One for the Brits

[akirlu]

Well this is a rather RASFFy question, but...

What is it with the stainless steel teapots that so many of you have? What's with that? Why get a steel teapot, which will dissipate heat faster than porcelain or crockery, and leave your tea cold that much sooner? Yes, I know it's an excuse to use that hideously ugly hand-gnitted tea cosy wot is a relict of dear old great-aunt Flossy, but surely you could use that on a ceramic pot just as well. Is it a washing up issue? Fear of being deemed twee for having a flowery china pot? Or are all the brown betty pots going to the export trade? I don't get it.

Signed,

Dreadfully Confused, Mrs.

Comments

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I'm not a Brit, but we have a stainless steel teapot because it was cheap. We have a ceramic teapot a friend painted for us, but it can't go in the dishwasher or directly on the stove. The stainless one does, and...as I said, cheap. And readily available. When I went to buy a teapot for my great-aunt, the ceramic ones were all proportionately more expensive and much, much heavier, and the grips were harder for her to handle than the plastic or rubber grips they'd put on the stainless pots.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Funny, I've never even seen the stainless steel teapots the Brits have for sale in the US. I think when redbird wanted one, she bought it in the UK. Weight seems a sensible consideration for an elderly person, but all the porcelain teapots I have go in the dishwasher just fine. I guess expense also makes some sense -- I usually get teapots at Marshall's, or Cost Plus, or several were acquired at fleamarkets (you might say I have a teapot problem). But I don't see why you'd put the teapot directly on the stove -- that's what the kettle is for.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yah, I know that our ceramic teapot is a special case (because it was hand-painted by someone who had enough facilities to make it stand up to hot tea on the inside but not to dishwasher buffetting on the outside) and that many of them could probably go in the dishwasher without a problem.

My auntie, at least, is not always able to drink the tea right away once it's made, so reheating it on the stove is a plus for her. (On the other hand, if she had a ceramic teapot, you seem to be saying, it wouldn't cool off so fast, so she might not have to reheat in the first place. Dunno.)

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

I don't always drink my tea before it cools either, but I generally re-warm it by the mugfull, in the microwave. Bernard Peek claims over on rassef that heat-radiance is a function of color rather than conductivity, so maybe a dark teapot would in fact cool faster than steel, but white porcelain should still cool the slowest. So, I dunno.

[dalmeny]

My parents own a large stainless steel teapot because they keep the tea warm by placing it over a low heat on the stovetop. One pot of tea is made and poured, and then the pot is refilled with boiling water to make a second pot with the same tealeaves.

I do not know if other Brits do this with their teapots. Also, as others have mentioned, cost is a factor.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

But I bought a perfectly decent brown ceramic teapot for 69p (though, it properly ought to cost £1.99, but there was a stickering mistake at the market.

I can't imagine a steel teapot costs less than that (or less than the £3.49 which was listed as the normal price.

TK

Many...

[seawasp]

.... of us do not have "teapot" and "kettle" separate as either physical objects or concepts. I.e., it wasn't until a discussion a year or two ago on r.s.sf.c that I found out that the two are NOT the same.

So stainless steel is chosen because you don't PUT porcelain or crockery on a stove. Tea is put into a cup, not kept in the pot; that's just for water.

Re: Many...

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Uh, no. This is not an answer to my question. I'm not talking of stainless steel tea *kettles*. I've got one of those, although mine is enameled. I'm talking of stainless steel tea*pots*. As in, the item in which one puts ones tea bags when making tea by the pot. If you make your tea by the cup then you don't use the item I'm speaking of.

(Did you read the title of the post, btw?)

Re: Many...

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Well, some of us buy teapots with infusers and use loose tea.

Re: Many...

[autopope.livejournal.com]

You'd freak if you saw my kettle, I think.

(It's cordless but runs off mains electricity -- you don't put it on a stove, it'd melt! -- supplied via a 360^o swivel base: complete with status LEDs and multiple settings and controls and a water level monitor.)

Re: Many...

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

You'd freak if you saw my kettle, I think.

Not likely. I've seen lots of electric kettles, and used them. As Bill Bailey slyly points out in the extras on his Part Troll concert disk, there's a plastic electric kettle in every hotel room in Britain, and I've stayed in a few of those. I've got an electric kettle at work. It's a lovely semi-translucent blue plastic so you can see what the water fill level is. (It's Canadian -- Toastess -- because electric kettles aren't a big thing in the US. And to some degree rightly -- with 110 current the water doesn't boil nearly as fast.)

I'm sort of curious how you plug your kettle in if it's cordless, tho.

Re: Many...

[autopope.livejournal.com]

I wasn't replying to you -- I know about your travel habits -- I was replying to Ryk.

