Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard - Flightless Bird: Electric Kettles

Episode Date: June 20, 2023

This week on Flightless Bird, David Farrier sets out to discover why America is yet to fully embrace the electric kettle. Why does America insist on the stovetop kettle when it could be boiling its water so much faster? To find out, David talks to Bruce Richardson, a tea master who founded Elmwood Inn Fine Teas in Kentucky, and wrote a book called “The New Tea Companion.” Bruce is a man obsessed with the correct boiling point of water, whose worst enemy is the microwave. Richardson teaches David about the shady events of 1773, in which a bunch of costumed protestors threw British tea into the ocean in a case of tea treason. Could these events still be felt today in America’s rejection of the British invention of the electric kettle? Or is it a voltage issue? Tony Gebely, author of “The Philosophy of Tea: A User's Guide” has some of his own theories - theories which lead the creator of America’s premiere electric kettle brand, Fellow. Jake Miller prefers his boiling water on coffee, not tea - and he argues (somewhat in jest) that the electric kettle could have a massive impact on America’s GDP. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm David Farrier, a New Zealander accidentally marooned in America, and I want to figure out what makes this country tick. Now one of the joys of living in America is getting used to all the things you do slightly differently. So far in Flightless Bird I've learned about the importance of tipping, using a leaf blower, getting circumcised, and enjoying baseball. All things that never entered my life back in New Zealand. It can be disorientating to encounter so many new ways to do things.

Even the simplest of things can be different, like boiling some hot water. 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. until it finally unleashes its ear-piercing scream. 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. How do I feel about this? To be honest, I feel a bit like that kettle,

a scream building in my throat until it finally unleashes in all outrage. Why? Because in New Zealand, we have the electric kettle. Sitting on the benchtop, it boils our water in a matter of minutes. And instead of the ear-piercing scream announcing boiling point, the electric kettle just turns itself off. 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? I'd love a cup of tea. 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. So, turn off that gas stove and throw that old stovetop up at the top, because I know some listeners, it's going to be about 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 the show yeah i'm gonna front foot this okay and i'm gonna dig my heels in oh great and say we're recording this in los angeles where the electric kettle over the last sort of five years has made a lot of inroads it has but and i've done my research the default in america and i'm going to die on this hill okay is that the stove top still rules and a lot of places have not embraced the electric kettle and a lot of americans would be more likely to boil their water in a microwave uh-huh than in an electric kettle okay i'm glad you said that because i am staring at an electric kettle right now. I have one in my home. My parents have one in Georgia.

But can we talk a little bit about why you do have an electric kettle? Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Do you want? I'd love to hear you explain this a little bit. So, let's go back. That's my let's go back sound to To a very early episode of this show. We were just finding our feet.

Figuring out what it was. That's right. What topics are we doing? And somehow we got on the subject of hot water, probably. And I love hot water. It's great. You're sipping it now. I am.

And we got in an argument because I was against electric kettles. I love hot water. It's great. You're sipping it now. I am. And we got in an argument because I was against electric kettles. You were? Mm-hmm. I liked a stovetop back then. You did. And I said, Monica, there's a better, faster, more efficient way. It's the electric kettle. You are being such a man.

Yeah, you poo-pooed me. Right now. Got annoyed at me Thinking you know best Just like you're entitled I was mansplaining my little head off at you Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah That's all you started hearing

But then you went away And I went away And you stormed away And you thought you reflected on that I did And you now have There's one in the attic

There's one in your house There's one at your parents' place. And I think this kind of illustrates the point where a lot of Americans just haven't made that step yet. Yes. And my friend Callie, shout out, she has an electric kettle because she spent a lot of time in London. And when I went to her house, she had one. And I was like, ew. like ew i said ew and she said this is what they use in london yeah you need this yeah and i said ew again nope i'm an american and

i will use the stove yeah but fuck is that kettle good it's's so fast, right? It is. And it's gorgeous. Mine is gorgeous. Yeah, it's a good, sleek, black looking sort of thing, isn't it? Yes, with a curvy stem. Oh, so sexy. Does that mean David's made you less American since we've started this show? Oh my God.

