch the water through the microwave window?

          • thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            10 months ago

            no, you get used to how long it takes pretty quickly and can ignore it for the first 30 seconds safely no matter what. after like 5 attempts you just know how long to do it and there’s no actual danger so…

            • PatMustard
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              10 months ago

              Fair enough, still seems like a lot more effort than just using a kettle!

              • thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                10 months ago

                i don’t drink much tea or have much counter space. i have a microwave anyway, i see no reason to own a kettle.