American as she is spoke

[Gob]

[Sue U]

Okay, that is hilarious.

[Bicycle Bill]

She forgot "I'm done with you — I demand to speak with the manager!"

-"BB"-

[Burning Petard]

and she left out the most basic, spoken loudly: Why can't you speak English, like normal people?

snailgate

[Gob]

Why don't you have kettles?

[MajGenl.Meade]

I'd have thought a Scottish lass would be well-used to boiling water in a pot on a stove. Never met anyone in the USA who does that - don't we all have electric kettles?

[BoSoxGal]

Except for the hot pot I briefly owned the year I lived in dorms in college (and quickly ditched after I got a kitchen), I was always a tea kettle on the stove sort of person. Growing up in the USA and living in it as an adult, I always saw a lot of whistling kettles sitting on stoves.

I stumbled into electric kettle use by way of my extended stay at my sister's over the holidays on my way from Montana back here to New England 5 years ago. She had a nice stainless one that had a few temperature settings. I got a super basic one and used it for a few years, but over the summer graduated to a more deluxe model with 7 temperature settings specified by tea type, and a built in steep timer by type, too. It has a filter basket built in and it’s a borosilicate glass, so you can watch the water heat or boil, then watch as the tea steeps and strengthens. It’s a ritual I’ve taken much lockdown pleasure in.

I love my kettle, and that it saves so much energy by heating up so much faster than a kettle on the stove is a lovely bonus.

[BoSoxGal]

According to this article, Americans still use stovetop kettles because electric kettles work too slowly here? Why Europeans use electric kettles but Americans don't

It seems to me my kettle is much faster than stovetop, I can’t test now because I no longer have a stovetop kettle. I would still keep the electric for the temperature control, as I’ve learned from my tea aficionado studies of recent months that I’ve been burning green and oolong teas for years by subjecting them to rolling boiling water.

[Long Run]

Everyone I know has an electric kettle. I'll time it next use, but I am thinking it takes no more than 2 minutes to boil about a pint/.5L. Other household members seem to get faster results without water.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Other household members seem to get faster results without water.

Just dump the tea in the kettle as-is?

[Big RR]

I think the answer of scarcity of the electric kettle in the US is simpler; while many Americans drink tea, most do it occasionally, very different from those in the UK. Even in families, I find tea drinkers are usually in the minority (my daughter drinks tea every morning and afternoon, the rest of us drink it a couple of times a week or less). Acquiring an appliance to heat the water (both in cost and counter space), when the stove can do the same thing, is just not easily justifiable. By comparison, most Americans drink coffee and have some sort of coffee maker (often an extremely expensive one that can make espresso and coffee) on their counters (not sure if they are common in the UK). It's also the reason many of my Asian friends have electric rice cookers, but I still make the occasional pot of rice on the stove.

I'm pretty sure many families of tea drinkers in the US do have the more convenient electric kettle; however, for some reason Fr. Guodo Sarducci's Mr. Tea never caught on (sadly I couldn't find the video).

[Long Run]

Other household members seem to get faster results without water.

Just dump the tea in the kettle as-is?

Or turn it on without bothering to check the fill level.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Or turn it on without bothering to check the fill level.

[Long Run]

I agree with BigRR that much fewer in the U.S. are regular tea drinkers and coffee gadgets are more common, which is likely the principle reason there may be fewer per-capita electric kettles here (though there were no statistics presented to support this proposition). The article concludes that Americans don't buy electric kettles because they can't wait 4 minutes for water to boil. Everyone knows better than to watch water boil, so that 4 minutes goes quickly when you switch on the computer, let the dogs out, feed the cats, etc., so that would not be the reason. Plus, for those who are impatient, there is the microwave.