This is like a reverse. This is actually the plan of the entire show. Ew. It's made you less American and more Kiwi. You're so manipulative. You're going to start eventually getting a little Kiwi accent from listening to me drone on so much. Never. Never.

I don't do accents. You just want to be sick, eh? Start saying maths. I don't do accents. Never, Rob. So look, when I had this conversation with you a long time ago. You did. I saw that you got the electric kettle and I thought, hey, let's research why things are like this in America.

Because America is a very forward thinking place. They do like things like better and faster. So why are they kind of stuck in the dark ages? Yeah, I am. This is fascinating. I'm going to put out a theory. 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 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. But you've got to buy the pot. The pot. You make spaghetti sauce.

You make so many things in the pot. You've already got it. America's handing out these free pots. You already have the pot for cooking. You didn't get your pot when you lived here? Oh, you're not American yet. It comes with every apartment. No, when you get your citizenship.

Oh, my God. Wait, are you going to get your citizenship? Oh, yes. I was actually talking. We had a New Zealand dinner last night. And one of us there, Aaron, him and Maddie, his partner, have just become U.S. citizens. Yeah. And so I was thinking to myself, because I'm, his partner, have just become US citizens. Yeah. And so I was like, I was thinking to myself, because I'm on what's called an O-1 visa.

Right. It lasts for three years. Right. And every three years, I have to pay a bunch of money. I've got to resubmit through a lawyer. And I just hope that I get it. And if I don't, I'm shipped off back to New Zealand. Yeah.

Which would be very annoying. So after that, you go for the green card. Right. And then after 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 realized 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. Yeah,

that'll be wild. 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 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 misspeaking, but there's a line in there I think we have to essentially say you rebuke your country. You do. My dad, well, not.

That's maybe the wrong word. Yeah, it's not that. 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. Is it worth trying to call him? Yeah, let me see. Just in case?

Let me see. I've talked to your mom before, but I haven't talked to your dad. I'm just picturing he's going to be so cute. Everyone's parents are cute. He is cute. Hey, Monica. Hi, Dad. Dad, you're on the air, okay?

But you're on Flightless Bird with David. I don't think you've met David yet. I have not. Yeah, but he's here. We were talking about, because David's from New Zealand, and we were talking about citizenship, and it reminded me, because me and you were just talking about this. Do you have to say, I renounce my old country?

What do you have to say? Oh, I'm not sure about other countries. In India, you have to surrender your passport, your original Indian passport. For here, though? Oh, the Indians make you do that, not Americans. No.

Oh, the Indians are mad. They're mad that you're abandoning them and they say give us your passport. They're mad about it. They're mad just that some people in the past have kept both the passports and travel

for convenience. Sometimes it has been an advantage to have an Indian passport in India. Sure, now. But what they have done is, once they acquired U.S. citizenship, they still kept the Indian passport. So they traveled with an Indian passport when they went to India. But, Dad, do you remember what they make you—do they make you say anything?

Do you remember? In America, during the ceremony—there's a ceremony, right? Yeah. Do you remember in America during the ceremony? There's a ceremony, right? Yeah. Don't you have to like stand up and say this country is the best country and I'm so grateful to live here and I'm never leaving. And it's great. No, you don't have to say any of that. Oh, wow.

All right. Well, they should make you. I don't know if he's a citizen. We're not sure that you are actually a citizen. Now we're questioning. All right. Well, that wasn't that helpful, Dad. But I do appreciate you picking up the phone.

What were you looking for? What answer were you looking for? I wanted you to say, yes, they make you stand up and give an oath. A blood oath. A blood oath saying. You have to take an oath. That is what I'm thinking. I believe you have to take an oath. A blood oath. A blood oath saying... You have to take an oath. I think you have to. I believe you have to take an oath. I don't recall it.

