Can the thermometers you usually get in cook shops (e.g. meat thermometers) suitable to be used as tea thermometers? In particular, I am wondering whether the temperatures they measure in a liquid will be as reliable as in e.g. meat. The temperature ranges are also quite different.
Are normal cooking thermometers suitable to use as tea thermometers
teathermometer
Related Solutions
While I heartily recommend a remote probe thermometer that you can leave in your meat and have a readout outside of the oven, it is only for convenience. Piercing the meat with a thermometer (or fork, etc) isn't going to cause any significant loss of juice. You may rupture a couple of cells right where the thermometer went in, but that's it. Your meat isn't just a water-balloon of juices waiting to be popped, so you needn't worry.
Are you overthinking this? A small teapot, sized for one person, would meet your criteria, wouldn't it? Unless you count the infusion basket separate from the teapot itself, you just have a teapot to rinse out (no scrubbing needed) and a mug to wash.
This is mine:
It holds around 20oz of water, so I can fill the pot, steep for a few minutes, then lift out the infuser basket and dump the leaves. You can easily do this in a breakroom or kitchenette area of an office, and then take the teapot back to your desk and voila, 3-4 cups of tea with one trip to the breakroom. Mine's made of cast iron and easily keeps the tea warm longer than it takes me to drink it. When you're all done, rinse out the teapot (cast iron won't need much more than a brief rinse) and wash your mug in the sink.
Based on my tea this afternoon (admittedly, taken in my home office today rather than at work):
- It's super easy to clean out the teapot, I just ran water through it a few times. The infuser basket took a little more work, but no more than 30 seconds or so of running under the water to make sure I got all the leaves out.
- The teapot has a lid, to cover the tea while steeping.
- The infuser basket lifts out when the tea's done steeping.
- I was able to transport the pot by the handle from my kitchen to my office without any burns. It's a little warm, but not hot enough to burn you.
- I'd love to see the drop that damages cast-iron!
Related Topic
- Why is the Green Tea Brown but then Green when I reuse the bag
- Reasonable level of inaccuracy in thermometer
- Loose-leaf tea: specifics of re-steeping multiple times
- How to easily get water to a desired temperature
- Oven – How to determine whether oven thermometer is accurate
- Fish – Is whitebait safe at 42c
- Is it normal to find something in tea
Best Answer
The flexible generalist thermometer of the kitchen, the instant read thermometer, should be quite suitable measuring the temperature of the water for tea brewing. It covers the right range, has reasonable accuracy, and responds relatively quickly.
You can get traditional ones such as the classic Taylor model very inexpensively, or high quality electronic ones such as the Thermapen, as well as a large number of mid-range models that offer excellent value, accuracy, and reasonable response time.
Many come with a clip that would allow you to set them on the side of a pot, but you would not attach them to kettle. Instead, you hold them in, and they register the temperature in a few seconds (depending on the model)—thus the name, instant read.