# Tea drinkers...nuke your water or kettle boil?



## RedRose (Aug 2, 2011)

I was just wondering if it takes less power to nuke the water for tea than boil the kettle each time.
I drink lots of tea in a day...


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## KaeJS (Sep 28, 2010)

I don't know the answer. I would assume the microwave takes more energy.

I drink tea everyday, and I always boil it using a plug in kettle.


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## Guigz (Oct 28, 2010)

If you use the same quantity of water in both instances, the microwave probably consumes less power. Since raising the temperature from 4 C (cold tap water) all the way to 100 C (boiling hot) requires the same amount of energy, the only varying factor is the method for raising the temperature. 

In a microwave oven, the energy is directly imparted to the dielectric H2O molecules by the radio frequencies that are blasted by the magnetron. In a conventional oven, the energy is usually imparted to a kettle first, then to the water, with some wasted energy in heating the kettle, oven surface, etc.

A plug in kettle is liquely even more efficient if you heat the same amount of water. This is liquely due to the fact that it is smaller and probably better calibrated so that it stops when the water reaches the correct temperature. But then the difference between that and a perfectly calibrated microwave is minute. You would have to calculate how many tea cups you would have to boil to break even if you were to buy an additional device (the plug in). It is probably something crazy like 10,000 cups.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

We drink lots of tea, too, and we always boil the water, not nuke in the microwave.
We gave up using the microwave years ago due to health concerns related to microwave radiation.
I am no longer sure how valid those concerns truly are, but we haven't used a microwave in so many years that we don't miss it any more.


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## Four Pillars (Apr 5, 2009)

I don't care about the power usage - I would never nuke tea water. It's just not right.


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## groceryalerts (May 5, 2009)

Before reading this thread I never even considered microwaving the water. I have a special thermos I use and part of the tea ritual is the boiling of the water.


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

This test reported on Home Efficiency Blog says the electrical kettle wins hands down. http://blog.plotwatt.com/2009/08/best-way-to-boil-water.html

But there is one catch I can see. Most electrical kettles prescribe a minimum fill level, to ensure they don't overheat the base ( or the element if it has an exposed element). So you are frequently heating more water then you actually need with a kettle. This may not matter if you are planning to fill a teapot. But if you only want a cupful (as for instant coffee) you are probably heating several cups and only using one.


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## Guigz (Oct 28, 2010)

I am not convinced by the results presented in that blog post. The methodology used presents a clear bias against using the microwave.


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

I am not sure about power consumptions, but I got by convience and speed. I use either my water dispenser which has a heat on demand for more than one, or my Keurig coffee maker for just one cup, or if it was just on.


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

Tea is a big deal in my home so we have to boil the kettle and it is never just a cup of tea lol


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## GoldStone (Mar 6, 2011)

We drink a lot more tea than coffee and we always use electrical kettle.

BTW, when I need boiling water for pasta, potatoes etc, I boil it in the kettle first. Then I pour it in the pot on the stove. I think I save some energy that way. I don't have any calculations to prove it.


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## Sherlock (Apr 18, 2010)

I use an electric kettle too!

Also I have noticed an improvement in my tea when I started pouring the tap water through a brita filter.


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## uptoolate (Oct 9, 2011)

Electric kettle or kettle on NG stove top. Nuking it is just wrong! Do reheat the odd neglected cup now and then though.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

Microwaves seem to do a bad job of heating water to boiling. It also makes the mug quite hot. I prefer a plug in kettle. Seems more a matter of what you prefer to use than what is most energy efficient. I can't imagine there is a huge difference unless you boil a full kettle each time for one cup of tea.


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2009)

I use a stovetop kettle on electric stove...which unfortunately is probably the least efficient cost wise to heat the water.....

But seeing as we are on the frugality page....if you are only making a single cup of tea....Does anyone reuse the tea bag?....as each regular size teabag is supposed to make a pot (2-3 cups) of tea.


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## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

I re-use the teabag depending on how long I'm going between cups. I draw the line at conserving it overnight for use the next day.


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## OptsyEagle (Nov 29, 2009)

My suggestion. Pay the extra 0.000003 cents per tea and heat it up in whatever way is easiest.


