# What's wrong with using a microwave to make tea? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 11, 2024, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-using-a-microwave-to-make-tea/1011513 "2024-12-11T20:02:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-using-a-microwave-to-make-tea/1011513/101 "2024-12-12T20:16:14Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Have they never heard of **Polywater**?? I love the “Polywater” story, which I first encountered in Philip Ball’s [_Life’s Matrix: A Biography of Water_](https://philipball.co.uk/h2o-a-biography-of-water/) (link apparently goes to a retitled new edition). It is so bizarre how such a theory persisted despite no identified mechanism and inconsistent experimental observations, and how it completely disappeared from the scientific consciousness once it turned out to just be contamination. In many ways the story presaged the “cold fusion” claims of Pons and Fleischmann a couple of decades later. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-using-a-microwave-to-make-tea/1011513/102 "2024-12-12T20:52:50Z")
I live in the U.S. I have friends who have electric kettles. They all drink a lot of tea. From my observation, it takes only a few minutes for a full pot of water to come to a boil despite the pathetic American wiring. If you’re worried about superheated water, just microwave it until it boils. It will happen if you zap it long enough. A full mug of water will come to a boil in only a couple of minutes. The idea that microwaved food is unhealthful got some attention a couple of decades ago when a guy in Europe wrote that microwaving produces toxins. He got into a legal dispute with one or more companies that manufacture microwave ovens. A European court ruled that he had the right to say it because of free speech protections. The court did not rule on the truth or falsehood of his claims, but a lot of people took the court ruling as an endorsement. The guy’s claims were nonsense, full of baloney about how microwaves tear molecules apart and recombine them in horrible ways. He claimed that studies showed people would have an immune response shortly after eating microwaved food. As far as I know, no one ever reproduced those results, and the study he cited seemed to have no control group. I understand being fussy about how to brew high-quality loose-leaf tea. Each type of tea requires a different brewing temperature and time. Black teas need a higher temperature, oolongs a somewhat lower temperature, and green and white teas still lower. A properly brewed high-end tea can have all kinds of surprising flavors, including floral and toasty. But IMO it’s ridiculous to be so particular about how to brew common, everyday teabag tea. I use microwave-boiled water with PG Tips tea bags, and I like the result. I also have some fancy loose-leaf oolong and black teas, and when I brew those I measure the temperature of the water with a digital thermometer, measure the water and tea leaves carefully, and time it down to the second. I have some lapsang souchong tea, but I don’t use it for brewing. I use it in a pickle recipe that also calls for Szechuan peppercorns. The pickles come out slightly smoky, tingly, and spicy. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-using-a-microwave-to-make-tea/1011513/103 "2024-12-12T21:08:28Z")
Putting something as simple as a wooden stick, like a chopstick or stirring stick or even a toothpick, in the water will provide nucleation points to completely avoid superheating. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-using-a-microwave-to-make-tea/1011513/104 "2024-12-12T21:23:04Z")
I’ve been microwaving water for decades taking no special precautions around super-heating the water, and have never had a problem. I suspect i have occasionally done it (and seen a mug of water burst into bubbles when i dropped a tea bag into it) but nothing bad happened. I suspect it’s one of those things that is more a hypothetical problem than a real one. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-using-a-microwave-to-make-tea/1011513/105 "2024-12-12T23:12:59Z")
> [@teelabrown](#): > > Then have a second cup from the same set of leaves. Does anyone else do a second steep on their leaves? Well, sure. High-quality tea can even take much more than that, especially if, depending on the exact type of leaves, you make short infusions. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > I suspect it’s one of those things that is more a hypothetical problem than a real one. Oh, it’s real, and I first learned the hard way. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2024, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-using-a-microwave-to-make-tea/1011513/106 "2024-12-12T23:52:57Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Admittedly, Lapsang Souchong is a minority interest. You certainly won’t find it in your generic supermarket, although any tea shop worthy of the term has it. I’ve seen it in Giant Eagle. I don’t buy it, because I have a sense of taste, but I’ve seen it. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > OTOH, ordinary black tea, e.g. Lipton’s swill, gives me a sore throat all but instantly. Lipton’s is at the bare minimum level of quality that, if I’m a guest in someone’s home and they offer me tea, I will consider the rules of hospitality to obligate me to accept it. Tetley and Salada are similar. There are other teas which are below that level, which I will refuse even if doing so is impolite. Personally, I don’t like anything at all in my tea, beyond a spoonful of sugar or honey. You can keep your bergamot, your mint, your orange rind, etc., and especially your milk. Take a tea that a Brit says is strong enough that it can only be drunk with milk, and that, straight, is about what I like. > [@DemonTree](#): > > How do you know when the water’s hot enough, do you wait for bubbles to appear in the mug? You do that once, and note how long it takes (usually in the vicinity of two minutes). Thereafter, whenever you use that microwave, you just put it in for that amount of time. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-using-a-microwave-to-make-tea/1011513/107 "2024-12-13T12:24:11Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I’ve been microwaving water for decades Surely it’s boiling by now?! ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-using-a-microwave-to-make-tea/1011513/108 "2024-12-13T12:24:58Z")
