Varietea...

[dvto2]

I am zeroing in on getting an electric kettle for my office. One wisdom I have about the Varietea is that the preset temperatures Moffitt not be the next temp for a particular tea. Day for example, one that might do best with 200 F. How do people freak with that?

[Chip]

I have the varietea, but I almost always hit boil. I prefer to boil and then cool the water as needed by a series of pours to preheat the teapot, cups, water cooler, share cup (pitcher) ... depending on what tea I am going to brew.

Today for instance, I poured into all the named vessels in that order to make gyokuro. This cooled the water to below 140* F.

[Bef]

I prefer to boil and then cool the water as needed by a series of pours to preheat the teapot, cups, water cooler, share cup (pitcher) ... depending on what tea I am going to brew.

Just curious: do you do this only because it feels more convenient for you? Or is there another reason to do so?

[Chip]

Good question.

I want my teaware preheated anyway, especially since I am on the low end of the temp scale for brewing. Pouring not so Uber hot water and ultimately tea into cold teapots and cups is likely to produce less than stellar results.

While there are arguments favoring the boiling of water, I have never really tested results. But preheating with hot water makes a lot of sense to me ... while it does preheat, it also brings the water right to where I need it. And it is "adjustable." If I want the water temperature higher, I simply pour it into fewer vessels.

[Chip]

... oh, plus this measures how much water I need.

Easy peasy!

[dvto2]

Oh, I meant deal with that not freak with that. Boiling the water and then cooling it would seem to defeat the purpose of a variable electric kettle, though I get the idea of having heated cups.

[Chip]

Well, similarly, to get to intermediate temps which I think was the basis of your original post, you can follow a similar process.

It has never bothered me having a variable temperature kettle and not using the feature all the time. It is nice to know when I want the feature, it is there.