Flightless Bird: Electric Kettles

[0] I'm David Farrier, and New Zealand are accidentally marooned in America, and I want to figure out what makes this country tick.

[1] Now, one of the joys of living in America is getting used to all the things you do slightly differently.

[2] So far in flightless bird, I've learned about the importance of tipping, using a leaf blower, getting circumcised, and enjoying baseball.

[3] All things that never entered my life back in New Zealand.

[4] It can be disorientating to encounter so many new ways to do things.

[5] Even the simplest of things can be different.

[6] like boiling some hot water.

[7] Here in America, it starts slowly and quietly, a hot stove heating the water inside a kettle until it finally unleashes its ear -piercing scream.

[8] Since I've been here, I've discovered that America loves keeping it traditional when it comes to boiling water, placing a kettle over the embrace of a hot flame.

[9] How do I feel about this?

[10] To be honest, I feel a bit like that kettle.

[11] a scream building in my throat until it finally unleashes in all outrage.

[12] Why?

[13] Because in New Zealand we have the electric kettle.

[14] Sitting on the bench top, it boils our water in a matter of minutes.

[15] And instead of the air piercing scream announcing boiling point, the electric kettle just turns itself off.

[16] We love it so much in New Zealand, we have a pet name for it, the jug, as in can you put the jug on please?

[17] I'd love a cup of tea.

[18] I want to know why America, a country that loves things faster, bigger and better, has been so reluctant to adopt the electric kettle, opting instead to live the life of a 15th century witch balancing their cauldron over a hot fire.

[19] So, turn off that gas stove and throw that old stovetop kettle out the window, because this is the electric kettle episode.

[20] Flyless bird touchdown in America Fly this bird Touchdown in America Okay so I want to clear something up at the top Because I know some listeners It's going to be like eggs Yep Some listeners are going to be going What are you talking about I have an electric kettle I'm American You're absolutely deranged You're just quit this show I'm going to front foot this And I'm going to dig my heels in Oh great Double down We're recording this in Los Angeles where the electric kettle over the last sort of five years has made a lot of inroads.

[21] It has.

[22] But, and I've done my research, the default in America, and I'm going to die on this hill, is that the stovetop still rules, and a lot of places have not embraced the electric kettle.

[23] And a lot of Americans would be more likely to boil their water in a microwave than in an electric kettle.

[24] Okay.

[25] I'm glad you said that because I am staring at an electric kettle right now.

[26] I have one in my home.

[27] My parents have one in Georgia.

[28] But can we talk a little bit about why you do have an electric kettle?

[29] Yes, we can.

[30] Yes, we can.

[31] Do you want to love to hear you explain this a little bit?

[32] So, we, we, we, we, let's go back.

[33] That's my let's go back sound to a very early episode of this show.

[34] We're just finding our feet, figuring out what it was.

[35] That's right.

[36] What topics are we doing?

[37] And somehow we got on the subject of hot water, probably, and I love hot water.

[38] It's great.

[39] You're sipping it now.

[40] I am.

[41] And we got in an argument because I was against electric kettles.

[42] You were?

[43] I liked a stove top back then.

[44] You did.

[45] And I said, Monica, there's a better, faster, more efficient way.

[46] It's the electric kettles.

[47] You are being such a man. Yeah, you poo -poo me right now.

[48] Got annoyed at me. Thinking, you know best, just like you're entitled.

[49] That's right.

[50] You are.

[51] Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[52] That's all you started hearing.

[53] But then you went away.

[54] It went away.

[55] And you stormed away.

[56] And you thought you reflected on that.

[57] I did.

[58] And you now have, there's one in the attic.

[59] There's one in your house.

[60] There's one at your parents' place.

[61] And I think this kind of illustrates the point where a lot of Americans just haven't made that step yet.

[62] Yes.

[63] And my friend Callie shout out, she has an electric kettle because she spent a lot of time in London.

[64] And when I went to her house, she had one and I was like, ew.

[65] I said ooh.

[66] And she said, this is what they use in London.

[67] Yeah.

[68] You need this.

[69] And I said, ew again.

[70] Nope, I'm an American and I will use the stove.

[71] Yeah.

[72] But fuck is that.

[73] Pettled good.

[74] It's so fast, right?

[75] It is.

[76] And it's gorgeous.

[77] Mine is gorgeous.

[78] Yeah, it's a good, you're a sleek, black looking sort of thing, isn't it?

[79] Yes, with a curvy stem.

[80] Oh, so sexy.

[81] Does that mean David's made you less American since we've started this show?

[82] Oh, my God.

[83] This is like a reverse.

[84] This is actually the plan of the entire show.

[85] Ew.

[86] It's about you less American and more Kiwi.

[87] You're so manipulative.

[88] You're going to start eventually like getting a little Kiwi accent from listening.

[89] to me drone on so much?

[90] Never.

[91] I don't do accents.

[92] I'm going to be sick.

