Well that’s it - an electric kettle is three times faster, no exaggeration. Admittedly that’s with higher UK voltage, maybe the difference is not so marked at 110V. As **Candyman **has said, a “cuppa” is supposed to be a quick, no-nonsense refreshment.
Personally I’m slightly baffled by the enormous popularity of tea in these islands. I mean, I’ll drink it if offered, and sometimes will make it for myself, but many people seem unable to go more than a few hours without a cup of tea.
I have my grandmother bring me tea when she comes down and I always buy tea when I go up to visit. Just the plain old Red Rose tea bags in Canada are miles ahead of what you buy in the states. IMHO, you can brew a stronger tea without it getting bitter.
I’m not one for flavored teas or flowers and other stuff in my tea. I want just plain old tea.
I don’t understand you don’t understand why going to a lobby and heating up water in a microwave to make a cup of tea doesn’t appeal to me. Making a cup of tea in a hotel lobby? Really?
As for your other comment - that’s nonsense and insulting. I don’t know if you consider my tea drinking preferences to be an indictment of your national character - it’s not. It’s merely an observation that a decent cuppa is hard to come by there.
I didn’t start the friggin’ thread. I just tried to clarify my preference when I discovered my views were being discussed in a thread all their own. For some reason this seems to be upsetting people. Had I know in advance, I wouldn’t have bothered.
I’m not trying to upset people by indicating I have a preference as to how I enjoy a cup of tea.
To summarize what I think our UK contingent is saying in this thread: Yes, you can get a decent cup of tea in the US, but it tends to be a major pain in the ass because if you’re at a restaurant they are likely not to offer boiling water, and if you’re at someone’s house they’re likely to not have a kettle and if you’re at a hotel you might just be screwed, period. You do not need to purchase high-dollar tea from specialty shops to make a good cup of tea. You just need reasonably decent bagged tea, boiling water, and maybe milk and sugar. And the US is not a bad place for not being tea-centric any more than the UK is a bad place for not being particularly coffee-centric.
I hope I got that right. 
I think the answer to the OP is that the statement is not true. It is possible to get. Like many things when you travel, it isn’t as convenient as when you are home or in your home town.
I would like to point out that the point of the thread was not actually the truth of the statement but rather *how *a person could go about getting a good cuppa.
I really didn’t intend to put Candyman in a position where he had to defend himself as it isn’t a unique attitude.
Actually since part of the definition of a “good” cuppa has to do with it’s ready availablility to the point of being ubiquitous, I would answer the opposite: no, it is not possible to be in the US and have the kind of tea available, the way you prefer it, nearly everywhere and for cheap.
Quoth Ascenray:
McDonald’s was selling sweet tea nationwide, at least for a little while. I tried some, and it was unspeakably vile. I’ve since had homemade sweet tea, and it was much better, though still not my thing (rather overbrewed and far too sweet).
You didn’t make a preference statement. You used the word “decent”–a quality judgement. You also said you “dread” coming here because of your tea, meaning you think it important. But then when people tell you how to get it, you dismiss them all. I submit that you do not care nearly as much as you implied about your cuppa tea, or you’d be willing to do something different to get it.
So you essentially said something bad about American tea when tea’s not even that big a deal to you. Can you see why some people would take it as a slam against the country?
Oh, hold the phone now. He said something bad about American tea?
Stone him.
(replying ti BigT) You’re kidding right? Can’t you just take at face value his claim that “decent” includes cheap, easily available, and made by someone else in a manner that doesn’t require any effort to obtain?
Oh don’t be so silly. I made a clearly colloquial comment in another thread.
No, I don’t actually DREAD coming to America. I have no Vulcan blood, unfortunately, and assume others recognise light hearted hyperbole.
Does this help:
ENGAGE ROBOT MODE
When in the US I sometimes miss the easy availability of a cuppa like I get at home but I definitely, definitely don’t believe that makes Americans a race of degenerate apes, and there are other unconnected things about your country that I enjoy.
END ROBOT MODE
For fuck’s sake.
I’m out of here. Yes you are the best. Your tea is the best. My inability to conveniently locate a nice cuppa in your country is my own personal deficiency.
Jeez. Fuck off. You obnoxious twat.
Not really, sez this American. The equivalent of “I can’t get the kind of tea I like in the U.S” hardly rises to the level of a slam in my book.
To the mods: I apologise for the above post. I can’t edit it out due to the edit window, but it was an overreaction, and I was wrong to post it. I’ve just felt really put-upon in this thread, which I didn’t even start. It’s made me reluctant to even state a preference on these boards (even about something as trivial as my taste in tea) lest a thread be started about it and the hounds descend.
I’m sorry for the profanity in my previous post. I was angry and defensive, but it was wrong.
Surely no adult, with a working brain, would think this?
I can not even begin to express how sorry I am that this thread took that kind of turn.
I feel like something is about to get dumped in the harbor.
Edit: Also, seriously Candyman, I think the vast majority of participants in this thread understand perfectly where you’re coming from.
Ok, perhaps (well, not really perhaps I guess) a bit off-topic, but when I drink tea, I have to pee like every 10 minutes. No lie. How does someone who LIVES on the stuff spend any time anywhere except the lavatory? There is nothing that goes through me like tea does!
When I was in Ireland 3 years ago, I tried the Barry’s in the brown box and it was foul beyond belief. But the Barry’s in the red box is very nice indeed. What’s the most popular of the Barry’s?
That’s mostly from the caffeine: Does coffee have the same effect on you? But different people are affected differently by caffeine, and in particular, folks who get a lot of it don’t have as much effect from it.