Sure, it feels a bit odd ... but what's the issue? It will boil the water.
this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2025
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British Problems
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I THINK they may be exaggerating, for effect and self-deprecation. They may have been looking forward to the ritual of preparing tea and having a cuppa as a bit of normalcy at the end of a day of travelling and not even that very simple ritual is possible in its usual form.
Fair. But it still beats having to boil water in a pot on a stove!
If you want your tea to actually be drinkable and not taste like just bitter water, you don't use boiling water. A proper electric kettle allows you to set the water temperature to 85, 90 or 95°C.
Never heard of that. All the electric kettles I've ever seen just turn off once the water is boiling.
I can confirm they exist, as one of the places I sometimes work has one - the base unit has a button for 70°/80°/90°/100°.
However, despite probably drinking in excess of 50,000 cups of tea in my life, I've only ever seen one of these kettles. The others have all been either "normal electric kettles" as you described, those always-on-water-boiler things you get in offices, or very occasionally, a traditional "put it on the hob or camping stove" kettle.
More to the point. Most kettles intentionally do not use temperature to do so. But instead use water pressure from the boil to turn it off.
Because water boils at different tempraturs at different altertudes etc. iE at higher altitudes the kettle will turn off at lower temperatures but the water is still boiling,
Yeah it matter way more to folks who like darker tea.
Water that is boiled allows the tanning to release more effectively. Hence tea made without boiling water thens to look whiter and even when colour is forced out with a spoon. Lacks the same flavour.
Tanning is also why tea has a calming effect. Mached with caffeine. It places the mind in a good state for problem solving. Hence the UK reputation of turning to it for all problems.
Well that and both tanning and caffeine are addictive.
True for coffee and green tea.
UK taste insist black tea must be boiled. And that dose not mean 100c but diff temps at different altitude. Hence most of our kettles use the physics of boiling water. Rather then temp to turn off.
The effect of boiled water releases certain flavours in the tea. Those who like darker tea (more tanning released) tend to be the most fussy about this.
Tanning is also the chemical in tea that calms the mind. Hence why Brits have a tradition of turning to tea in stress etc. the tanning and caffeine work well together to clear allow a relaxed but active mind.
Tannins.
If you ask the front desk, they may supply you with an electric kettle.
"A what now?" - front desk
Yup, welcome to the US.
(I'm Danish, we have kettles, obviously - I just watched a YT video about how Americans don't just days ago - the poor bastards)
Because of lower voltage in the US, total available power of a wall socket is lower. So kettles take forever.
I think it's 50% this, and 50% "boiling water repeatedly all day is simply less important to them".
Kettles are common in Japan despite having an even lower voltage than the US. So I think it's mostly the latter.
There’s probably other differences too. Lack of KitKat flavor variants, for example.
It takes longer but not by much. It's the volts times amps that indicates the actual work done.
Having lived in the UK and the US. Kettles only take a min or so longer in the US. They tend to be 1.6kw rather the. 2kw. Your plugs are slightly higher current then ours. Although your plugs always worried me as rather small connection surface wise.
But people in the US just do not consider boiling water as often as we do. Coffee and green tea tend to be ruined with boiled water.
Whereas many Brits very much prefer the taste of black tea when the water is boiled. It has a significant effect of the flavours released.
As such. Even before electricity was common. Most houses had a kettle that could be boiled on gas or the open fireplace. It's been common in UK houses since the late 1800s.
They do, but they’re smaller and not as ubiquitous.
Enjoy another British past time.... Getting wankered and streaking through the hotel lobby. Wahey!
There's no tiny coffee machine in there? Put water in with no filter/grounds and it should heat up just right
And taste like a decade of old, burnt, low grade hotel coffee.
What hotels are you staying at?
Coffee machines do not boil water. Just heat it to below boiling.
This has a significant effect on the brewing of tea. And means the flavour will be very unpleasant to many Brits.
It is also the issue Brits find with the vaste majority of tea sold in American restaurants etc.
You don't want actual actively boiling water to make your tea. Also, water heated to just below boiling and cooled off from boiling to just below boiling is the same temperature.
No way that water doesn't come out tasting like old coffee
I honestly don't understand the preference for how the molecules in your water start moving.
You can taste the microwaves in the molecules
It's rare but some hotels have these in their rooms in the US. I wish they were more common here though. Not enough people use them.