Real Aphrodisiacs for Valentine's
How to Make a Healthy Snack
McBites = Modern McNuggets?
Classic Valentine Dishes
How to Scrape a Vanilla Bean
Chocolate Beers for Valentine's
Does it matter if I change the water in my kettle each time I boil it?
If you want to make the most flavorful brew, using fresh water every time you boil is important. Water contains dissolved oxygen, which helps bring out flavors from tea and coffee. When it’s brought to a boil, oxygen is released and minerals are concentrated.
Barry Swanson, PhD, a food science expert with the Institute of Food Technologists, explains that the oxygen in the water reacts with the aromatic compounds in tea and coffee to produce flavor. A greater concentration of minerals can give your drink a metallic tang.
“The ultimate reason is taste,” says Rich Avella, production manager, coffee and tea, for Peet’s Coffee & Tea. When you boil water over and over, “you lose some of the complex aromatics and details in flavor. When you get into quality teas and coffees—like food—you really enjoy those nuances.”
Lisa Boalt Richardson, president of the Southern Association of Tea Businesses, agrees that tea will taste flat if there isn’t enough oxygen in the water. She says when brewing tea to avoid distilled water, because it’s already been boiled to remove impurities.
Avella suggests an easy test, especially if you use very high-quality tea or coffee: Just brew two identical cups, one with freshly boiled water and another using twice-boiled water. Then do a side-by-side comparison, paying attention to the contrasts in flavor and aroma. “It’s easy to see the difference,” he says.
I would recommend buying an electric kettle like the ones in the UK. You can find them in the US. They should amounts on the side so you won't put too much water in and an automatic switch off when the kettle has boiled. You will use far less power, be it gas or electric. You can clean those out when they get scaled up with the vinegar as detailed in another post.
Actually, Maxmillion, they are two different words from two different Latin origins. The word you're talking about is "baiser" with one 's'. It sounds like "bezay" and has the meaning of kiss as well as the slang meaning you mention.
The other word, "baisser" with double 's', sounds like "bessay" and means "to lower or drop."
I'd be very careful with the vinegar. I did this several times to my tinned copper kettle and the tinning starting coming off! An expernsive msitake....
Hey jrichter -- in French 'baisser' also means 'to kiss' and, erm, a vulgar term for intercourse...
but I guess you *are* really effing the lobsters up when you drop them in the hot water!
I think the archaic definition is 'to drop', tho.
^ Yes, but using reverse-osmosis filtered water (a wonderful under-sink/cupboard system that's VERY easy to install, fyi) in my kettle means that I am loathe to toss out the water each time...
But I guess I'll pour it on my plants from now on and use fresh!
Great tip.
Adding a water filter to remove the chlorine from the tap water would go even farther to giving your tea or coffee a better flavour
I lived in Asia for a year, and most people I met there were adamantly opposed to bringing water to a rolling boil for tea. The vast majority of people that I met had the same opinion as the classic French recipe for bouillabaisse - 'commence à bouillir, baisse!' ... or in English, once it starts to bubble (boil) STOP and use the water - it's now hot enough to complete the process.(baisser...+READ
I lived in Asia for a year, and most people I met there were adamantly opposed to bringing water to a rolling boil for tea. The vast majority of people that I met had the same opinion as the classic French recipe for bouillabaisse - 'commence à bouillir, baisse!' ... or in English, once it starts to bubble (boil) STOP and use the water - it's now hot enough to complete the process.(baisser actually means 'to drop' - as in drop the seafood into the pot)-COLLAPSE
White vinegar is an inexpensive, effective way to clean scale build-up. Let one pint of vinegar soak for 1 hour, then boil two batches of water to rinse the kettle out!
Otay, thanks for that confirmation. Say, what is the BEST way to clean the kettle and get rid of the scale that builds up? At what point do you get rid of the kettle--we have a beloved Chantal, but, I look at and feel the bottom of it, and I wonder. I've done some long soaks with hot water and baking soda, but, there's got to be a better way.
Water does taste better when there is more dissolved oxygen. That's why, when you are making tea, you should try to preserve as much oxygen as possible:
1. Boil cold water instead of hot water. Cold water has more oxygen content.
2. Turn off the heat once a rolling boil starts. If you keep water on the stove longer than that, you lose more oxygen..
Many years ago my grandmother, who drank instant Sanka all day, insisted that the water be poured out of the kettle every morning. She said it tasted, "stale".
I guess it really did!