[93] Start saying maths.

[94] I don't do accents.

[95] Never, Rob.

[96] So, look, when I had this conversation with you a long time ago, I saw that you got the electric kettle and I thought, hey, let's research why things are like this in America.

[97] Because America is a very full -thinking place.

[98] They do like things like better and faster.

[99] So why are they kind of stuck in the dark ages?

[100] Yeah, I am.

[101] This is fascinating.

[102] I'm going to put out a theory.

[103] Do you think we're more arrogant in some ways In that we think we would need to probably invent it I don't know Your way is the best way Right Like what's wrong with this other way Yeah confidence Some would say arrogance Yeah it's a blurry line I'll take it as me My thoughts I was like why would you buy a whole thing When it's so easy It's so easy and it's free We like free Yeah what do you mean it's free It's free to put water in a pot instead of buying a kettle.

[104] But you've got to buy the pot.

[105] The pot, you make spaghetti sauce.

[106] You make so many things in the pot.

[107] You've already got it.

[108] America's handing out these free pots.

[109] You already have the pot for cooking.

[110] You didn't get your pot when you moved here?

[111] Oh, you're not American yet.

[112] Comes with every apartment.

[113] No, when you get your citizenship.

[114] Oh, my God.

[115] Wait, are you going to get your citizenship?

[116] Oh, yes.

[117] I was actually talking, we had a New Zealand dinner last.

[118] night.

[119] And one of us there, Aaron, him and Maddie's partner, have just become US citizens.

[120] Yeah.

[121] And so I was thinking to myself, because I'm on what's called an 01 visa.

[122] Right.

[123] It lasts for three years.

[124] Right.

[125] And every three years, I have to pay a bunch of money.

[126] I've got to resubmit through a lawyer.

[127] And I just hope that I get it.

[128] And if I don't, I'm shipped off back to New Zealand.

[129] Yeah.

[130] Which would be very annoying.

[131] So after that, you go for the green card.

[132] Right.

[133] And then up to five years of having the green card you can go for citizenship okay oh you have to have a green card for five years first oh i don't think i realize that so that is something i think i am going to go i'm going to start the process hopefully we're still doing this in five years so we can do an episode on citizenship that is fascinating oh yeah that'll be wise and that process is fascinating yeah you're essentially talking to aaron you sort of just have to like pledge your soul to the united states and there's a line in there and i might be miss speaking but there's a line in there i think we have to essentially say you rebuke your country.

[134] You do.

[135] My dad, well, not.

[136] That's maybe the wrong word.

[137] Yeah, it's not that.

[138] I kind of want to call him and ask, but there's, my dad is a citizen and there is a thing where you basically, you renounce your old citizenship.

[139] Is it worth trying to call him?

[140] Yeah, just in case.

[141] Let me see.

[142] I've talked to your mom before, but I haven't talked to your dad.

[143] I'm just pictured he's going to be so cute.

[144] Everyone's parents are cute.

[145] He is cute.

[146] Hey, Monica.

[147] Hi, Dad.

[148] Dad, you're on the air, okay?

[149] But you're on flightless bird with David.

[150] I don't think you've met David yet, but he's here.

[151] We were talking about, because David's from New Zealand, and we were talking about citizenship.

[152] And it reminded me because me and you were just talking about this.

[153] Do you have to say I renounce my old country?

[154] What do you have to say?

[155] Oh, I'm not sure about other countries.

[156] In India, you have to surrender your passport, your old country.

[157] original Indian passport.

[158] For here, though.

[159] Oh, the Indians make you do that, not Americans.

[160] No. Oh, the Indians are mad.

[161] They're mad that you're abandoning them and they say they give us your passport.

[162] Yeah, they're mad about it.

[163] I don't think they're mad.

[164] Just that some people in the past have kept both the passports and travel, you know, for convenience.

[165] You know, sometimes it has been an advantage to have.

[166] have an Indian passport in India.

[167] Sure.

[168] What they've done is once they acquired a U .S. citizenship, they still kept the Indian passport.

[169] So it's traveled with an Indian passport that they went to India.

[170] But, Dad, do you remember what they make you, do they make you say anything?

[171] Do you remember?

[172] In America during the ceremony, there's a ceremony, right?

[173] Yeah.

[174] Don't you have to, like, stand up and say, this country is the best country, and I'm so grateful to live here.

[175] And I'm never leaving.

[176] And it's great.

[177] No, you don't have to see any of that.

[178] Oh, wow.

[179] All right.

[180] Well, they should make you.

[181] I don't know if he's a citizen.

[182] We're not sure that you are actually a citizen.

[183] Now we're questioning.

[184] All right.

[185] Well, that wasn't that helpful, dad.

[186] But I do appreciate you picking up the phone.

[187] What are you looking for?

[188] What answer do you look?

[189] I wanted you to say, yes, they make you stand up and give an oath.

[190] A blood oath.

