Waiting for The Kettle to Boil

Does anybody fully wait until the kettle is boiled for their tea/coffee?

I flicked the kettle on and prepared my coffee (3 teaspoons of coffee and half a teaspoon of sugar) and waited for the kettle to boil. Just before it finished (maybe 5 seconds tops) I took the kettle off and poured into my cup.

A colleague walks by and said my coffee will be warm and I have to wait until it 'clicks' until i can take it off.

IMO, it is the same temperature when I take it off compared to when it 'clicks'. Does anybody else wait right to the end or do they take it off early like me.

P.S, my colleague also pours her milk in before the hot water, I cannot take her seriously now.

Any thoughts Ozbargainers?

Poll Options expired

  • 214
    I wait until it clicks
  • 157
    I take it off just before it clicks
  • 7
    Who makes their own coffee these days? I buy from a cafe
  • 317
    I have better things to do than waste my time on this poll (but ill vote anyway)

Comments

    • Would it change your way of thinking if the click was programmed to 'click' 10 seconds earlier? Are we pre-conditioned to wait for the click? Should kettle makers have a red/orange/green indicator?

  • My kettle has the (profanity) window behind the handle, so you can't see how much water is in there.
    I'm thinking of putting it on a set of kitchen scales so that I can easily see if it needs filling up without having to lift it / feel how heavy it is…

    • My one at home is the same, except the lines have faded.

  • +3

    Why doesn't your highly productive, modern workplace not have one of these bad boys - https://www.zipwater.com/products/hydrotap-range - I prefer to have one at home as well because I am much too busy (and rich) to wait around for a $3 kettle to boil my water.

    If you have time to wait around for water to boil you obviously need a decrease in pay to match your productive work hours or need to be provided with more work - governments may have probably helped with this already by increasing certain cost of living expenses or increasing red tape.

    P.S. this post was made during work hours :)

    • Wow, I may have to salary sacrifice for that bad boy.

      I deviate from this thread - talking about productivity, in your opinion, what do you think of co-workers who come back from lunch then immediately go to the toilet for 15minutes for a toilet break. Should this be part of your lunch break or not?

      • +1

        Definitely work time. Once you're in the building it's on the boss's clock, this includes wait for the lifts - not my fault they don't provide me with my own private lift.

        I prefer to save up my weekend dumps for Monday morning that way I maximize my weekends. It's a little hard getting through Easter and Christmas.

        • +1

          Same here. I also save my showers for work. Saves me paying for water, soap, hot water, etc. I'm kinda greasy on Monday morning before work though…

        • @idonotknowwhy: Showers as well?? before work is fine, but as an extension to your lunch break?

        • +1

          @idonotknowwhy:
          You're pushing your luck there mate and cheating the generosity of your workplace. Between waiting for the kettle to boil, having breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea during the work day as well as a morning and post lunch dumps how do you find time to shower and do work?

          Zip Tap will help with some efficiencies I think which could be utilized for a quick shower maybe?

        • @Craysee: I've got a waterproof phone so I remain 'present' and use little thumbs-up emoji's when people say things on slack during my sessions.

    • Those things are always breaking! Handy but they dont maintain water temp at 100 deg so what comes out is not actually boiling.

  • +2

    No matter where you go on earth someone will do or say something that will make you tick.

    Just don't let 'em.

    Also, pouring milk in before hot water is an abomination. This is an insult to tea. Your colleague is probably a serial killer. I'm kidding.

    • +1

      Hahah, no I had the same thoughts. I try to avoid that person now.

    • One of our bosses at work makes tea by half filling a mug with milk, putting 2 tea bags in it, microwaving the whole thing, and then adding boiling water.

      • I'd be sending that boss an official warning for that.

  • I set the temperature I want the kettle to reach and wait for it to beep. I usually drink green tea so selected a kettle that offers 70C as an option.

  • +1

    We have a kettle with adjustable temp at home, my wife insists on setting it to 100'C which I think is an excessive temperature which uses too much power (say an extra 30 seconds @ 1500w or whatever the consumption), I often change the setting to 85'C - it is actually now a sore point in our household. Good on you to all those Ozbargainers who action their beverage making before the click!

    • +3

      Next time she makes her coffee at 100 degrees. Ask her not to wait or blow on it to cool it down. She should drink at the temperature she set it to.

      Then proceed to look for a new house to live in

    • An extra 30 seconds is 1/120th of an hour.

      So at 1500w that's 1/80th of a kilowatt hour of energy.

      A kWh costs about 30c.

