this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2023
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To my knowledge, they're not very common in the US because their low voltages in households means that kettles take ages to boil.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity_by_country
Relevant Technology Connections-video on the subject: https://youtu.be/_yMMTVVJI4c
iirc, the power thing made a slight difference but probably doesn't explain the issue entirely.
Yeah, I'm an American tea drinker, always have used an electric kettle. It still just takes a couple minutes or something, nothing major. I think it's just fewer tea drinkers, maybe.
More folks need to realize the microwave is great for heating water.
You don't own two cups? Just heat the water in one thing and pour over another lol.
I'm not saying a microwave is better or not to get an electric kettle. I'm just saying folks never seem to even consider a microwave. In the US it is more likely that a microwave is present than an electric kettle and it is much easier to use than a stove top kettle (unless maybe you have an induction stove).
I think another part of it is that in the US hot tea is often seen as a more quaint sort of ritualistic thing than hot coffee is. Yeah, some folks like to do fancy pour over coffee but it's rare. I think stove top kettles just feel more whimsical than a microwave. I think many US hot tea drinkers would view someone saying "why don't you use a microwave" the same way an audiophile listening to vinyl might react to someone asking why don't they just use Bluetooth with Spotify. That's all fine and good, I don't see a problem with it, but even apart from those folks people just never seem to even realize they can use a microwave to heat water.