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A US scientist has brewed up a storm by offering Britain advice on making tea (apnews.com)

submitted 2 years ago by cashews_best_nut@lemmy.world to c/unitedkingdom@feddit.uk

32 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/11138800

An American scientist has sparked a trans-Atlantic tempest in a teapot by offering Britain advice on its favorite hot beverage.

Bryn Mawr College chemistry professor Michelle Francl says one of the keys to a perfect cup of tea is a pinch of salt. The tip is included in Francl’s book “Steeped: The Chemistry of Tea,” published Wednesday by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Not since the Boston Tea Party has mixing tea with salt water roiled the Anglo-American relationship so much.

The salt suggestion drew howls of outrage from tea-lovers in Britain, where popular stereotype sees Americans as coffee-swilling boors who make tea, if at all, in the microwave.

...

The U.S. Embassy in London intervened in the brewing storm with a social media post reassuring “the good people of the U.K. that the unthinkable notion of adding salt to Britain’s national drink is not official United States policy.”

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[–] obinice@lemmy.world 43 points 2 years ago (26 children)

Their ideas have some merit and I'll test out the salt thing, BUT they immediately lose all credibility when they say that heating water in a microwave is unhealthy.

I make my tea with a kettle like everyone else, that's beside the point. Heating water in a microwave is absolutely in no way whatsoever unhealthy, and I seriously question the competency of anyone - and the voracity of their claims - who suggests heating water in a microwave is unhealthy.

That's just.... wild. Haha.

[–] jak@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Is that in the article somewhere? I saw the reference to it being an American thing, but no mention of its healthiness.

[–] GiveOver@feddit.uk 8 points 2 years ago (2 children)

There's a quote in the BBC article

But chief among her advice is to never, ever heat up the water in a microwave: "It's less healthy and it does not taste as good," Prof Francl says.

[–] Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

Same applies to putting salt in your tea ya daft cunt 😂

[–] Patch@feddit.uk 2 points 2 years ago

"Unfounded fears about spooky microwaves makes using them unhealthy. But take my advice and add extra salt into your diet in new and inventive ways because it might make things taste marginally, subjectively better."

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