The way you plug it in: there's a mains cable, going into a circular base station. There's a vertical post in the middle of the base station, and the kettle itself drops over the post (which contains the electrical contacts). Result is, the kettle can swivel freely around the post, until you pick it up.

The problem with kettles in the US isn't just 110 volts, it's the current draw. A decent kettle draws 2-3 kilowatts, which will boil a litre of water in about a minute, from cold. In the UK, with 240 volt mains supply, that means drawing about 8-11 amps of current (well within the standard 13-amp limit of a BS fused plug). But in the US, you'd need to draw about 25-30 amps, and domestic circuits just ain't set up for that. The alternative (draw 8-11 amps instead) means it takes 2-3 times as long to bring the water to the boil ... in which case, why not just use the stove top instead?

This is just one of the advantages you get when you install your infrastructure a generation later. (That, and the chance to be killed by a mains voltage electric shock. Well, I've survived a couple in my time, but 240 volts is a whole lot less friendly than 110 volts. You damn well know you've been bitten!)

Re: Many...

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

I wasn't replying to you

Oh. Right. Obviously. I am an idiot. (Well, and an egotist, really.)

Re the kettle - Ah, right, I think I've seen/used one of those or something similar. Handy to be able to take the kettle away without having to unplug the whole assemblage.

But in the US, you'd need to draw about 25-30 amps, and domestic circuits just ain't set up for that.

Hotel ones, either. Admittedly, it's particularly bad when you plug in two electric kettles on the same circuit simultaneously.

Well, I've survived a couple in my time, but 240 volts is a whole lot less friendly than 110 volts.

You know, I'm happy to take a pass on either.

Re: Many...

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

...in which case, why not just use the stove top instead?

Most often, because there isn't a stovetop handy. I actually wish that American hotels had electric kettles instead of just coffee makers, because the latter don't boil the water. I'm certainly glad of the electric kettle at work, because it's less trouble than microwaving every blessed cup of tea I drink, and the teapot I keep at work doesn't microwave happily -- it gets too warm.

Re: Many...

[avram]

What, no 802.11g?

Re: Many...

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

[*]

Re: Many...

[akicif.livejournal.com]

All those shiny bells'n whistles and yet it doesn't have wifi so you can switch it on in the kitchen when working in the living room, perhaps?

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

This question seems to include an unusual flavor of "you". Undoubtedly, many of my friends and acquaintances have secret (and possibly shameful) vices, but I'm not aware of any who've descended _that_ far. The only use I've ever seen of such metal teapots has been in restaurants. That's marginally understandable -- ceramic ones are time-consuming to clean and dreadfully easy to chip or break. Otherwise, the only thing I can think of is that sterling silver tea services have considerable prestige value, and this falls into to the unsavory "well... yes, some people's minds _do_ work like that" category. Mind you (and there might be some, unreasonable, carry-over here) I think it's quite sensible to use metal for some coffee-makers -- particularly the little ones positioned over the glass for Thai coffee, or the little pots for boiling Arabic (Turkish, Greek) coffee. And yes, I do seem to know some people (otherwise quite admirable) who sometimes equate "It looks HighTech" with "It must be Good".

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

This question seems to include an unusual flavor of "you".

Yes, it's why I titled the post "One for the Brits". I've never seen the larger steel teapots that lots of Brits have at home for sale in the US, nor in a private home, though you do see something similar in many Chinese restaurants, where the superior durability is presumably the issue, since stuff in a restaurant will get banged around a bit. And if you've got eight people drinking tea at the same table, it goes much too quickly to cool in the pot, I find.

[numbat.livejournal.com]

As an expert in the field of commercial dishwashing I have to agree with Don that metal teapots are the prefered option in restaurants because in such places stuff gets bangs around a lot. Why only the other week I managed to drop three of those glass coffee pots in two separate accidents. Man but do they explode in a most satisfying manner when they hit the floor. I think that if my restaurant used ceramic teapots we'd be sweeping up about one a week. Crockery never gets to be old in restaurants. . .

I suspect that in regards to home use the owners of stainless steel pots are the sort who just want a cup of tea, not a ceremony, and who don't want to take care with a pot that can chip. I would assume this is all part of the reduced effort equals convenience philosophy.

[annafdd.livejournal.com]

I just saw those in Tesco. I guess the point is that they are cheap, and if you are serving tea to three or four people at the same time the cooling down is not so much of an issue.

Brits drink a lot of tea and many of them are religious about it, but many are not above plonking three PG tips tea bags in a steel kettle and happily drink the stuff lukewarm.

[shelleybear.livejournal.com]

I recall my grandmother having a ceramic teapot with the heating element built into it, and the plug on the side.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Wow. I've seen lots of the ones that have a heating element built in, but never one in ceramic. That's boffo cool.