[191] saying, you have to take an oath, that is what I think you have to.

[192] I believe you have to take a vote.

[193] I don't, I'm not, I don't recall it.

[194] Yeah, but not, you know, just that you're going to defend and all this to the United States.

[195] Okay, that's exactly.

[196] You're in front of a court.

[197] I'm a judge.

[198] I know.

[199] That's what we're asking.

[200] What do you have to say?

[201] We'll have probably Rob look up what you have to say, because you don't remember.

[202] But that was it because it was a long time ago.

[203] When did you get it again?

[204] oh 2000 something one i think okay actually not that long ago um all right well i love you that's it okay bye wow very very memorable experience for your dad he's really cute care less about that's would be my memory of it probably if it was that long ago well that's why we need to record it absolutely can't wait you want to hear the oath yes all right i hereby declare on oath that i absolutely and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potent state sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen.

[205] That I will support and defend the Constitution, laws of United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

[206] I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.

[207] Jesus.

[208] And I will bear arms on behalf of the United States.

[209] That's what required by law.

[210] Oh, my God.

[211] That is horrible.

[212] They want people to know.

[213] The day I bear arms is the day I become 100 % American, right?

[214] And the show finishes?

[215] Yeah, literally, yes.

[216] Jeez.

[217] Oh, my God.

[218] My dad didn't remember any of that.

[219] No, so what Aaron was saying, my buddy, was just how surreal it was standing up and doing that.

[220] It felt deeply odd.

[221] Because I'm, like, proud of being in New Zealand.

[222] Of course.

[223] where we are from.

[224] It's a weird thing to do.

[225] That is so strange.

[226] I can't believe they make you do that.

[227] But I guess it's like in court where like you swear on the Bible.

[228] It's like this sort of weird tradition.

[229] I like listen to the language Rob was using.

[230] Ridiculous.

[231] Also, it's not really fair because my dad has an accent and he doesn't know what any of those words means.

[232] I don't.

[233] So they're just making people repeat a thing.

[234] They don't even know.

[235] They have accents.

[236] It's hard to, Rob could barely read it.

[237] I mean, God.

[238] Are you a dad going through that?

[239] I can't.

[240] I'm so glad I wasn't there.

[241] He didn't invite me. Oh, look, okay.

[242] Okay, Kattels.

[243] Let's learn about electric kettles.

[244] Okay.

[245] Do you hear all that clanging and banging of cupboards?

[246] That's me and anyone's home in America looking for the electric kettle, and I never find it.

[247] It's an issue that's been plaguing my life since I came to America, the land of opportunity, unless you're an electric kettle, or someone looking for an electric kettle.

[248] Hello?

[249] Hello, Alvi, how are you?

[250] Hi, I'm good, how are you?

[251] I've called up my friend Alvi.

[252] When I first got stranded in America, she kindly let me stay in a spare room while I found somewhere to live, teaching me about classic American movies like Casablanca.

[253] It doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.

[254] Someday you'll understand that.

[255] No, no, he's looking at you, kid.

[256] Alvey put a roof over my head, and I was incredibly grateful for it, but there was a problem.

[257] There was no electric kettle.

[258] I had to take matters into my own hands.

[259] And I don't know if you recall this, but at one point, I bought an electric kettle.

[260] Do you remember that?

[261] Oh, I remember it.

[262] It's still here, jangling around.

[263] I'm curious what your reaction was to that, because I just noticed that you didn't, use it very often.

[264] I had a lot of reactions to it.

[265] My first reaction was like, oh no, I didn't have the essential thing that David needs.

[266] He had to buy one.

[267] That's terrible.

[268] As you can tell, Alvies are really caring host, but I did have a key question I needed answering.

[269] Why do you like the stovetop more than an electric kettle?

[270] I don't understand it.

[271] Well, I don't either.

[272] I like that the stove top doesn't take up.

[273] up any counter space.

[274] Ah, because it sits on the stove.

[275] Okay.

[276] And I've also heard some people who also probably didn't grow up with electric kettles, as I did not.

[277] I've heard that some people have gotten into trouble in their places because they get an electric kettle and put it under the cupboards on their counter.

[278] And then the steam goes up and creates warping or mold or God knows what underneath the cabinets.

[279] I wasn't buying this argument.

[280] Back in New Zealand, we still have enough remaining counter space surrounding our electric kettles, and our cabinets are not warped or covered in moulds.

[281] I'd need to dig deeper into this mystery.

[282] The mystery of why America is stuck in the past, boiling its water over an open flame.

[283] I would need to talk to an expert, a guru, a mystic.

[284] So, 2016, January, 2 ,500 feet on a mountain top.

[285] And she's woke up, prefecture, 25 miles from Mount Fuji, sitting with a man who has been growing tea, now three or four generations.

[286] We're sitting in his 400 -year -old Japanese house with sliding doors, a little burner in the floor.