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## Guigz (Oct 28, 2010)

@Optsy

We are really talking about almost 0.3 cents (I am thinking a difference of about 200 W/h tops for a duration of 6 minutes @ 12 cents per KW/h). Although not significant by any means, it still adds up to 1.10$ per year if you drink tea every day. This 1.10$ saving each year, would add up to nearly 150,000$ over a life time if invested in equities!*

*Past performance is not indicative of future returns


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## OptsyEagle (Nov 29, 2009)

Guigz said:


> @Optsy
> 
> We are really talking about almost 0.3 cents (I am thinking a difference of about 200 W/h tops for a duration of 6 minutes @ 12 cents per KW/h). Although not significant by any means, it still adds up to 1.10$ per year if you drink tea every day. This 1.10$ saving each year, would add up to nearly 150,000$ over a life time if invested in equities!*
> 
> *Past performance is not indicative of future returns


WOW. One could put away the Orange Pekoe and move up to Earl Grey with that kind savings.


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## GoldStone (Mar 6, 2011)

Cal said:


> But seeing as we are on the frugality page....if you are only making a single cup of tea....Does anyone reuse the tea bag?....as each regular size teabag is supposed to make a pot (2-3 cups) of tea.


If it supposed to make a pot, by all means brew a pot. Nothing wrong with that.

Reusing the tea bag is something else entirely. The ewww factor of a stale bug is off the charts. Yes Virginia, you can be frugal to a fault.


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## Causalien (Apr 4, 2009)

I use a hot water dispenser since I brew about 4 pot of tea per day. Microwavet takes ~1000 watt for 2 minutes, while stove takes about ~1000 watts for several minutes. A dispenser is about 50 watt per hour. For the volume of and instant availability. I think it's worth it. 

Speaking of tea. Are there any chains that sell good chai mixes?


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## Sherlock (Apr 18, 2010)

Bulk Barn?


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## xsrnvld (Apr 14, 2012)

*walq88*



Sherlock said:


> I use an electric kettle too!
> 
> Also I have noticed an improvement in my tea when I started pouring the tap water through a brita filter.


It's also my way.


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## stazstaz (Apr 18, 2012)

I always boil my water and I drink at least 5 cups of tea a day (usually closer to 8). I find the tea just doesn't taste as good if it's microwaved (plus I don't have a microwave in my place)


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## Tom Dl (Feb 15, 2011)

Don't know the answer, but my local library has watt meters they lend out, and you can get a reading for anything that plugs into a 110 socket, so you could work out your cost for the different appliances pretty easily with that.


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## crazed (Oct 22, 2012)

The conversion of electric eneregy to heat energy is almost 100% efficient. We reached that level of efficiency ages ago because it's such a simple process. Creating microwave energy to heat a glass of water is a much, much more complex process. I could tell you if it's 5% less efficient or 25%, I only know that even if you have the most energy efficient microwave available it will never exceed 100% efficiency, so therefore at best it can only match the efficiency of a kettle, assuming your boiling equal amounts. The issue with a kettle is its too easy to put 1L of water in there when really we only need 250mL for our drink, just be conscious of how much water you need to heat and try not to waste energy boiling water that you're not going to use.

In my case, I rent an apartment and gas is included. My stove is a gas stove, therefore it is no cost for to use my stovetop kettle. That in no way implies that it's free to heat though, just that at the end of the month I'm not the one who gets the bill


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## Ponderling (Mar 1, 2013)

Low natural gas prices at present, combined with high time of use electrical rate around dinner time in the winter when we make tea most often presently favors gas stove tea water heating .

Most often we put the stainless steel kettle of R/O filtered water on the gas stove burner on medium high when we start to eat dinner. 

By the end of dinner the kettle is whistling, and ready to pour over the tea bags and the tea is steeped by the time the dish washer is loaded.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

andrewf said:


> Microwaves seem to do a bad job of heating water to boiling. It also makes the mug quite hot. I prefer a plug in kettle. Seems more a matter of what you prefer to use than what is most energy efficient. I can't imagine there is a huge difference unless you boil a full kettle each time for one cup of tea.


