“We want to ensure the good people of the UK that the unthinkable notion of adding salt to Britain’s national drink is not official United States policy. And never will be,” the embassy said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Getting ahead of a diplomatic crisis. Good idea.
Scientifically it makes sense.
But I’d rather take a walking holiday in Milton Keynes than do it.
“rather take a walking holiday in Milton Keynes”
Nice, I’m stealing this one
The world is in a bad place - war, famine, climate change and now this fucker is trying to start WWIII.
“I have had better cups of tea at service stations in Ireland than I have had at fancy restaurants in the US.”
Ha, burn.
I can imagine living in a world where this is the top point of conflict across the globe. No wars, no famine, no climate change, no oppression… Just, “can you believe this twat saying we should put salt in tea!?!”
As an American (and filthy microwaver of tea, though I do have a kettle now) I just stopped scrolling in the hopes of witnessing some rage at the idea, but everyone’s being really reasonable. My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.
Dude, I’ve been experimenting with different mixes of ginger and cinnamon. People obsess about water temperatures. Tea drinkers like nothing but ideas for more posh things to do to their drinks. “Pinch of salt” is just snobby enough that I can’t wait to try it and tell it to all my friends next time I’m complaining about a lackluster café order.
The big issue I see, and it’s a PR thing, is it coming from the US. That alone may disqualify it. We’ll have to see.
“Pinch of salt” is just snobby enough that I can’t wait to try it and tell it to all my friends next time I’m complaining about a lackluster café order.
See, this is why I love the internet, it allows me to find my kin. I relish in learning enough about a niche thing that I have enough discernment that I can be a bit of a snob, if I wish.
Hah. This is me respectfully nodding in your general direction.
Although I’ll admit that in my case this mostly manifests as me buying literally any food I haven’t eaten before and putting super gross stuff in my mouth, no matter how transparent of a marketing scheme it is. I bought that coke they asked ChatGPT to formulate. This is a real problem.
Also, if anybody is curious I put a pinch of salt in my tea today. It was fine, not noticeable. I’ll try a bigger pinch next time.
As a Brit this is genuinely the exact opposite of how most tea drinkers are here. The less shit you do to it the better is the general view.
Oh, yeah, I know. Brits will just throw a bag of the crappiest tea they have around in a teapot and move on with their day.
Which is a luxury you can afford when even middling supermarket tea is drinkable. Over where I am if you’re doing tea you have an… affectation. Plus even if you don’t want to, finding drinkable tea is hard enough that you end up going to the fancy stuff by default.
Yeah I literally take tea bags on holiday haha just not the same elsewhere
So… milk is out, then?
Don’t be ridiculous.
I’m an American. I drink a lot of tea throughout the day. Different kinds for breakfast, midmorning, lunch and mid afternoon. I’ve never had a tea I thought would be improved with milk. I just don’t get it.
That’s because you’re American. Don’t feel bad.
I don’t even know what some people call “tea” in this context sometimes. It could be they’re having Ceylon in the morning and Earl Gray in the afternoon, but sometimes what they mean is they’re soaking some weeds in the morning and some dry fruits in the afternoon and calling it tea. I lived in a place for a while where all infusions are referred to with the word for “tea”, so you’d ask for cup of tea, be given a camomile infusion and be expected not to murder your host.
Temperature is a state function. It is completely irrelevant if you boil or microwave you water.
We will continue to microwave because science
I’ve read that water oxygenation is affected by microwaving water, so there is some difference to standard boiling. Whether this matters for tea or not is a different question, and I can’t find anything decisive on the matter.
Temperature affects dissolved oxygen.
Microwave tea?!?!?!?!?
No, microwave water to make tea.
shudders
What’s wrong with the kettle? Or are they not commonplace in the states?
American power is too weak for kettles.
Well if nobody else is brave enough to try it, I’ll give it a go in the morning and report back. Never let it be said that I shy away from a good bit of sciencing!
Please report back
Radio silence, they may have died
I am not a morning person! It takes time for me to wake up and articulate science!
But I have tested this, and have to say it doesn’t really seem to have made any difference? Maybe slightly less bitter, but maybe that’s just placebo. Not that I have a problem with making overly-bitter tea in the first place, maybe this so-called scientist squeezes their teabag like in the photo and that’s why it needed fixing to begin with.
The article is pretty vague on the correct amount to use so it’s also possible I didn’t do it right 🤷♀️
Well I appreciate your scientific curiosity
I’ll be trying too. Bare in mind that they are suggesting it removes bitterness in particularly stewed tea
My attempt was underwhelming, how about yours?
Well that’s embarrassing. I forgot, and I’m sitting here with a cup of tea.
…
2 minutes later… as you say … ‘meh’
Why would you want to take away the tiny bit of bitterness that tea has?