[287] And so he gives me his cup of tea.

[288] I don't have to say a word.

[289] I just sniff it, put it in my mouth, hold it, breathe.

[290] breathe.

[291] He knows immediately what is in my head.

[292] And I look at him with my eyes and we communicate.

[293] This is the best cup of green tea I've ever had.

[294] This is Bruce Richardson and he loves tea.

[295] I needed a tea expert because tea experts are very focused on two things, tea and the hot water they use to brew it.

[296] Now a lot of Americans make really bad green tea because they put boiling water on it.

[297] They don't realize that you can't put boiling water on green tea.

[298] It just ruins it.

[299] I call it you stewing rather than brewing.

[300] You could be forgiven for thinking that kettles are all about boiling water.

[301] But as I was about to find out, it's much more nuanced than that.

[302] Bruce is the founder of Almwood in Fine Tees in Kentucky, author of the new tea companion and contributing editor of Tea Time magazine.

[303] He's also the head honcho of the Boston Tea Party ships and museum.

[304] Finally, Bruce is a tea mask.

[305] a Jedi of tea, a tea expert who can drink a cup of tea and know where that tea comes from.

[306] Bruce fell in love with his wife over a cup of tea.

[307] I made that last bit up, but his wife does love tea.

[308] And so back in 1990, the two of them started importing tea from all over the world.

[309] They were part of America's tea renaissance.

[310] His phrase, not mine.

[311] Tea had lost its romance.

[312] Tea had been replaced by the tea bag machine.

[313] that were making really swill.

[314] It was all based on the cheapest tea you could put into a few million bags a day, these huge operations around the country.

[315] So we were bringing back the romance of tea, and I think that's what people are looking for.

[316] Even today, they're looking for that, not just the cup itself, but the ritual of baking teas.

[317] Thanks to people like Bruce, tea is now a $10 billion industry in the U .S. And that brings us to the electric kettle.

[318] That's a big thing we discovered in this, American Tea Renaissance is that each family of tea at least deserves its unique water temperature.

[319] I have this conversation weekly with someone who comes in and says, can I put my teapot on the stove?

[320] I'll say, no. Here's my sermon number one.

[321] If in order to make good tea, you need two apparatus.

[322] You need something to heat the water and then you need something to steep your tea in.

[323] and they're two completely different things and don't ever use the word microwave with me in the tea ritual.

[324] To Bruce, the microwave is an insult to his craft.

[325] When Bruce says apparatus, he's referring to one thing and one thing alone.

[326] In our home, we have an electric kettle that is glass and I can see what's happening with the water.

[327] So I always tell my students, if you're going to be a person of tea, you and your water must become one.

[328] And so you must be able to see what's happening with agitation of the water.

[329] Why is the electric kettle not a mainstay here in the U .S., which is a country which is very forward thinking about a lot of things?

[330] It is, but it's because we just have not had that tradition ingrained in us since the beginning of the electrical age.

[331] Before that, in the late 1700s and early 1800s, we knew how to do that, but it was putting the water over a fire in the fireplace.

[332] But we never quite caught up with the invention of electricity, like the Brits.

[333] Everybody had a Russell Hobbs that would bring water to boil within two minutes.

[334] If you're an American, maybe Russell Hobbs doesn't mean that much to you, but they're a juggernaut of electric kettle innovation.

[335] Now, there had been electric kettles around since the 1890s, but they were pretty rubbish, bad at turning themselves off.

[336] formed in 1952 by William Russell and Peter Hobbs, they invented the first electric kettle that did turn itself off, a revolution that is perhaps finally starting to creep into America.

[337] All the major appliance makers in America realized a few years ago that there was a market now for a good tea kettle.

[338] The Americans were catching up.

[339] And so now there are multitude of kettles that will shut off at a certain temperature or you can set them in a different temperature.

[340] Thinking back to my friend Alvi, I do remember catching her using my electric kettle a few times.

[341] Maybe it was catching on.

[342] She'd begun to see the light.

[343] My main problem I have with the stovetop is that it takes so long to boil, whereas electric kettle, boom, two minutes, you're out.

[344] That's true.

[345] I did appreciate the speediness.

[346] I do really regret my decision to buy a stovetop fellow.

[347] I wish I'd gotten an electric one.

[348] When I first heard her say stovetop fallow, I thought she was personifying her kettle, calling it a fallow, as in, look at this cute little fellow, this cute little kettle.

[349] But it turns out fallow is a brand of kettle here in America.

[350] And Fallow is making a big push for electric kettles here.

[351] Maybe you can be sponsored by fellow and they'll give you an electric gooseneck temperature telling cattle.

[352] While I'd love Fallow's millions, journalistic integrity would not allow me to be sponsored by a brand that I was talking about on the show.

[353] No free electric kettles for me, but I did want to talk to them.

[354] Stay tuned for more Flightless Bird.

[355] We'll be right back after a word from our sponsors.