Andrew..the secret to boiling water for tea in a microwave is to use a 250ml glass cup. I do that all the time..2.5 minutes in a 1000watt microwave and the water is hot ready for either steeping or the tea bag. Energy consumption (estimate here) would be around 1/20th of a Kwh ..lets say 7 cents per kwh/20 =.well you get the point...it so low that even the eliminated penny is not a consideration.

Now take that 1200watt kettle..(which is normally around 2 litres capacity)..so you fill it up half full with one litre and plug it in...lets say it takes 10 minutes for the water to boil before the auto shutoff kicks in..that's 1/5 to 1/4 of a kwh..at say 7cents per kwh, so it costs around 1.7 cents to get the water to boiling.

Now the question is..at what temperature should the water be to make a good, tasty and proper tea? 

This link provides some insight into making a good tea depending on the kind of tea you prefer..
http://coffeetea.about.com/od/teaandtisanebasics/a/TeaBrewingTemperatures.htm



> *When in doubt, use cooler water. Whereas teas can be ruined by water that's too hot, they are rarely hurt much by water a few degrees too cold. *(Many British tea drinkers will likely disagree with me on that point. For the record, I'm referring to loose-leaf specialty tea that is to be consumed without milk or sugar.)





> *Boiling water and then letting it cool removes oxygen from the water and decreases the flavor of the tea.* It's better to bring water up to (rather than down to) the appropriate temperature.


Of course, using a teapot..changes everything. You pour in the hot water, let it sit and warm up the tea pot, then add just the right amount of loose tea leaves depending on the size of the teapot and let it steep for a few minutes..covering the pot with a cozy helps the tea achieve maximum aroma.
Then your pour the tea into a nice china cup, and drink it slowly with the pinky of the right hand extended from the handle of the cup. 
"only in Canada,..you say?...Pity!"


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## Addy (Mar 12, 2010)

Causalien said:


> Speaking of tea. Are there any chains that sell good chai mixes?


I just buy my ingredients (from the bulk barn) and make my own chai mix, it's very easy and I like that I can customize it a bit and add more of my favourite ingredients. I fill a mason jar and use just like commercial mixes.

Here is a decent site with some recipes: http://www.indianfoodsco.com/Recipes/hotbev_images/ChaiRecipes.htm


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## martinv (Apr 30, 2009)

We use an electric kettle but.....after pouring enough hot water for tea, the remainder we pour into an "airpot" thermos with a pump top.
This stays hot enough for tea later on or even overnight. This a carryover from our sailing days when one couldn't always "put the kettle on" and now the RV.
To be honest, I prefer the freshly boiled but the "airpot" does work okay.


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

Electric kettle all the way. Will be having some tea soon.


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## 6811 (Jan 1, 2013)

My Own Advisor said:


> Electric kettle all the way. Will be having some tea soon.


Me too!


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

Got the tea now btw folks, Oolong it is.


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## RBull (Jan 20, 2013)

Electric kettle FTW.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

We boil the water.

Then we 'scald' the teapot.

Then we put in the teabags and pour in the boiling (must be boiling) water.

We never use a metal teapot.


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## maxandrelax (Jul 11, 2012)

Anyone know where to get BULK Twinings Black Currant tea? Seems you can only get it in a box of 20. Not very good value for the frugal fan. 

I have a wonderful insulated Paderno metal teapot. Never drips and keeps hot forever.


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## none (Jan 15, 2013)

British porn:


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

Just look at the nape of the kettle...just dishing.
and the color of the tea....ummm


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## NorthKC (Apr 1, 2013)

Electric kettle all the way. Something about nuking the water just turns me off for some reason and it doesn't taste quite right. I can always tell when someone gives me nuked tea.


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## maxandrelax (Jul 11, 2012)

NorthKC said:


> Electric kettle all the way. Something about nuking the water just turns me off for some reason and it doesn't taste quite right. I can always tell when someone gives me nuked tea.


yeah, they might as well serve it in a foam cup too.


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## el oro (Jun 16, 2009)

If you're going to nuke your tea in the microwave then you need to be aware of the [low] risk of burning yourself.

http://www.fda.gov/Radiation-Emitti...es/HomeBusinessandEntertainment/ucm142506.htm

Super-heated water occurs when the temperature rises above boiling but doesn't bubble up like you would typically see. Then when you disturb the super-heated water it can boil/vaporize violently. See youtube for examples.


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