Yeah, but not just that you're going to defend an office to the United States. Okay, that's exactly... You're in front of a court. I'm a judge. I know. That's what we're asking. What do you have to say? We'll have probably Rob look up what you have to say because you don't remember. But that was because it was a long time ago.

When did you get it again? Oh, 2000-something, one, I think. Okay. Actually, not that long ago. All right. Well, I love you. That's it. All right.

Bye. Okay, bye. Wow. Very, very memorable experience for your dad. He's really cute. God, he could care less about. That 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 entirely renounce and. Oh, my God. Abjure all allegiance

and fidelity to any foreign prince potent oh my god state sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen that I will support and defend the constitution laws of the United States

against all enemies foreign and domestic I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same Jesus that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic I'll bear true faith and allegiance to the same She's oh my god. I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when I'm hired by law. Oh my god that is Horrible they're making they want people to know the day I bear arms is a day I become a hundred percent American right the show finishes. Yeah, literally yes is the day I become 100% American, right? And the show finishes? Yeah, literally, yes.

Jeez. Oh my God. My dad didn't remember any of that. No, so what Aaron was saying, my buddy was just how surreal it was standing up and doing that. It felt deeply odd. Because I'm like proud of being a New Zealander.

You're proud of where you're from. And you should be. It's a weird thing to do, yeah. That is so strange. I can't believe they make you do that. But I guess it's like in court where like you swear on the Bible. It's a weird thing to do. Yeah. That is so strange. I can't believe they make you do that. But I guess it's like in court where you swear on the Bible. It's like this sort of weird tradition. Listen to the language Rob was using.

Ridiculous. Also, it's not really fair because my dad has an accent and he doesn't know what any of those words mean. I don't. Exactly. Same. So they're just making people repeat a thing they don't even know. They have accents. It's hard to. Rob could barely read it.

I mean, God. Are you a dad going through that? I can't. I'm so glad I wasn't there. He didn't invite me. Oh, look, okay. Okay, kettles. Let's learn about electric kettles. Okay. Do you hear all that clanging and banging of cupboards?

That's me in anyone's home in America looking for the electric kettle, and I never find it. 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. I've called up my friend alvy 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 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 someday you'll understand that someday you'll understand that. No, no.

He's looking at you, kid. Alvy put a roof over my head, and I was incredibly grateful for it. But there was a problem. There was no electric kettle. I had to take matters into my own hands. And I don't know if you recall this, but at one point I bought an electric kettle. Do you remember that? Oh, I remember it.

It's still here jangling around. I'm curious what your reaction was to that, because I just noticed that you didn't use it very often. I had a lot of reactions to it. My first reaction was like, oh no, I didn't have the essential thing that David needs. He had to buy one. That's terrible. As you can tell, Alvy's a really caring host, but I did have a key question I needed answering. Why do you like the stovetop more than an electric kettle? I don't understand it. Well, I don't either. I like that the stovetop more than an electric kettle? I don't understand it. Well, I don't either.

I like that the stovetop doesn't take up any counter space. Ah, because it sits on the stove. Okay. And I've also heard some people who also probably didn't grow up with electric kettles, as I did not. 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. And then the steam goes up and creates warping or mold or God knows what underneath the cabinets. I wasn't buying this argument.

Back in New Zealand, we still have enough remaining counter space surrounding our electric kettles and our cabinets are not warped or covered in mold. I'd need to dig deeper into this mystery. The mystery of why America is stuck in the past, boiling its water over an open flame. I would need to talk to an expert, a guru, a mystic. So, 2016, January, 2,500 feet on a mountaintop in Shizuoka Prefecture, 25 miles from Mount Fuji, sitting with a man who has been growing tea now three or four generations. We're sitting in his 400-year-old Japanese house with sliding doors, a little burner in the floor. And so he gives me his cup of tea. I don't have to say a word. I just sniff it, put it in my mouth, hold it, breathe.