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[382] I don't know about you, but most of my week is consumed with things that aren't me. I'm sort of a bit self -obsessed, but most of my week it's been thinking about other things, like work, other people, things.

[383] My own well -being and mental health isn't always on the forefront of my mind.

[384] And that I've been told it's not the greatest thing.

[385] Yeah, and you have recently been to therapy.

[386] I have.

[387] And how is it going?

[388] It's going good.

[389] I'm finding it a journey.

[390] It's a good journey, but it's just a whole different way of thinking about things.

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[406] All right, Monica.

[407] David, you might have journalistic integrity, but I don't.

[408] I do already have.

[409] All of our kettles are fellow.

[410] So that kettle that you just boiled, that is.

[411] Fellow.

[412] Yeah, that's so funny.

[413] But I thought it was called Stag, but I was confused.

[414] Stag, another brand.

[415] No, that's the name of the kettle with in the fellow line.

[416] Okay.

[417] The fellow stag.

[418] Well, yeah.

[419] It's so pretty.

[420] It's, no, well, so I kept hearing all through this about fellow, which is obviously, it is a brand.

[421] And we're not getting money from yet.

[422] So it's just like, kind of curious.

[423] I mean, I don't want to rule it out.

[424] They're the nicest kettles.

[425] Well, yeah.

[426] So that's where I went next to in the dock is I tracked down the boss of fellow.

[427] Mr. Fellow.

[428] Mr. Fellow.

[429] People, in my experience, are boiling it on a stove top, which to me seems.

[430] kind of crazy.

[431] Is that sort of an accurate betrayal of how America has traditionally been doing things?

[432] I think you are accurately describing most Americans.

[433] And I think like you, I am also quite puzzled.

[434] We've worked really hard over the last nine years to change that.

[435] I'm talking to Jake Miller, the founder of Fallow.

[436] He's the Fallow that started Fallow.

[437] Now, to be clear, Jake is not a tea man. He's a coffee man. A point of division will get back to later.

[438] I wanted to talk to Jake because when he started making kettles nearly a decade ago, he never intended to make electric kettles.

[439] The gap that we saw wasn't like, oh man, America's aren't using electric kettles.

[440] Let's start an electric kettle company.

[441] We said, hey, let's design really great, beautifully functional products for coffee lovers.

[442] And one of those products, the tool that a coffee lover needs is a pour over kettle.

[443] So our second product was this stooped out pour over kettle.

[444] people started buying.

[445] It was beautiful.

[446] It was used in cafes.

[447] We thought we would kind of stop there.

[448] Then Jake had a realization, a burst of genius, a come -to -guard moment.

[449] Stoop -top kettles kind of suck.

[450] These things take 13, 14, 15 minutes to boil.

[451] Once they do boil, like the one that we designed, because it's a stove -top kettle, didn't have a whistle.

[452] You'd have to remember that it was on your stove 15 minutes after you put it on the stove.

[453] I can't tell you the number of times, we got customers who wrote in and said, hey, really sorry, I burnt my kettle.

[454] The handle melted.

[455] Like, I dryboiled it.

[456] I want to say there was this big strategic insight that pushed us into the electric kettle market.

[457] But, you know, after so many emails of just, Jake, I melted my kettle.

[458] I dry boiled it.

[459] Could you please make an electric one?

[460] We've said, yeah, if you want it, we'll build it.

[461] And their electric kettle was born, and a fancy one too, where you can heat your water up to.

[462] a very specific temperature.

[463] This was a far cry from his All -American upbringing.

[464] Growing up in America, I used to heat my water up in a microwave.

[465] And I think most of my friends and family did the same, right?

[466] You'd put some Tupperware in the microwave.

[467] You'd bring water to boil and then pour it over oatmeal.

[468] I think back to Bruce, who if he was dead, which he's not, would be turning in his grave right now.

[469] While Alvi had her theory about bench base and mold, Jake had another idea about why the electric kettle has been struggling to fully take over the United States.

[470] I think it is probably one of the reasons we've been a bit slower as Americans to adopt the electric kettle.

[471] But the United States runs on 100 to 127 volts of power.

[472] Countries like Australia in the UK, they're blessed with 220 to 240 volts, right?

[473] So what that means is that electric kettle is just going to heat up a lot faster.

[474] Flip a switch and it's going to get to boil much.

[475] quicker than it would in the US.

[476] But the story has to be bigger than that, because even in the US, an electric kettle is way more convenient than putting Tupperware in the microwave.

[477] You just have to wait a couple more minutes.

[478] Curious, I tracked down another expert for this episode, Tony Jebly, who wasn't so sure about this theory.

[479] Tony is another tea man, author of the philosophy of tea, a user's guide.

[480] A lot of people talk about the voltage in the states, the voltage being lower than the countries where electric kettles are prevalent.

[481] But I just, I don't buy that.

[482] Yeah, sure, the voltage is going to get you a quicker boil.