      So you're saving 3/8ths of a cent every time you turn it down to 85deg.

      That's about dollar a year if you have coffee every day! It really does add up! ;-)

  • i over boil, hold down the switch.. thats the best

    • +2

      Do it whilst staring someone down, and don't let go until they say something, then act like nothing happened.

  • +1

    A watched kettle never boils.

    • +1

      What if you clocked it?

  • Regarding: "P.S, my colleague also pours her milk in before the hot water"

    This is correct way otherwise you will scorch the coffee.

  • My kettle has different buttons for different boiling temperatures so let it go until it beeps so that I know its at the optimal temperature for the type of tea/coffee that I'm making. 95 degrees is for coffee.

  • When I used to make coffee using the Aeropress a lot of sites referenced something like 87C degrees as being the optimum temp.
    Now Im just too lazy and put it through a peculator till all the water boils through.

    • I heard a while ago it was 76c, then after seeing this post, and looking around again, I read it was 96c…

      I've just given up on specifics and say as long as it's "hot but not too hot".

  • I dont own a kettle!

    I use a hot water tap at work and the microwave at home lol

    • Apparently in the usa, most people don't have a kettle. They use the microwave just like you.

      I think it can be dangerous, I remember some warning videos about doing it that way.

      Stay safe.

      • This reminds me, my American friend at the dorm used his English roomate’s kettle to boil chicken soup. Needless to say, it was unusable after that! (Nobody wanted to drink water that smelled like chicken soup)

        They do love their coffeemakers over there though.

  • I pour it from the Thermos; much less waiting about. Drinkable to 56 hours (warm). Few refills per week - option A.

  • Where is the poll option;
    I have better things to do than waste my time on this poll (I WILL NOT vote anyway)

    • +1

      I voted to have it removed.

    • +1

      That's the hidden, default vote.

  • +1

    I suppose what one has to ask, really, is what came first; the chicken or the rooster? I have always personally advocated that it was indeed the rooster that came first; all over the chicken's beak, in fact.

    As for for your coffee, I couldn't really care less.

  • +2

    I like to dip my kebab in coffee

  • If you're boiling water for tea, generally don't use fully boiled water, as that can damage the tea. (though are you really going to notice?). I remember seeing an electric hot water dispenser that had an option for 80° and 90° specifically for tea.

  • I wait until it clicks, but turning it off when it's already boiled should be fine too.

  • Tea - as it is boiling. Coffee - until it clicks - then wait for a minute, unless you want your coffee a little bitter. [Assuming it is coffee, not a powdered substitute, which should be "creamed" with a little cold water while waiting for the kettle to boil].

  • Water for best tasting tea needs to be 100C; water for best tasting coffee from ground beans needs to be between 90-95C.

    By the way, it's been scientifically proven that adding milk to a cup/mug of tea or coffee after adding the hot water makes for a hotter drink than adding the milk before the water - all measurements and prior temps of water and milk being identical. Can't remember the scientific reason, which may have only been hypothetical, but a minuscule difference in final temperature was proven under laboratory conditions.

  • +1

    Is there another option?
    I drink tea and for different teas there are different temperatures (as most tea snobs would know - and as the Asian tea places do it). First google search is below but in Fahrenheit:
    https://www.thespruceeats.com/how-to-brew-tea-water-temperat…

    So for certain teas you still boil it but you let the temperature come down a bit.

    Note - probably worthwhile if you spend a fair bit on good tea (not necessarily T2).

    • i was talkin real tea - swaggy tea, billy tea, lan-choo or bushells tea - needs 100C haitch two o. i wasn't talkin that foreign perfoomed leaf stuff.

  • +1

    I don't understand. I put the capsule in and press the button, coffee comes out.

  • A variable temp kettle could be very useful if you don't need/want boiling water all the time.

  • I go and clean my toilet.

  • +2

    I don't drink coffee but found this an interesting read. Seems everyone is having a slow day.

    I only started reading this in the hope that a new OZbargain would appear once I hit the 'refresh' button, but learnt so much about water temperature, pouring techniques, coffee, tea…. much to learn.

  • +3

    i always try and sneak it off before it clicks, but my wife observes like a hungry vulture waiting for its next meal to die, and rips my balls off.

    for the record i will always hit 66 on the microwave instead of 60 seconds, cant ba assed moving my finger

  • I boil my water using the power of neg votes on jv comments

  • I broil my water

  • For instant coffee it's not going to matter, hell put a cup of cold water with instant coffee in the microwave for 2 minutes and it'll taste roughly the same. The coffee was brewed at the right temperature in a vat at the factory, it does not matter what temperature you use to melt it. It's entirely up to preference.