He knows immediately what is in my head. And I look at him with my eyes and we communicate. This is the best cup of green tea I've ever had. This is Bruce Richardson, and he loves tea. I needed a tea expert because tea experts are very focused on two things, tea and the hot water they use to brew it. Now, a lot of Americans make really bad green tea because they put boiling water on it. They don't realize that you can't put boiling water on green tea. It just ruins it. I call it you stewing rather

than brewing. You could be forgiven for thinking that kettles are all about boiling water, but as I was about to find out, it's much more nuanced than that. Bruce is the founder of Elmwood Inn Fine Teas in Kentucky, author of The New Tea Companion, and contributing editor of Tea Time magazine. He's also the head honcho of the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum. Finally, Bruce is a tea master, a Jedi of tea, a tea expert who can drink a cup of tea and know where that tea comes from. Bruce fell in love with his wife over a cup of tea. I made that last bit up. But his wife does love tea. And so back in 1990, the two of them started importing tea from all over the world. They were part of America's tea renaissance. His phrase,

not mine. Tea had lost its romance. Tea had been replaced by the teabag machines that were making really swill. It was all based on the cheapest tea you could put into a few million bags a day, these huge operations around the country. So we were bringing back the romance of tea, and I think that's what people are looking for. Even today, they're looking for that, not just the cup itself, but the ritual of baking teas. Thanks to people like Bruce, tea is now a $10 billion industry in the U.S. They're looking for that, not just the cup itself, but the ritual of baking teas.

Thanks to people like Bruce, tea is now a $10 billion industry in the U.S. And that brings us to the electric kettle. 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. I have this conversation weekly with someone who comes in and says, can I put my teapot on the stove? And I'll say, no. Here's my sermon number one.

In order to make good tea, you need two apparatus. You need something to heat the water and then you need something to steep your tea in. And they're two completely different things. And don't ever use the word microwave with me in the tea ritual. To Bruce, the microwave is an insult to his craft. When Bruce says apparatus, he's referring to one thing and one thing alone. In our home, we have an electric kettle that is glass and I can see what's happening with the water. So I always tell my students,

if you're going to be a person of tea, you and your water must become one. And so you must be able to see what's happening with the agitation of the water. Why is the electric kettle not a mainstay here in the US, which is a country which is very forward thinking about a lot of things? It is. It's because we just have not had that tradition ingrained in us since the beginning of the electrical age. Before that, in the late 1700s and early 1800s, we knew how to do that, but it was putting water over a fire in the fireplace. But we never quite caught up with the invention of electricity like the Brits.

Everybody had a Russell Hobbs that would bring water to boil within two minutes. If you're an American, maybe Russell Hobbs doesn't mean that much to you. But they're a juggernaut of electric kettle innovation. Now, there had been electric kettles around since the 1890s. But they were pretty rubbish, bad at turning themselves off. Formed in 1952 by William Russell and Peter Hobbes, they invented the first electric kettle that did turn itself off, a revolution that is perhaps finally starting to creep into America. All the major appliance makers in America realized a few years ago that there was a market now for a good tea kettle. The Americans were catching up. And so now there are a multitude of kettles that will shut off at

a certain temperature, or you can set them at a different temperature. Thinking back to my friend Alvy, I do remember catching her using my electric kettle a few times. Maybe it was catching on. She'd begun to see the light. 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. That's true. I did appreciate the speediness. I do really regret my decision to buy a stovetop fellow. I wish I'd gotten an electric one. When I first heard her say stovetop fellow,. I wish I'd gotten an electric one. 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 fallow, this cute little kettle. But it turns out fallow is a brand of kettle here in America. And fallow is making a big push for electric kettles here. Maybe you can be sponsored by Fellow and they'll give you an electric gooseneck temperature telling kettle. While I'd love Fellow's millions, journalistic integrity would not allow me to be sponsored by a brand that I was talking about on the show. No free electric kettles for me. But I did want to talk to them. electric kettles for me but i did want to talk to them stay tuned for more flightless bird we'll be right back after a word from our sponsors flightless bird is brought to you by helix sleep i'm on about year two of my helix sleep bed i'm sleeping i'm happy you are currently enduring a back issue. Yeah, I am.

