# Style over substance, or, YEEEOOUCH! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 30, 2003, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-over-substance-or-yeeeoouch/172104 "2003-04-30T10:16:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-over-substance-or-yeeeoouch/172104/61 "2003-05-02T18:38:34Z")
Tea snobs. We’ve got 'em here too. What possible difference could the process used in boiling water matter? No wonder we dumped that crap in the harbor. ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-over-substance-or-yeeeoouch/172104/62 "2003-05-02T18:40:16Z")
The method doesn’t matter as long as the water gets to a boil. ---
**Author:** ![Balle\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@Balle\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balle_M)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-over-substance-or-yeeeoouch/172104/63 "2003-05-02T21:05:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tansu \* > \*\*Hot tea is best with BOILING water right from the kettle. Honestly. We drink a lot of hot tea over here. And we don’t really drink iced tea over here at all. \*\* Why? Does Lucas make your ice machines? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-over-substance-or-yeeeoouch/172104/64 "2003-05-02T21:07:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Larry Mudd \* > **When I worked for what was then the largest office equipment supplier in British Columbia, I had to heat the water for _my_ tea using a bent spoon and a truncated extension cord, just like they do in prison.** Luxury. In _my_ office, we have to light a dog on fire and brew our tea with its boiling piss. ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-over-substance-or-yeeeoouch/172104/65 "2003-05-02T23:16:30Z")
Dog? You had a _dog???!!!_ In my office, all you could do was fetch a cup of snow from the snowbank out back, put it inside by a window, and hope for the best. Bloody hard in winter, and far to close to that quaint American custom, iced tea. CJ I’ve always wanted to do that! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2003, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-over-substance-or-yeeeoouch/172104/66 "2003-05-02T23:37:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by evilhomer \* > \*\*In fact, even though we’ve got a perfectly good kettle here at work, I think I’m going to go and find a spoon I can bend (not with my mind - one new talent at a time) \*\* If you ask **ianzin** nicely, [he might do it remotely for you](http://www.ian-rowland.com/BTPsy/index.htm). Just don’t put any important computer disks near the spoon, though… ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-over-substance-or-yeeeoouch/172104/67 "2003-05-03T11:47:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Exgineer \* > \*\*Tea snobs. We’ve got 'em here too. What possible difference could the process used in boiling water matter? > > \*\* [science geek hat on]When you heat water up in a microwave, it won’t generally boil as it gets to 100C. It can actually superheat, and so start boiling at _above_ 100C. This is as bad for tea making, as making tea on the top of Mount Everest (since there’s a lower air pressure there, and water will boil at _less_ than 100C). Water has to boil at 100C for the perfect cup of tea. [/science geek hat off] But seriously, there is only one way to make a cup of tea, and that’s in a teapot. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-over-substance-or-yeeeoouch/172104/68 "2003-05-03T11:49:32Z")
Geez…everyone knows the perfect cup of tea is made by standing in front of the replicator and intoning “Tea. Earl Gray. Hot.” ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Doris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Sir\_Doris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Doris)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-over-substance-or-yeeeoouch/172104/69 "2003-05-03T12:53:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kabbes \* > \*\* > > Because this looks like one of those whistling kettles that you put on top of hobs. It is squat. > \*\* Ah. The same sort that was bought to replace our expired plastic jug kettle in the common room. The person who chose it, we have noted, still prefers to use the sensible plastic kettle in the kitchen. This kettle too, was chosen “because it looks good”. Tell that to the blind bloke in denial. With the plastic kettle, he could feel his way round to the handle. When he had hold of the handle of the plastic kettle, he knew the spout was at the other end. We’ve learned to always replace the kettle with the spout pointing towards the window. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-over-substance-or-yeeeoouch/172104/70 "2003-05-03T15:07:13Z")
