• Vespair
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    7 months ago

    I’ve owned an electric kettle for over a decade.

    They aren’t ubiquitous here, but go into any Walmart or Target and you’ll find them there.

    The real reason they aren’t ubiquitous in America is the majority of Americans aren’t daily tea drinkers and most (notice pedants I said most and not all) American coffee drinker use drip coffee machines or Keurigs instead of a French press, so for most Americans there simply isn’t a regularly enough need for hot water so as to justify an electric kettle.

    That’s it. That’s the whole reason.

    • graeghos_714@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Yep, I’m a tea drinker and even take my kettle when I travel. But we also use it to boil water that will go on the stove because it gets it to boiling so much faster when making pasta or something. My son also drinks French press so it gets a lot of use

    • IamtheMorgz@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      True. I’m American, but I lived a couple years in the UK and got into drinking (hot) tea while I lived there. I’d never seen an electric kettle before, but I’m back in the US now and you bet I have one!

    • Pulptastic@midwest.social
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      7 months ago

      I can buy some special widget that takes up counter space, or I can keep a kettle on the stove.

      If I had 240 or 480 to rapid boil maybe it would be a perk, but stovetop is fast enough for my needs.

    • Etterra@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Or just heat the mug off water in the microwave like a normal person if you’re gonna leaf soup.

        • CraigeryTheKid
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          7 months ago

          just the water, and then you put the bag in after you take it out. Ceramic mug of hot water.

          but i joined modern life and last year we bought an electric kettle.

          • Blue@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            Might as well just turn on the warm tap water at that point and put the tea bag in it.

            • Thassodar
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              7 months ago

              Does your microwave not get water hot? Am I missing something?

              Your sink tap shouldn’t get hot enough to steep tea in.

      • Vespair
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        7 months ago

        Or boil a small pot? When I’m somewhere away from my electric kettle, I boil a pot instead of microwave. I’m sure I’m not alone. But yeah, either way the point remains that an electric kettle is only a convenience for people who are regularly using hot water far beyond the typical American’s custom.

    • cone_zombie@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      What I’ve learnt from different youtube videos, seems like Americans are almost allergic to hot drinks (except hot chocolate). It’s quite funny watching them approach very cautiously, almost like a cat sniffing liquid before they drink 🤣

      • RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        What? Many many people drink hot coffee, but drip coffee makers do their own heating. And one sips it carefully because…it’s hot.

      • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        7 months ago

        …that’s because they’re hot.

        You can’t always tell how hot something is when handed it, so you carefully sip toale sure it’s not scalding

        You can dip your finger in, too, but gross

      • Vespair
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        7 months ago

        Americans drink a ton of hot coffee, it’s just typically drip.

        Personally I can’t stand coffee, but I’m a hot tea drinker. While I doubt we can stand up to the likes of places like the UK or China in terms of hot beverage consumption, I’d bet we’re solidly middle-of-the-road globally on that metric.

        That being said, what America does have is an uncommonly strong taste for cold drinks. Most Americans drink almost nothing at or around room temperature, so anything that isn’t specifically a “hot drink” like tea or coffee is probably going to be served here very cold or on ice (excluding alcohol; most of us aren’t drinking our Bordeaux with ice cubes, I promise). So yeah I guess our “average drink temp” is probably much lower due to that cold preference, if that’s the kind of thing you think is worth measuring, but that cold preference doesn’t mean hot drinks aren’t still extremely common in America. They are.

        Edit: I see somebody down voted you and wanted to state that it was not me. I don’t think you said anything dismissive, or offensive, or off-topic, so I do not believe your comment deserves to be down voted. I know others don’t care about this, but i do, so pardon this quick explainer

      • Vespair
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        7 months ago

        I didn’t watch the video. The entire point of my comment was you don’t need a 20+ minute video to learn this, you just need a paragraph.

        • Sakychu@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          How do you know that there is nothing else in that video of note if you didn’t even gave it a chance?

          • Vespair
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            7 months ago

            It might. But the title didn’t give that impression, so it failed in its job at enticing me to click. No content is entitled to my viewership.

            So like, what point do you think you’re actually making here?

            edit: its not it’s

            • frezik@midwest.social
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              7 months ago

              Technology Connections has a knack for making topics interesting. It’s been a while since I watched this one, but I believe it breaks down the timing of kettles vs gas range vs electric resistance range vs electric induction. It also dispels a myth that it’s because kettles on 120v plugs aren’t good (they’re slower than 240v, but still faster than stoves).

              • Vespair
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                7 months ago

                That’s fine and good, and I might even watch the video based on your recommendation, but none of that refutes or deflates anything I’ve said thus far on the topic.

                But I do appreciate the extra contextual information and recommendation, sincerely 👍