But I feel like your mattress has been helping a little bit. Yeah, the mattress is the one. I got a firm mattress because I need my spine to be supported, which is exactly what every doctor has told me I need to be on. So the Helix Sleep will be the place for me. Luckily, you didn't have like a softy old weird mattress. No, to be honest, I think I messed up my back in Oklahoma. I was in an Airbnb and it was the softest, shittiest mattress I've ever been on. It was like falling into cotton wool or something. And I think that mixed with

the sitting on this tiny plane, my horrible messed up back just went there. This is why you need a good mattress. No, no, literally it is. The Helix lineup offers 20 different unique mattresses, including the award-winning Luxe collection, which is what I have. They've also apparently got a newly released Helix Elite collection, which is a mattress designed for big and tall sleepers. And they even have a mattress just for kids. You take a sleep quiz online, answer a few questions, and about two minutes you get matched with the mattress that will suit your sleeping habits and your spine and a whole lot

of other things. And it is shipped straight to your door, free of charge. Helix is offering 20% off all mattress orders and two free pillows for our listeners. Go to helixsleep.com slash bird. This is their best offer yet and won't last for long. With Helix, better sleep starts now. Flightless Bird is brought to you by BetterHelp. 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, my own wellbeing and mental health isn't always on the forefront of my mind. And that, I've been told, is not the greatest thing. Yeah, and you have recently been to therapy. I have, yeah.

And how is it going? It's going good. I'm finding it a journey. It's a good journey, but it's just a whole different way of thinking about things. Today, you said something that you've never said before, which was very vulnerable and introspective. And I'm definitely crediting that to therapy. Yeah, no, it's literally what we talked about.

It's like a safe space where you have no one judging you and you have someone that actually knows what they're talking about who can guide you through things. Yeah, it's great. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's all online. It's designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. I really like it because there's a good online interface you can use,

messaging a therapist, setting stuff up, changing appointments. I find it works really well. You just fill in a brief questionnaire and get matched with a licensed therapist. If you don't like them, you can switch for no additional charge. Find more balance with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash bird today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash bird. All right, Monica.

David, you might have journalistic integrity, but I don't. I do already have. All of our kettles are fellow. So that kettle that you just boiled, that is? Fellow. Yeah, that's so funny. But I thought it was called Stag, but I was confused. Is Stag another brand?

No, that's the name of the kettle within the fellow line. Okay. Yeah. Right. The fellow stag. brand? No, that's the name of the kettle within the fellow line. Okay. Yeah. Right. The fellow stag. It's so pretty. No, well, so I kept hearing all through this about fellow, which is obvious it is a brand. And we're not getting money from it yet.

So it is just like kind of curious. I mean, I don't want to rule it out. They're the nicest kettles. Well, yeah. So that's where I went next to in the dock is I tracked down the boss of fellow. Mr. Fellow. Mr. Fellow. Mr. Fellow. People, in my experience, are boiling it on a stovetop, which to me seems kind of crazy.

Is that sort of an accurate portrayal of how America has traditionally been doing things? I think you are accurately describing most Americans. And I think like you, I am also quite puzzled. We've worked really hard over the last nine years to change that. I'm talking to Jake Miller, the founder of Fallow. He's the Fallow that started Fallow. Now, to be clear, Jake is not a tea man. He's a coffee man, a point of division we'll get back to later. I wanted to talk to Jake because when he started making kettles nearly a decade ago, he never intended to make electric kettles. The gap that we saw wasn't like, oh man, Americans aren't using electric kettles. Let's start an electric kettle company.