    If you're making a tea that should be brewed at 100c (naturally declining) then let it click, because it requires the most energy/time to actually reach 100c (from 90), hence why you're impatient near the end.

  • What cave are you working in that doesn't have Zipboil?

  • A Cheeky Tea Break - 1999 Ep07—— a watched pot never boils :)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPr-JrW-a8o

  • not much will happen in those final 5 seconds before it goes click

    or does it…

  • Eww coffee is an upstart which should all be burnt to the ground.
    Tea however is a luxurious and classic refreshment drunk by the upper echelons which we OzBargainers all aspire to be.

  • I boil it all the way to click… because I go off to do things while it boils. Then I forget and come back have to boil it again. Then I leave my teabag to brew and go do stuff. Then I forget about it and someone says… “who’s tea is this”…. …. repeat.

  • I don't drink instant coffee, but the best thing I bought for tea was Russell Hobbs Eco One Cup. Pour the water in, teabag in the cup, press the button and it boils the water into the cup. The amount of times I would boil the kettle and then get distracted and have to re boil it again.

  • I just stare at it. If it’s cold day then I’ll use it to warm my hands.

  • Sometimes I just don't want to sit there blowing on my Milo that is 100 degrees. I rather deal with it being a tad cooler

  • -1

    I ALWAYS stop the kettle from fully boiling and ‘clicking’. I’m OCD about it. So much so, that if it has fully boiled and ‘clicked’ I’ll go so far as to empty the kettle and start over again.

    Edit: when I think about it further, it’s similar to the microwave - I HAVE TO stop it at 1 second before it finishes microwaving.

  • It's instant coffee, so close enough is good enough for the boil.

  • +2

    I usually use the time to finance my $80,000 investment car while phoning expensive lawyers because doctors won't bulk bill.

    Have I missed any relevant threads?

    • +1

      Without insurance on your AMG, it can be hard to know whether to wash your car or spend the time chasing bikies buying eneloops and Xiaomi products.

      There's a few more ;)

  • i put 2 teaspoons of coffee into my mouth and then wash it down with a glass of water.

    who has time to wait for the water to boil?

    • A.K.A Monster Energy drinks

  • I'm desperately trying to fight the urge to read this whole thread….I think I've just escaped after reading the first few comments. Bye!…….

  • Kettle??? We have a boiling hot water tap in the office. So no waiting for kettle to boil.

  • OzBanality

  • How do you guys go about filling the kettle. A college of mine fills it through the pouring end claiming it saves time because you don't have to open the lid. I disagree because the nozzel has throughput issues and I've seen the water spill out over the sides. With the proper dexterity, I believe it's faster to open the lid and run the tap at full duplex then close the lid again.

    What are your thoughts?

    • Filling it up through the spout?? Really??
      There's a reason that the lid pops up..

      I've never heard anything so stupid in my life
      (Disclaimer: I probably have)

    • Tried both ways.

      If Im feeling up for a bit of fun, then i fill through the nozzle. Otherwise im popping the lid on that bad boy.

      • Which one do you think is faster? Do you run into throughput issues with the spout?

        I asked another colleague who said that it's dirty to fill through the spout because it's bypassing the filter.
        I disagree with her though because I think the "filter" is only there to stop bugs getting into the kettle (like a sieve). The gaps are way to big to stop any rust or whatever it is getting though.

  • For coffee I use an espresso machine because I'm not an instant-coffee drinking savage.

  • "Waiting for The Kettle to Boil"…….

    Come to think of it - isn't this the title of a very depressing country and western song??

    It's what you do after your wife's left, your dog's died, and you don't drink alcohol.

  • +1

    I take the lid of the kettle so it never stops boiling. That way, if I forget about it, I can go back 10~15 minutes later, it's still boiling. Save so much time.

  • This sounds like a life hack to save 3 seconds

  • Bloody trolls

  • I heard that boiling water can "burn" instant coffee, you should mix the coffee with your milk first, and then add the boiling water. Some tea says should be made with 80°.

    I would normally make a pot of tea with boiling water but I'm not using any fancy teas.

  • Put the milk in first to keep your coffee/tea hot!

    Milk first or last? The correct method for hot tea. (GONE MATHEMATICAL)

  • I do whatever I feel like in that current situation and or moment. I don't subscribe to common norms and societal expectations.

    (profanity) me Yolo.

  • And I thought I have seen it all until I saw this - https://www.myappkettle.com/

    Set your desired temp from your App…..

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