I once had a whistling stove-top kettle designed by Murphy's evil cousin. Its dime-sized spout made it difficult to fill, and the whistle never worked as the manufacturers claimed. Instead of emitting an attention-grabbing shriek, it would splutter apologetically and then gear down to a soft whimper. Despite its small capacity, the water took so long to heat I'd forget and boil the thing dry. This dislodged the built-up lime, and left the house smelling like singed metal. It was the gaff that kept on giving as I'd find white, chalk-like bits floating in my tea for days. Suffice it to say, I didn't mourn its passing.
We've had perfectly good, unremarkable electric kettles ever since. When our last kettle died on Saturday, half-way to the boil, we promptly replaced it during a whirlwind trip to the grocery store. I admit I did no research whatsoever on the purchase. I walked up to the household section and grabbed. Once at home, I realized my new kettle is cordless, shuts off automatically, has a little window for me to see the water level, and boasts a sporty little compass. No, wait. It's a temperature gauge.
It took me a while to see the virtue of installing a thermometer in a kettle. Initially, I thought it was to keep impatient people like me preoccupied. Watching the little needle hit 100C (212F) is surprisingly entertaining. Now that the thrill is gone, I realize it's actually a useful feature that will allow me to return to the ranks of green tea granny. You see, I once interviewed Travis Arndorfer, co-author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Coffee and Tea and learned I didn't like green tea because I was making it wrong. Boiling water is perfect for black tea, but brings out the bitterness in green. Apparently, 170-180F (77 - 82C) is the target temperature for most green teas. Perfectionist that I am, I promptly stopped making green tea, which is not what Mr. Arndorfer intended.
Now that my snazzy new kettle lets me monitor water temperature, I can make a pot of piping hot Earl Grey, a cup of gently warm green and try my new Pomegranate Green & White tea with impunity. Oh bother. Anyone out there know the target temperature for white tea?
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Watching a pot almost boil
I once had a whistling stove-top kettle designed by Murphy's evil cousin. Its dime-sized spout made it difficult to fill, and the whistle never worked as the manufacturers claimed. Instead of emitting an attention-grabbing shriek, it would splutter apologetically and then gear down to a soft whimper. Despite its small capacity, the water took so long to heat I'd forget and boil the thing dry. This dislodged the built-up lime, and left the house smelling like singed metal. It was the gaff that kept on giving as I'd find white, chalk-like bits floating in my tea for days. Suffice it to say, I didn't mourn its passing.
We've had perfectly good, unremarkable electric kettles ever since. When our last kettle died on Saturday, half-way to the boil, we promptly replaced it during a whirlwind trip to the grocery store. I admit I did no research whatsoever on the purchase. I walked up to the household section and grabbed. Once at home, I realized my new kettle is cordless, shuts off automatically, has a little window for me to see the water level, and boasts a sporty little compass. No, wait. It's a temperature gauge.
It took me a while to see the virtue of installing a thermometer in a kettle. Initially, I thought it was to keep impatient people like me preoccupied. Watching the little needle hit 100C (212F) is surprisingly entertaining. Now that the thrill is gone, I realize it's actually a useful feature that will allow me to return to the ranks of green tea granny. You see, I once interviewed Travis Arndorfer, co-author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Coffee and Tea and learned I didn't like green tea because I was making it wrong. Boiling water is perfect for black tea, but brings out the bitterness in green. Apparently, 170-180F (77 - 82C) is the target temperature for most green teas. Perfectionist that I am, I promptly stopped making green tea, which is not what Mr. Arndorfer intended.
Now that my snazzy new kettle lets me monitor water temperature, I can make a pot of piping hot Earl Grey, a cup of gently warm green and try my new Pomegranate Green & White tea with impunity. Oh bother. Anyone out there know the target temperature for white tea?
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