Boiling on the stove vs. the microwave

[Vanyel]

Why does tea taste better when you boil the water on the stove, or electric kettle than in the microwave oven?

 

[Jetfire]

I like everything cooked with an open flame...boiling too.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Well you learn something new every day, i had no idea people used the microwave to make tea, never crossed my mind, not that its much of a mind to traverse.

 

[Vanyel]

Well you learn something new every day, i had no idea people used the microwave to make tea, never crossed my mind, not that its much of a mind to traverse.

To elaborate, my father was making cinnamon tea, I felt like having a cup, so he got enough water for both of us. He boiled the water in the microwave because, to him, using the stove takes too long. Anyway I noticed that my cup tasted different from when I make it (by boiling water in a kettle). It just tasted wrong and I want to know why.

 

[Amaris]

It probably doesn't come to a full boil. I don't have a teapot, so I boil my water in a microwave, in the ceramic mug, and then add the tea afterward.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

[highlight]WARNING[/highlight] If you boil water in a microwave, wait a minute or so to let the liquid cool before taking it out. It can explode in your face. It happened to a friend of a friend. She had to have skin grafts on her face. Microwave Danger.
It is rare but it does happen, often with serious injury. Just a public service announcement.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I boil water for my tea in my microwave all the time (and I drink quite a lot of different teas). To me, the key is not to overboil the water--stopping it just as the first few bubbles appear on the surface--and then not overbrewing the tea afterwards.

I also never boil cold water in a cup with the tea already in it either.

 

[Jetfire]

I boil water in a pan on the stove...???

maybe I am crazy.

 

[Trekker4747]

[highlight]WARNING[/highlight] If you boil water in a microwave, wait a minute or so to let the liquid cool before taking it out. It can explode in your face. It happened to a friend of a friend. She had to have skin grafts on her face. Microwave Danger.
It is rare but it does happen, often with serious injury. Just a public service announcement.

You can avoid the exploding water thing by putting something -like a wooden skewer- in the vessel you're boiling water in, this give bubbles a place to form.

 

[Pingfah]

Electric Kettles seem to be a fairly uncommon thing in the USA. I don't think you'd find a house without one in the UK.

 

[Jadzia]

Why does tea taste better when you boil the water on the stove, or electric kettle than in the microwave oven?

Microwaving doesn't remove the lime. In a kettle or a pan, it (and other trace minerals) will coagulate on the metal surface.

The metal pan may liberate ions too. You know how you can taste the metal of a spoon if you sit it on your tongue? Doesn't it taste a bit like boiled water?

Also, boiling in a kettle/pan tends to drive off any dissolved gases. The microwave may not boil the water, only heat it to hot, so does not remove gases as readily.

 

[KimMH]

Interesting. I thought it was the addition of the tincture of time that makes kettle boiled water for tea so tasty!

(Maybe it's actually anticpation!)

 

[scottydog]

Because I heard about the water that exploded after being microwaved, I always use a stove-top. It takes longer and uses more energy, which is annoying. But now I don't trust microwaved water.

 

[Lindley]

Electric Kettles seem to be a fairly uncommon thing in the USA. I don't think you'd find a house without one in the UK.

I've always had an electric kettle in the house.

Although the roommate's parents once did melt the plastic part of one by turning on the stove burner I stored it on.....

 

[Holdfast]

Electric ketters are a good compromise between taste and speed I think, and it's what I use, though my Greek mother used to swear by a briki instead (and admittedly, they are esp. useful when you're just making one or two cups).

 

[Udat]

Electric Kettles seem to be a fairly uncommon thing in the USA. I don't think you'd find a house without one in the UK.

Include zim in that

 

[Vanyel]

Electric Kettles seem to be a fairly uncommon thing in the USA. I don't think you'd find a house without one in the UK.

I've had one - not the same one - for about 10 years or so. Before that I just boiled the water in a pan or in old fashioned whistling kettle.

 

[Kitty Worrier]

I use an electric kettle, so does my mom, and we have some at work too. I like it, espcially the automatic shut off. Plus, I don't have to move it off the stove when I'm cooking.

 

[thestrangequark]

I use an electric kettle. And if I recall correctly from Mythbusters, microwaved tap water can't explode. Only superheated distilled water can.

 

[Lindley]

What I've always wondered is why reheated tea isn't as good as fresh tea, and why it tastes better if you put the milk in before microwaving it rather than after.