We said, hey, let's design really great, beautifully functional products for coffee lovers. And one of those products, the tool that a coffee lover needs is a pour-over kettle. So our second product was this stovetop pour-over kettle. People started buying it. It was beautiful. It was used in cafes. We thought we would kind of stop there. Then Jake had a realization, a burst of genius, a come to God moment. Stovetop kettles kind of suck. moment. Stove top kettles kind of suck. These things take 13, 14, 15 minutes to boil. Once they do boil, like the one that we designed because it's a stove top kettle, didn't have a whistle. You'd have to remember that it was on your stove 15 minutes after you put it on the stove. I can't tell you the number of times we got customers who wrote in and said, hey, really sorry, I burnt my

kettle. The handle melted, like I dry boiled it. I want to say there was this big strategic insight that pushed us into the electric kettle market. But, you know, after so many emails of just, Jake, I melted my kettle, I dry boiled it. Could you please make an electric one? We said, yeah, if you want it, we'll build it. And their electric kettle was born. And a fancy one, too, where you can heat your water up to a very specific temperature. This was a far cry from his all-American upbringing.

Growing up in America, I used to heat my water up in a microwave. And I think most of my friends and family did the same, right? You'd put some Tupperware in the microwave, bring water to boil, and then pour it over oatmeal. I think back to Bruce, who, if he was dead, which he's not, would be turning in his grave right now. Don't ever use the word microwave with me in the tea ritual. While Alvy had her theory about bench space and mould, Jake had another idea about why the electric kettle

has been struggling to fully take over the United States. I think it is probably one of the reasons we've been a bit slower as Americans to adopt the electric kettle. But the United States runs on 100 to 127 volts of power. Countries like Australia and the UK, they're blessed with 220 to 240 volts, right? So what that means is that electric kettle is just going to heat up a lot faster, flip a switch and it's going to get to boil much quicker than it would in the US. 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. You just have to wait a couple more minutes. Curious, I tracked down another expert for this episode, Tony Ghibli, who wasn't so sure

about this theory. Tony is another tea man, author of The Philosophy of Tea, A User's Guide. A lot of people talk about the voltage in the States, the voltage being lower than the countries where electric kettles are prevalent. But I just, I don't buy that. Yeah, sure. The voltage is going to get you a quicker boil. 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. But I just, I don't buy that argument. Why then? Why is the electric kettle not found in every American home? Maybe, just maybe, it's America resisting the Britishness of it all. Because I've got a pet theory that this resistance to the electric kettle predates the electric kettle, all the way back to December 16th, 1773.

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 Harbor. Once on board, they got all the shipments of tea and threw them overboard, a protest over the taxes on imported teas. Now you may recall that when I introduced Bruce earlier, I mentioned that he runs the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum. It's a museum dedicated to this tea-tossing act of treason. Shall we say that the lead came off the kettle at that point? Because the British government did not like all that tea at the bottom of the ocean,

they literally saw it as treason. Teason, if you like. And the whole chaotic escapade snowballs into the American Revolution. And if it hadn't happened, what would things be looking like? Well, we'd be flying into the Union Jack probably. I don't know. Like all the other colonies in the empire, I mean, they eventually would have broken away, but it would have taken a lot longer. 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. But according to Jake of Fellow Kettles, 130 years on, America is slowly starting to change

its mind. The tide is changing thanks to America's cultural ambassadors. And then all of a sudden we start seeing the Kardashian sisters post pictures on Instagram of the Stagg electric kettle. And we're like, oh my God, right? You've got Travis Barker and Hailey Bieber. So it's been this really fun journey for us. With support like that, maybe there is hope for the electric kettle here in the USA. 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. Maybe America

will end up leading the way, making up for lost time. 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. And with the ability to schedule your kettle, the voltage difference between the US and the UK becomes less important, right? So now Americans don't have to wait an extra three minutes for it to reach boiling. They can schedule it in advance. Think of the impact this will have on the American GDP.

