United Kingdom

4038 readers

239 users here now

General community for news/discussion in the UK.

Less serious posts should go in !casualuk@feddit.uk or !andfinally@feddit.uk
More serious politics should go in !uk_politics@feddit.uk.

Try not to spam the same link to multiple feddit.uk communities.
Pick the most appropriate, and put it there.

Posts should be related to UK-centric news, and should be either a link to a reputable source, or a text post on this community.

Opinion pieces are also allowed, provided they are not misleading/misrepresented/drivel, and have proper sources.

If you think "reputable news source" needs some definition, by all means start a meta thread.

Posts should be manually submitted, not by bot. Link titles should not be editorialised.

Disappointing comments will generally be left to fester in ratio, outright horrible comments will be removed.
Message the mods if you feel something really should be removed, or if a user seems to have a pattern of awful comments.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

tom@feddit.uk

GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk

A US scientist has brewed up a storm by offering Britain advice on making tea (apnews.com)

submitted 7 months ago by cashews_best_nut@lemmy.world to c/unitedkingdom@feddit.uk

33 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/11138800

An American scientist has sparked a trans-Atlantic tempest in a teapot by offering Britain advice on its favorite hot beverage.

Bryn Mawr College chemistry professor Michelle Francl says one of the keys to a perfect cup of tea is a pinch of salt. The tip is included in Francl’s book “Steeped: The Chemistry of Tea,” published Wednesday by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Not since the Boston Tea Party has mixing tea with salt water roiled the Anglo-American relationship so much.

The salt suggestion drew howls of outrage from tea-lovers in Britain, where popular stereotype sees Americans as coffee-swilling boors who make tea, if at all, in the microwave.

...

The U.S. Embassy in London intervened in the brewing storm with a social media post reassuring “the good people of the U.K. that the unthinkable notion of adding salt to Britain’s national drink is not official United States policy.”

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

you uhh... you look at it.

[–] PatMustard@feddit.uk 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

You stare through the radiation-shielding mesh for the entire time hoping to see the bubbles and stop it before it froths everywhere? No wonder I keep seeing all these warnings about superheated water!

[–] thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

you can only super heat distilled water. that's not a thing with regular drinking water lol

[–] PatMustard@feddit.uk 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It's the main thing that people seem to talk about regarding microwaving water. But regardless of that, do you sit and watch the water through the microwave window?

[–] thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

no, you get used to how long it takes pretty quickly and can ignore it for the first 30 seconds safely no matter what. after like 5 attempts you just know how long to do it and there's no actual danger so...

[–] PatMustard@feddit.uk 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Fair enough, still seems like a lot more effort than just using a kettle!

[–] thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

i don't drink much tea or have much counter space. i have a microwave anyway, i see no reason to own a kettle.