I just boil a mug of water in the microwave… Am I missing anything? (For instance, am I, over time, paying more in electricity charges than I should?)
Am I really going to be the first person to say that, whatever you’re making with hot but not boiling water, it’s not a proper cup of tea.
[/pretentious Englishman]
Be careful with that. Superheated water doesn’t sound like much fun…
You are making shit cups of tea 
I have an Oster kettle - this one or maybe a model before it http://www.herbergers.com/shop/home/kitchen/coffee-tea/water-teakettles/oster-1-5-liter-electric-water-kettle_634824.html?ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=634824&utm_source=GOOG&utm_medium=CSE&utm_campaign=CI&CID=GOOG-CSE-CI
Its held up fine - its three years old and gets nearly daily use, often several times a day. I’m happy. It was the cheapest one at Target when we bought it.
Okay… Why? The water is boiling. What’s the difference?
(I boil a mug of water and drop in a tea-ball full of loose stuff. I’ve got a supplier for a nice Jasmine tea I like a lot.)
Give me some help here; don’t drop the “s” word and then just go off grinning. A little actual information, eh?
My coffee maker just broke the other day…
I’ve been using a coffee filter in a screen sieve pour boiling water over it into a cup.
Just like the old days. 
If I was ingenious id tie the filter up and just stick it in the boiling water for a min or two.
I have a cheapo Breville one, stainless steel is a must and a flip open lid with auto off. The rest you are paying for is design.
Just buy one with the above things and off ya go.
As a slightly different take on it, I use an Instant Hot like this paired with my French Press. It’s basically a hot water tank under my sink, with it’s own faucet. It may be overkill for your needs, but if you make a lot of coffee/tea (and are happy with the temperature…), it’s something to think about. I added one when I remodeled the kitchen last year.
This is the model we have at my workplace. Considering we break everything, and have been through three microwaves, two toaster ovens, three coffee grinders, and more coffee makers than I can remember, the Breville kettle linked above has survived through all of those. The same one has been on the counter and reliably boiling water for at least 5 years now.
At home, I just use a regular whistling kettle on the stove, I don’t see the point in an extra appliance that does the same work, but I know people love theirs.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve never had a container that could bring water to a proper “rolling boil” in a microwave and not spill over everywhere. It’s probably because water gets heated from all directions. By contrast, a kettle only gets heated at the bottom, so it creates a good strong circulation (convection) and brings all the water to a boil.
And a properly hot (boiling) water seems to make for good black tea. (Green tea, on the other hand, wold be ruined; you need to let the water cool down to around 175F.)
I’ve got this Hamilton Beach one which is consistently $20 at Costco. If you have access to Costco, then I can recommend it. It’s simple with a metal body, detachable base, and auto off. Well worth $20, or better still $15 if you catch a sale. More expensive ones might be better, but this has lasted 2.5 years so far with no problems. It doesn’t compare to the 240 volt one I imported from the UK and attached to a convenient 240 outlet in my old condo. That could boil 1.8 litres in less than 3 minutes. The 120 kettle takes about 7.5 minutes.
As for making coffee, since December I’ve switched from a French press to pour over. I just use a cheap filter holder, boil water, and pour. No coffee snobbery required. The cleanup is much easier than French press. The thing that makes it much better is brewing into a thermal cup. I use a metal vacuum one from Timolino which can keep coffee hot for hours.
For me, it’s the problem of burning the kettle dry. I’ve done it way too often, so I turn to something I can’t hurt!
We have a GE that we got from Walmart. It’s pretty much identical to the Faberware one that saje linked to upthread, so much so that I suspect that they both come from the same factory in China. About the same price, too.
Ours has been reliable and it has held up to a fair amount of abuse. It’s about 3 or 4 years old and gets used multiple times per day, every day, 365 days per year. It’s cheaper than a lot of the fancier ones mentioned in this thread, but it also doesn’t have any temperature control either. When the water boils, it shuts off. That’s it.
Lum! This, I did not know! I have been doing it wrong all this time!
This a subject that Brits can talk about forever. I’m currently the only Brit in the country who doesn’t drink tea, but apparently if the water isn 't hot enough, the tea is too weak, or ‘tastes like ash’ according to my girlfriend. It’s causes major trauma when we are travelling across Europe, not helped by the local supplies of weak black tea. It’s got to the point where we travel with a mini electric travel kettle and our own teabags.
I’m a french press (cafetiere as we call it) coffee drinker - I find the pour over/filter method way to weak for my tastes. Same reason I struggle to find a good coffee in the US - I prefer a good stiff Italian or french style. No milk or sugar.
I think any reasonably well-known brand would be fine so pick something you like the look of. Avoid plastic but otherwise just make sure it has automatic cut-off although I can’t imagine kettles without auto cut-off are even sold these days. Most (all?) metal kettles are ‘cordless’ (meaning you can lift the kettle off the base) now too. The very cheap plastic kettles are often not cordless so you have to unplug the power cord every time you want to fill it up which gets tiresome very quickly.
I have a shiny red kettle and I love it but kettles are so cheap for something that is used many times a day, every single day, that if I get sick of the red I’ll just buy another one :).
Glass kettles are nice and they look great but you’ll see every bit of scale build-up so you’ll be cleaning it all the time if your water is hard.
Thanks again, everyone! This is really helpful. That Breville does look great, but damn! It’s at least twice the price of some of the other kettles. Then again, if it ends up lasting twice as long, it’s well worth it. I’ll give it some thought. I don’t think I really need the continuous hot water machine right now, but it’s good to know that exists. Same goes for the pour-over style filter. Always good to have multiple methods of staying caffeinated.
Just to add my counterpoint. I have a plastic bodied jug (Sunbeam, so I don’t think you’d get one in the US) that I’ve used for over fifteen years. It doesn’t have a lid, just a wide spout where you fill it as well as pour out of it.
I have never noticed any plastic aroma or taste. There is no scaling, but that is going to vary depending on your water supply. The jug holds 1.4 litres and will boil it in less than 5 minutes, then automatically shut off.
For black tea, it should be made with boiling water. Take the pot to the jug and pour while it is still boiling. If you use tea bags or a tea ball, you should pour the water over it, not drop it into a mug or cup that has been microwaved.
All very well with the no-lid feature until the day you’re pouring out your boiling water and you notice a twig poking out the spout. Because you’ve been doing a lot of gardening, you brush this off, drink your tea. Later you’re going for another brew and absentmindedly pull on the twig. It’s attached to a cockroach.