It’s a Fisher Price microwave oven. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-using-a-microwave-to-make-tea/1011513/109 "2024-12-13T12:41:39Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Surely it’s boiling by now?! > [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > It’s a Fisher Price microwave oven. I’m dying here. Well done! ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-using-a-microwave-to-make-tea/1011513/110 "2024-12-13T12:42:00Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > I have tea specially harvested so that no more than one leaf is collected by the same person. This makes the tea more even, since different people choose tea leaves differently. The only water has to come from exactly 50 feet below the surface of a glacier, and it’s shipped to me within 24 hours of harvesting. I find that water that came in from a few thousand years ago just goes better. > > The only mugs I use must be from the Ming dynasty. To time the steep period, I use a cesium stopwatch, standing no further than 12 inches from the steeping tea, so I don’t let it over-steep. Plebian. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-using-a-microwave-to-make-tea/1011513/111 "2024-12-13T12:43:48Z")
Well, my power to the kettle is filtered, so there’s no noise in the line, and the cable is gold plated. And, all the knobs are wooden. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-using-a-microwave-to-make-tea/1011513/112 "2024-12-13T12:52:56Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > And, all the knobs are wooden. 🤣 🤣 🤣 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-using-a-microwave-to-make-tea/1011513/113 "2024-12-13T13:01:27Z")
Made only from the wood of a mature coffee bush harvested from the finest plantation in the best _terrior_. On the correct side of the hill. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-using-a-microwave-to-make-tea/1011513/114 "2024-12-13T13:34:45Z")
Now you’re talking. We need to apply more audiophile “tech” to tea making for sure. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-using-a-microwave-to-make-tea/1011513/115 "2024-12-13T19:16:52Z")
… but sometimes, folks, just sometimes… ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-using-a-microwave-to-make-tea/1011513/116 "2024-12-13T21:29:58Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > It’s a Fisher Price microwave oven. the early ones were actually quite good. Then they got bought out by Seiko and the quality went south … everybody on the internet knows that. > [@RitterSport](#): > > Well, my power to the kettle is filtered, so there’s no noise in the line, and the cable is gold plated. And, all the knobs are wooden. one of those high-end audio power conditioners? … I run 3 in series, and the difference between 2 and 3 is night and day. But then again, since we got the new office building down the block, our power got way dirtier (it’s the inductive load from the laser printers)… I can easily tell between weekdays and weekend power - and the friday evening tea is normally the best of the week. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-using-a-microwave-to-make-tea/1011513/117 "2024-12-13T21:45:09Z")
Oh, yeah, that’s the audiophile stuff… ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-using-a-microwave-to-make-tea/1011513/118 "2024-12-13T21:51:44Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Is there any reason why water heated in a stove-top kettle is better than water heating in a microwave? Or is this (as I suspect) a case of “that’s the way my grandmother did it so it’s the only right way to do it”? My wife’s 40 year old son visits us, maybe, once a year. He was aghast his first visit that I offered to make his tea from a microwave. “it’s inferior, blah, blah, blah” So my wife bought a kettle for him to use when he visits. Because of convenience, I still use the MW. > [@kayaker](#): > > Every series/movie I’ve ever watched set in the UK has, at some point, had someone say, “I’ll put the kettle on”. Knock at the door “Yes, who is it?” Detective constable: It’s DC Hardings, we’ve found a body in your backyard. “Right, I’ll put the kettle on”. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-using-a-microwave-to-make-tea/1011513/119 "2024-12-13T22:32:41Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > “Right, I’ll put the kettle on”. Exactly! ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-using-a-microwave-to-make-tea/1011513/120 "2024-12-13T22:46:00Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > At least the OP isn’t microwaving the teabag in the mug, that would be truly barbaric. Call me Conan. I drop in teabag in the mug, fill the mug, and heat the whole thing. Then I let the tea steep for a few minutes. That’s long enough to allow the water to heat to a consistent level throughout the mug and release all the Americanized flavor a standard supermarket teabag has to offer. Of course, I drink tea strictly for the caffeine. Those of you who actually care about the flavor are free to be fussier. Does anyone still have a teakettle for their stove/range/hotplate? We do. I use it for time when I need more than one or two cups of hot water at once. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-using-a-microwave-to-make-tea/1011513.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-using-a-microwave-to-make-tea/1011513.md?page=7)