[483] Somebody said that it was like a minute and a half less to do it in the UK than it would be in the US due to the voltage difference.

[484] But I just, I don't buy that argument.

[485] Why then?

[486] Why is the electric kettle not found in every American home?

[487] Maybe, just maybe, it's America resisting the Britishness of it all.

[488] Because I've got a pet theory that this resistance to the electric kettle predates the electric kettle, all the way back to December 16, 1773.

[489] Back then, a group of protesters called the Sons of Liberty didn't like the British very much and disguised themselves as Native Americans, a somewhat questionable move, before boarding some British ships docked in Boston Harbour.

[490] Once on board, they got all the shipments of tea and threw them overboard, a protest over the taxes on imported teas.

[491] Now, you may recall that when I introduced Bruce earlier, I mentioned that he runs the Boston Tea Party ships and museum.

[492] It's a museum dedicated to this tea -tossing act of treason.

[493] Shall we say that the lead came off the cattle at that point?

[494] Because the British government did not like all that tea at the bottom of the ocean, they literally saw it as treason.

[495] Teesan, if you like.

[496] And the whole chaotic escapade snowballs into the American Revolution.

[497] And if it hadn't happened, what would things be looking like?

[498] Well, we'd be flying a Union Jack probably here.

[499] I don't know.

[500] Like all the other colonies in the empire, I mean, they eventually would have broken away, but it would have taken a lot longer.

[501] With all that in mind, I wonder if America holding off a full embrace of the electric kettle, is it saying no to the popular British invention of the electric tea kettle, a piece of technology which first appeared in 1893 in Leeds, a city in West Yorkshire?

[502] But according to Jake of fellow kettles, 130 years on, America is slowly starting to change its mind.

[503] The tide is changing, thanks to America's cultural ambassadors.

[504] And then all of a sudden we start seeing the Kardashian sisters post pictures on Instagram of the stag electric kettle.

[505] And we're like, oh my God, right?

[506] You've got Travis Barker and Haley Bieber.

[507] So it's been this really fun journey for us.

[508] With support like that, maybe there is hope for the electric kettle.

[509] here in the USA.

[510] Maybe soon, every American Airbnb will come with a jug, and the USA won't have to waste all that gas to boil its water.

[511] Maybe America will end up leading the way, making up for lost time.

[512] Jake says they have recently launched a pro version of their electric kettle that allows you to turn your kettle on in advance over Bluetooth or Wi -Fi, not just an electric kettle, but an online kettle.

[513] And with the ability to schedule your kettle, you're a couple, and with the ability to schedule kettle, the voltage difference between the U .S. and the U .K. becomes less important, right?

[514] So now Americans don't have to wait an extra three minutes for it to reach boiling.

[515] They can schedule in advance.

[516] Think of the impact this will have on the American GDP.

[517] Just the economy as a whole with three more minutes for 350 million people every single day.

[518] In my mind, with statistics like that on hand, Jake should be looking beyond kettles.

[519] He should be looking to the next presidency Make America boil again Doesn't quite work But you get the idea Sorry my writing is a little bit lame this episode I just really Once I did teasing I just started getting a bit poetic And I love that he's like Is that the word you're choosing to use Poetic?

[520] And obviously this man's trying to like Sell his kettle empire to me But like it is kind of fun Like the idea of like scheduling it in advance And that gets around any issues with voltage, where it might not be boiling as fast as in the UK or New Zealand, where our voltage is higher and bigger and better.

[521] Oh, wow.

[522] Fighting words.

[523] I mean, he loves tea.

[524] He's invited me this year.

[525] Okay, so this year is the 250th anniversary of the rebellious Americans through all that tea off the ships to the bottom of the bottom of the ocean.

[526] And they're going to do a reenactment.

[527] Oh, my God.

[528] And so I'm quite keen to get along to that.

[529] It's happening on December 16.

[530] So I've got it in my diary.

[531] But essentially, essentially throwing, what?

[532] I've got a diary.

[533] Oh, do they call that?

[534] Calendar.

[535] Is it a calendar?

[536] Oh, that was that a funny thing to say.

[537] Yeah, a diary, a calendar.

[538] Diary is like what a little girl uses to write.

[539] Or a boy.

[540] Or a boy.

[541] Yeah, I'm always in my diary.

[542] Are you writing like your thoughts?

[543] Oh, no. It's dangerous getting your thoughts down on paper.

[544] Somebody might.

[545] Someone might steal it and read it.

[546] Release it.

[547] But isn't that amazing?

[548] But isn't that amazing?

[549] I just think it's amazing that throwing that tea into the ocean, I'm not American, so I think every American probably knows about the Boston Tea Buddy.

[550] Yes.

[551] I had no idea.

[552] Sort of led to the American Revolution.

[553] That's friggin' incredible.

[554] And it's ordered to a tea, which is sort of tangentially related to kettles.