Just the economy as a whole, with three more minutes for 350 million people every single day. In my mind, with statistics like that on hand, Jake should be looking beyond kettles 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 And I love that he's like, I mean, obviously.

Is that the word you're choosing to use? Poetic. 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. Oh, wow. Fighting words. I mean, he loves tea.

He's invited me this year. Okay. So this year is the 250th anniversary of the rebellious Americans threw all that tea off the ships to the bottom of the ocean. And they're going to do a reenactment. Oh, my God. And so I'm quite keen to get along to that. It's happening on December 16.

So I've got it in my diary. But essentially, essentially throwing, what? I've got a diary. Oh, do they call that? Calendar. Is it a calendar?

Oh, that was a funny thing to say. Yeah, a diary. A calendar. Diary is like what a little girl uses to write. Or a boy. I know, I know. Or a boy. Yeah, I'm, a calendar. Diary is like what a little girl uses to write. Or a boy. I know, I know. Or a boy. Yeah, I'm always in my diary.

But are you writing like your thoughts? Oh, no. It's dangerous getting your thoughts down on paper. Somebody might steal it and read it. Someone might steal it, yeah. Release it. But isn't it amazing? That you want to fuck a beaver.

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 Party. Yes. I had no idea. Sort of led to the American Revolution. Sure did. That's friggin' incredible. And it's all due to a tea, which is sort of tangentially related to kettles.

It is. 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 gonna put my money on to me it's just tea snobbery though like 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 like green teas at 180 degrees black teas at 212. Here we go. Wow. Actually, that does make sense because we're so much more of a coffee culture. Okay, so that's what I get to in the third part.

Oh, there's a third part. Oh, this goes on and on. Oh, my God. Wow. Okay. 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. Oh, poetic.

There was something else I'd become distracted over while making this episode about the electric kettle. 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. And I'd look at him with my eyes and we'd communicate. This is the best cup of green tea I've ever had. And I'd talk to Jake, who was a coffee man. We make beautifully functional products that help people brew great coffee at home. Both Bruce and Jake swore on the electric kettle.

But both had differing opinions on what that hot water was best poured upon. Jake said coffee. You can probably guess what Bruce said. 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. We call that the dark side. I moved a lot of people from coffee to tea and I call it moving from the dark to the light. So coffee will give you a big spike and pretty soon you need another to keep you with that big energy jolt. Tea has maybe a third of

the amount of caffeine in it. It will awaken you, but especially green tea has an amino acid in it called L-theanine, which calms your alpha waves, makes you more cognitive and retentive. So that's the big modulation of the caffeine effect. You have the energy from the caffeine, but then you have this calming effect from this L-theanine on your brain that makes you awake, but more cognitive. With this in mind, I decided to talk to another expert about tea dragging its heels behind coffee. You heard from Tony briefly earlier weighing in about the voltage issue. My name is Tony Gebley. I've been studying tea for about 15 years now. I've written two books on tea. One's called Tea, A User's Guide. It's really nerdy. The other one's called The Philosophy of Tea.

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. Statistically speaking, America's not a hot tea drinking country. It's just not. Coffee is still king here. And even when it comes to tea, 85% of tea consumed is either cold or ready to drink, meaning it comes in a bottle. So we're very, very not sophisticated when it comes to tea and tea culture. Globally speaking, tea is second to water. And globally speaking, three cups of tea are consumed for each cup of coffee. That's not the case in the United States, because maybe America doesn't have the time. A lot of people will say, and maybe there's some truth to it, that we're always in a hurry

here. We don't have time for rituals, right? The Americans are just always on the run. I feel that, right? And that's why you have terrible things like people using a Keurig machine to prepare coffee and tea. They have tea in those capsules now, right? Those things are horrible. But almost everyone I know has one of those on their kitchen counter. And if it's not that, and if they actually are drinking bagged tea, it's a bag and a mug thrown in the microwave. Of course, the counter to all this is if Americans love saving so much time, why didn't they all just have an electric kettle? 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. And there are some folks that say that that's what got us off on the wrong foot with tea. Tea's always been second to coffee since all that happened. I have no idea. There's no way to prove that. But yeah, it's definitely a huge event in our history. 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. The steam goes up and creates warping or mold or God knows what underneath the cabinets. The United States runs on 100 to 127 volts of power. I like that the stovetop doesn't take up any counter space.