[shelleybear.livejournal.com]

This was old when I was born (and I'm 51).

If Your Curious

[shelleybear.livejournal.com]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320008186033&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.com%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26satitle%3D320008186033%26fvi%3D1

Re: If Your Curious

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Huh. As Bruce Cockburn says, it's a world of wonders.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I use the microwave to boil water--we're all way too lefthanded to actually remembre to tend a tea kettle, and after having ruined lots (and there is the threat of fire...) we do microwave.

I do have pretty ceramic pots, very old ones, but I don't know how much led or whatever the hell might be toxic in them. The only one I trust is my red clay Chinese pot, which never has to be washed except gently on the top (dust) only wiped out once in a while, and rinsed with boiling water. But no one is permitted to use it but me, so it never has anything in it but green or white tea.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

One of the nice things about the UK electric kettles is they most of them shut themselves off when the tea boils. Means if you're easily distracted you may be several goes re-starting the kettle before you and the boiling water are in the same place simultaneously, but you won't burn the house down. I think I remember some of them actually also have a chime to let you know the water's done.

Thinko?

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

most of them shut themselves off when the tea boils.

Kettles are for boiling water, not making tea :-)

Re: Thinko?

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Yes, quite. I blame Nojay, who, over on RASFF claims that it was the habit of working-class Britons to get the most out of their crap floor-swept tea leaves by boiling the tea after the tea water was poured onto the leaves. I choose to believe this to be a horrifying fiction and shall ignore it as best I can, but obviously it stuck in my subconscious. *shudder*

[akicif.livejournal.com]

Or there are the non-electric kettles that have a whistle that plugs on over the spout - it's virtually impossible to leave one of those on the hob and have it boil dry (unless you go out shopping or something: there's a very strange smell to half-melted bakelite).

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Yes, even out here in the wilderness we have whistling kettles, but I have to presume that the post-market stick-on whistles must whistle better than the indigenous ones we get here. I completely ruined my first Revere kettle by walking away from it and having it boil dry and I was definitely in the apartment still. Melted phenolic plastic doesn't smell especially good, either.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

My tea kettle whistles when it boils. It actually dopplers up predictably so I can be in the kitchen just as it boils. It was a wedding present to my folks in 1953, the only bit of the Revereware that my stepmother didn't throw away. I liberated it.

I have some (mostly red metal) decorative teapots, but when I make a pot of tea, I use a white ceramic teapot with white ceramic infuser. Then I put it in a Corning thermal carafe. Most of the time that I want hot tea, though, I just microwave iced tea in a mug.

Teapots

[ladyjestocost.livejournal.com]

Don't have a brown betty - hope to inherit the family one, but not any time soon.

Do have a silver plated teapot (wedding gift)

Have a china one shaped like a rabbit (my own fault)

Have a Fitz and Floyd with Queen Elizabeth I and her courtiers (again my fault)

Have a navy blue Fiestaware (wedding gift). Looks good with my Fiestaware, but I don't recommend it - the handle's too small to pour easily. Bad design. Pretty to look at though.

Have a glass one that corrals the tea leaves in a sieve - like that one, most often used.

And just for the record, I have one of the china pots with an electric cord (although from the shape of mine, I've always thought it was a coffee warmer (inherited) and an electric ice tea maker, courtesy of my husband.

[cobrabay.livejournal.com]

Speaking as a Brit, I would never use a stainless steel teapot. I have 3 ceramic tea pots,all brown, of varying sizes and one glass one. I tend to use the latter for green tea and herbal teas. My kettle is a Breville Lightning fast-boil cordless 8-cup jug kettle, it glows a lovely purple when it's boiling.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Aw. I wanna glowing purple kettle.

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

Ooooh me too! My current kettle is a lovely lilac color and made of plastic, but it does not glow.

MKK

[eackerman.livejournal.com]

I tend to be a snob about my tea (loose leaf, prewarmed ceramic pot) and my favorite pot is one that's utilitarian, but not especially pretty. It's an Evaco model: Heavy ceramic with its own gold mesh infuser, and a metal cozy padded with quilting that slides down over the top of the pot and around the spout. Keeps the tea hot, doesn't interfere with pouring and makes a damn fine cuppa tea.

[taffbug.livejournal.com]

A metal teapot is essential to match the toast rack, and as a side benefit it allows the tea to cool as quickly as the toast.
;-)

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see. Matching stainless steel breakfast-ruining devices.

[replyhazy.livejournal.com]

I have a shiny metal teapot, but I have it because it's art deco style and cool to look at.

I usually make tea by the cup, myself. When we had the Jane Austen teas, Jeanne Gomoll or Kathi Nash would bring their big ceramic pots.

I'm a heretic and prefer hot chocolate anyway.