[555] It is.

[556] What do you think so far about, like, how are you feeling we've had voltage issues, cultural issues, The cultural issues is what I'm going to put my money on.

[557] To me, it's just tea snobbery, though.

[558] Americans don't have a lot of tea because I got electric kettle when I got into tea because I knew you had to steep it at certain temperatures.

[559] Like green teas at 180 degrees, black teas at 212.

[560] Here we go.

[561] Wow.

[562] Actually, that does make sense because we're so much more of a coffee culture.

[563] Okay, so that's what I get to in the third part.

[564] Oh, there's a third part.

[565] Entry.

[566] Oh, this goes on and on.

[567] Oh, my God.

[568] Wow.

[569] And in this, I look at the great coffee versus tea debate, which is what it's sounding like a lot of this is kind of boiling down to.

[570] Oh, poetic.

[571] There was something else I'd become distracted over while making this episode about the electric kettle.

[572] I'd talk to Bruce, who was a tea man. His happy place was having a cup of tea 3 ,000 feet above sea level.

[573] And I look at him with my eyes.

[574] We communicate.

[575] this is the best cup of green tea I've ever had.

[576] And I'd talk to Jake, who was a coffee man. We make beautifully functional products that help people brew great coffee at home.

[577] Both Bruce and Jake swore on the electric kettle.

[578] But both had differing opinions on what that hot water was best poured upon.

[579] Jake said coffee.

[580] You can probably guess what Bruce said.

[581] I'm curious about the world of coffee versus the world of tea and whether they are in competition with each other in America or whether they're very separate worlds.

[582] We call that the dark side.

[583] I moved a lot of people from coffee to tea, and I call it moving from the dark to the light.

[584] So coffee will give you a big spike, and pretty soon you need another to keep you with that big energy jolt.

[585] Tea has maybe a third of the amount of caffeine in it.

[586] It will awaken you, but especially green tea has an amino acid in it called L -thianine.

[587] which calms your alpha waves, makes you more cognitive and retentive.

[588] So that's the big modulation of the caffeine effect.

[589] You have the energy from the caffeine, but then you have this calming effect from this L -theneene on your brain that makes you awake, but more cognitive.

[590] With this in mind, I decided to talk to another expert about tea dragging its heels behind coffee.

[591] You heard from Tony briefly earlier weighing in about the voltage issue.

[592] My name is Tony Gebley.

[593] I've been studying tea for about 15 years now.

[594] I've written two books on tea.

[595] One's called Tea A User's Guide.

[596] It's really nerdy.

[597] The other one's called The Philosophy of Tea.

[598] Tony is also a tea man. And he's also fascinated why, despite the so -called American Tea Renaissance, tea is still the loser here in America.

[599] Statistically speaking, America's not a hot tea drinking country.

[600] It's just not.

[601] Coffee is still king here.

[602] And even when it comes to tea, 85 % of tea consumed is either cold or ready to drink, meaning it comes in a bottle.

[603] So we're very, very not sophisticated when it comes to tea and tea culture.

[604] Globally speaking, tea second to water.

[605] And globally speaking, three cups of tea are consumed for each cup of coffee.

[606] That's not the case in the United States.

[607] Because maybe America doesn't have the time.

[608] A lot of people will say, and maybe there's some truth to it, that we're always in a hurry here.

[609] We don't have time for rituals, right?

[610] The Americans are just always on the run.

[611] I feel that, right?

[612] And that's why you have terrible things, like people using a curing machine to prepare coffee and tea.

[613] They have tea in those capsules now, right?

[614] Those things are horrible.

[615] But almost everyone I know has one of those on their kitchen counter.

[616] And if it's not that, if they actually are drinking bag tea, it's a bag of.

[617] in a mug thrown in the microwave.

[618] Of course, the counter to rule this is if Americans love saving so much time, why didn't they all just have an electric kettle?

[619] But back to tea versus coffee, Tony follows my logic a little, saying that perhaps America's embrace of coffee goes back to that time a bunch of people in Boston committed treason by throwing a bunch of tea into the ocean.

[620] And there are some folks that say that that's what got us off on the wrong foot with tea.

[621] Tea's always been second to coffee since all that happened.

[622] I have no idea.

[623] There's no way to prove that.

[624] But, yeah, it's definitely a huge event in our history.

[625] Maybe the reason tea still plays second fiddle to coffee in America is a mystery, just like the question of why it's been slow to adopt the electric kettle.

[626] The steam goes up and creates warping or mold or, God knows what, underneath the cabinets.

[627] The United States runs on 100 to 127 volts of power.

[628] And I like that the stovetop doesn't take up any counter space.

[629] We never quite caught up with invention of electricity.

[630] Countries like Australia in the UK, they're blessed with 220 to 240 volts.

[631] But I just, I don't buy that.

[632] And maybe that mystery is okay.

[633] We need mysteries.