We never quite caught up with the invention of electricity. Countries like Australia and the UK, they're blessed with 220 to 240 volts. But I just, I don't, I don't buy that. And maybe that mystery is okay. We need mysteries. And maybe stovetop kettle versus electric kettle, coffee versus tea, whole milk versus soy, cheeseburger versus hamburger. Maybe none of this matters. We're all just trying to live our lives, our best lives. We're all just trying to live our lives, our best lives. 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. I don't want to sound like a snob. I'm not a snob. They teach their own. Everybody has their own busy schedule to contend with and different mechanisms to get themselves up in the morning. But what I've been trying to do is get people to understand that tea could be a high-end thing that could be treated like wine. 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. Well, in our home, we have an electric kettle that is glass, and I can see what's happening with the water. When you know what 155-degree water looks like, well, then you can make matcha.

If you know what 165-degree water looks like, then you can make green tea. If you know what 200-degree water looks like, you can make oolong tea. If you know what 212-degree water looks like, you can make a good cup of tea that even a Britisher would enjoy. You know who he reminds me of? Rob, in about 40 years. Oh, that's your future, and i hope you saw i rolled at him um you know bruce richardson did sound like a complete tea snob he'll openly admit that yeah but he did give me a lot of his time just to like he was great and i think it's nice to have a passion what's your favorite tea you have a favorite brand maybe they'll sponsor us because I don't have journalistic integrity.

I mean, Smith Tea Makers. I like Smith Tea as well. They're up in Portland. I like bubble milk tea full of sugar. Oh, my God. Yum, yum. Bruce actually went on a big rage against it. He's like, it's not tea.

There's too much sugar in it. Yeah. Hated it. if you go up to smith tea maker in portland you can do like tea flights so they'll do like i'll see here we go 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 Tazo 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 LA. Okay, so that seems like tea-ish. I think it's mainly coffee. But he opened up a new question of when did coffee become big in the United States? Yeah, when did that hit up in the united states and i think

honestly i think it has to do with starbucks yeah i think that timing probably correlates more and i bet before that there were a lot more tea drinkers just pushed it out to the whole of the united states people had coffee pots i guess i guess when the invention of the coffee pot right folgers as a side note at the moment i'm working on a episode about america's obsession with ice i know and i was talking i'm rolling your eyes no i'm just skeptical oh it's gonna blow your mind like the beaver episode because america basically loads up half your drink anywhere is ice when i go to the movies in america i'll always say no ice please right because i like to get it full of coke or dr pepper there's too much ice yeah

well okay we'll wait till the ice episode i'm getting ahead of myself i'm getting excited little tease of what's to come exciting uh so look. What? What does that mean? Oh, whoa! Oh my God, good job. That was better than teasing. Like many of these episodes, I kind of come out of the end sort of feeling more deranged than when I went in. Like, I feel like I'm learning when I'm sort of writing the documentary, and then as I talk about it with you two, it just gets more and more difficult to understand what the hell is going on you realize you know nothing yeah yeah but isn't that what they say like the more the older you get the more you know and the

the more you know the less you know yeah you know nothing john snow i think that's what they say oh really that rhymed if you add it to the end we made a limerick just now. A song, a John Jingle, Jingle Iverson. John Jingle, Jingle Iverson. All right. More American or less? I honestly, I think it's a wash. That was fun. That was uninformative, but fun.

Yeah. Thank you. That's what I like to present to the world. All right. Bye. Bye. Bye.