> [@](#): > > In my office, all you could do was fetch a cup of snow from the snowbank out back, put it inside by a window, and hope for the best. Bloody hard in winter, and far to close to that quaint American custom, iced tea Luxury! When I was a lad, we had to get up half an hour before we went to bed, hike to the Himalayas to bring back one block of ice at a time, dodging Yetis all the way, and then our dad would brew the tea by setting fire to us and heating the kettle over our flaming corpses, singing Glory, Hallelejuah." ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-over-substance-or-yeeeoouch/172104/71 "2003-05-03T16:52:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jayjay \* > \*\*Geez…everyone knows the perfect cup of tea is made by standing in front of the replicator and intoning “Tea. Earl Gray. Hot.” \*\* Yes, but I’d like to see you justify a replicator in your office equipment budget. BTW, here’s the word from the SD Staff on the dangers of [boiling water in a microwave](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mmicroboil.html). ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2003, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-over-substance-or-yeeeoouch/172104/72 "2003-05-03T23:46:54Z")
All right, I s’pose I’ll humor you silly Brits for now…I’ll keep microwaving my tea, but just not tell you about it. For the record, though: I attempted to make a proper cup of tea today: boiled water in the kettle on the stove (I hate that high-pitched whistle), and poured it into the mug w/ the tea bag. Do I get points off for putting sugar in? And also - don’t laugh at my iced tea. It doesn’t even need to be iced. I can’t count the number of times I’ve depended upon the Sacred 20-Ounce Bottle of Brisk to get me through the school day: 7AM to 2:30. Good stuff. Doesn’t have to be cold, but it is good icey on hot summer days. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-over-substance-or-yeeeoouch/172104/73 "2003-05-04T00:58:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jr8 \* > \*\*Yes, but I’d like to see you justify a replicator in your office equipment budget. > \*\* I’d imagine that the first budget proposal you handed in where the petty cash line item wasn’t completely consumed by bagels, chips, coffee, tea and soda would stir some benevolent bones in the accounting office’s collective soul. That’s assuming, of course, that the accounting office is capable of benevolence. Philosophers still dispute that one. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-over-substance-or-yeeeoouch/172104/74 "2003-05-04T10:58:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NinjaChick \* > \*\*For the record, though: I attempted to make a proper cup of tea today: boiled water in the kettle on the stove (I hate that high-pitched whistle), and poured it into the mug w/ the tea bag. Do I get points off for putting sugar in? > \*\* You used a _tea bag_? In a mug? Heathen Americans! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-over-substance-or-yeeeoouch/172104/75 "2003-05-04T17:59:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Angua \* > \*\*You used a _tea bag_? In a mug? > > Heathen Americans! 😉 \*\* I don’t understand. 😕 How else do you make tea and then drink it? All right. I give up. Could one of you lovely folks (the phrase ‘Tea Nazis’ springs to mind) educate me? If I can’t use a microwave, a mug, or a teabag, how on earth do I make tea? ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-over-substance-or-yeeeoouch/172104/76 "2003-05-04T18:13:18Z")
Tea making: You will need 1 teapot 1 mug Loose tea or (in an emergency) tea bags. 1 tea strainer Milk and sugar to taste Step one: Boil the kettle and put a little bit of the boiling water into the pot; swirl it around and pour it away, this is to heat the pot. Step two: Place the tea/ tea bags into the pot. As a rough guide you need one teaspoon/bag per person and one for the pot. Step 3: Boil the kettle again. Pour the boiling water into the teapot. Leave for approx. 4 minutes. Add the milk to the cup now if you want it. Step 4: Pour the tea into the mug, thoguh a tea strainer (unless you like leaves in your mug :))add sugar if you want it. Drink when cool enough. For further details, see The Salmon of Doubt" by Douglas Adams 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-over-substance-or-yeeeoouch/172104/77 "2003-05-04T20:29:29Z")
> [@](#): > > The method doesn’t matter as long as the water gets to a boil. Well, then, how about a partial vacuum? Although finding these two posts in the same thread was truly a mind-boggling experience: 😉 > [@](#): > > **Jayjay:** Forget about using priapism. I’m still waiting for the man who can demonstrate it properly… > > **kabbes:** Nothing wrong with our wall mounted unit at work. It’s just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2003, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-over-substance-or-yeeeoouch/172104/78 "2003-05-04T20:33:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Polycarp \* > \*\*Well, then, how about a partial vacuum? > > \*\* It won’t work 🙂 Basically, for tea, you need water at 100C, in a partial vacuum, water will boil at a lower temperature, making it useless for tea. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/style-over-substance-or-yeeeoouch/172104.md?page=3)