[634] And maybe stovetop kettle versus electric kettle, coffee versus tea, whole milk versus soy, cheeseburger versus hamburger, maybe none of this matters.

[635] We're all just trying to live our lives, our best lives.

[636] but we can always strive for something better, seeking to climb higher up that metaphorical mountain right to the very pinnacle where you'll find a hot cup of tea that's been perfectly brewed thanks to an electric kettle.

[637] I don't want to sound like a snob, I'm not a snob, to teach their own, everybody has their own busy schedule to contend with and different mechanisms to get themselves up in the morning.

[638] But what I've been trying to do is get people to understand.

[639] that tea could be a high -end thing that could be treated like wine.

[640] And when you get to that point, then you start to worry about how long you're steeping it and what temperature you're steeping it at.

[641] Well, in our home, we have an electric kettle that is glass, and I can see what's happening with the water.

[642] When you know what 155 -degree water looks like, well, then you can make macha.

[643] If you know what 165 -degree water looks like, then you can make green tea.

[644] If you know what 200 degree water looks like, you can make U -Long tea.

[645] If you know what 12 -degree water looks like, you can make a good cup of tea that even a Britisher would enjoy.

[646] You know who he reminds me of?

[647] Rob, in about 40 years.

[648] Oh, that's your future, Rob.

[649] And I hope you saw my eye -rolled at him.

[650] You know, Bruce Richardson did sound like a complete tea snob.

[651] He'll openly admit that.

[652] Yeah.

[653] But he did give me a lot of his time.

[654] just to, like, talk me through his love of tea.

[655] And I think it's nice to have a passion.

[656] What's your favorite tea?

[657] You have a favorite brand.

[658] Maybe they'll sponsor us because I don't have journalistic integrity.

[659] I mean, Smith tea makers.

[660] I like Smith tea as well.

[661] They're up in Portland.

[662] I like bubble milk tea full of sugar.

[663] Oh, my God.

[664] Yum, yum.

[665] Bruce actually went on a big rage against.

[666] He's like, it's not tea.

[667] There's too much sugar in it.

[668] I hated it.

[669] If you go up to Smith tea, maker in Portland you can do like tea flights so they'll do like white green and black and you can kind of taste or you can do like only a black flight yum the other interesting thing is obviously Starbucks is pushing coffee yes you can get tea there as well but it's not I'll be curious actually now like how well it sells yeah I mean they have now their own like the tasso teas yeah so they're getting more into tea and there's the coffee bean and tea leaf is that a chain that's a chain in L .A. Okay, so that seems like tea -ish?

[670] I think it's mainly coffee.

[671] But he opened up a new question of when did coffee become big in the United States?

[672] Yeah, when did that head up?

[673] And I think, honestly, I think it has to do with Starbucks.

[674] Yeah.

[675] I think that timing probably correlates more.

[676] And I bet before that, there were a lot more tea drinkers.

[677] Just pushed it out to the whole of the United States.

[678] Well, people had coffee pots, I guess.

[679] I guess when the invention of the coffee pot.

[680] Right.

[681] Folgers.

[682] As a side note, at the moment I'm working on an episode about America's obsession with ice.

[683] I know.

[684] And I was talking.

[685] I'm skeptical.

[686] You're rolling your eyes.

[687] No, I'm just skeptical.

[688] Oh, it's going to blow your mind, like the beaver episode.

[689] Because America basically loads up half your drink anywhere is ice.

[690] When I go to the movies in America, I'll always say, no ice please.

[691] Right.

[692] Because I like to get it full of Coke or Dr. Pepper.

[693] There's too much ice.

[694] Yeah.

[695] Well.

[696] Okay, we'll wait till the ice episode.

[697] I'm getting ahead of myself.

[698] I'm getting excited.

[699] Little tease of what's to come.

[700] Oh, exciting.

[701] So look, this.

[702] What does that mean?

[703] Oh, wow.

[704] Oh, my God, good job.

[705] That was better than teasing.

[706] Like many of these episodes, I kind of come out of the end, sort of feeling more deranged than when I went in.

[707] Like, I feel like I'm learning when I'm sort of writing the documentary.

[708] And then as I talk about it with you two, it just gets more.

[709] and more difficult trying to understand what the hell is going on.

[710] You realize you know nothing.

[711] Yeah.

[712] But doesn't that what they say?

[713] Like, the older you get, the more you know and the...

[714] The more you know, the less you know.

[715] Yeah.

[716] You know nothing John Snow, I think is what they say too.

[717] Oh, really?

[718] That rhymed.

[719] If you add it to the end.

[720] We made a limerick just now, a song, a John Djangle...

[721] Jingle -Hingle -Iristened.

[722] All right, more American or less.

[723] I honestly, I think it's a wash. That was fun.

[724] That was uninformative, but fun.

[725] Yeah, thank you.

[726] That's what I like to present to the world.

[727] All right, bye.

[728] Bye, bye.