TeaChat

Hey everybody, I just started a new job and they have Bigelow tea bags in the kitchen, but yech. So I'm thinking of bringing in my Ingenuitea and some of my teas. The problem is that we have one of those hot water spigots and while convenient I obviously don't control the temp. However, I would feel silly bringing in an electric tea kettle. What do you guys do at work to make tea? Any advice? Can I use the spigot at work and just not worry about temp variations? Let me know what I should do.

I have a full tea set at work. Electric kettle, tea tray, several zisha teapots, teacups, etc. I do not feel silly and in fact, I feel proud to have them and would not work in a company where I couldn't have them. They are also great at starting conversations and I sometimes can get people hooked on tea. Bring and extra cup with you to share.

I've measured water coming out of the hot water tap of our spring water dispenser at work and it varies from 140 to 180 degrees--never really hot enough to get the best of black tea, puerh, or most oolongs, and you never know if it will be not hot enough, just right, or too hot for greens. About the only thing I will use it for is for a ripe puerh that is ultra consistent and not fussy about temp, and Houjicha (ditto).

I have my pino digital kettle pro in my office, and since I go around offering tea from the large thermos I fill up once or twice daily with tea, no one makes fun of my electric kettle. They just ask what today's tea of the day is!

Before buying an electric kettle to take to work, make sure you will be allowed to use it. Some places have policies against due to potential fire hazard. I generally use the hot water from the coffee machine at work (seperate spout) for anything that needs boiling water (or near boiling). if i am making tea that requires lower temperatures, i either let it cool to the correct temp or mix with cooler water if i am really impatient.

Take your kettle.

Take a thermometer, at least, and that may inspire you to bring your kettle, assuming it is allowed.

Getting a kettle with an enclosed heating element & automatic shutoff may help alleviate concerns for safety hazard.

I am going to move this topic to teaware. It will be more at home there. I will leave a shadow under Black for now.

Heh, the rolling rumble of the kettle has always made me self conscious. It is amazing how loud it is in an office setting.

More then one boss briskly walked in wondering "what the hell is that noise?"

Yes but he has a kitchen.

You may find you co-workers may want to borrow it.

by Chip » Aug 25th, '10, 09:14
Heh, the rolling rumble of the kettle has always made me self conscious. It is amazing how loud it is in an office setting.

I sometimes have to switch from speakerphone to handset when my kettle starts to warm up again.

What do you guys use for thermometers? I have a digital meat thermometer would that do the trick? I've always wondered about what's a good thermometer to use to test water temp.

Electric Hot Water Dispensing Pot by Zojirushi. Keep it full and at your desk. I know a lot of people at work that do that.

Just my thoughts. We have a filtered water dispenser at work and so I have to blend the hot and the cold to get the right temp.

Jim. wrote:What do you guys use for thermometers? I have a digital meat thermometer would that do the trick? I've always wondered about what's a good thermometer to use to test water temp.

I've tried several digital thermometers: the meat thermometer helpfully had some set temps at which you could tell it to beep, including 160 and 180 degrees, for green teas and delicate oolongs respectively, but the beep beep beep was annoying. One with knobs instead of buttons also was annoying, hard to adjust. I like best the one I have now with buttons, no knobs, no beeps, just gives temperature.

Best of all would be one that is not top heavy and doesn't topple out of the cup/glass/pot/vessel,but haven't seen one like that yet!

I kept the kettle in my office so I was not running to the kitchen all the time ... plus I would bring well water from home ... plus I surely would not want others using it (remember that roomate heating milk in one topic!)

But yeah, you should check the temp from the water heater spigot. Might be hot enough. A digital meat thermometer is perfect.

I keep a simple metal electronic kettle on my desk.

I have a plastic storage unit type thingy with a drawer where I keep my tea, thermometer, supplies, etc. with a tray on top where I have my kettle and teapot. It only takes up a corner of a table near my desk. The kettle is noisy when it reaches boiling, but then switches to keep warm mode and all is well.