Ha, that's awesome. I am glad you are using your Laser!Thatisathermometer! I always have boiling issues because I live at such great altitude. Things will never get to the boiling temp unless I bust out the pressure canner. Which being about half my weight, I am not dragging out for the morning cuppa. I kick up the woodstove, I pick up the humidifier kettle, I call it done.

My shiny new hammer is making me see a lot of nails, yes.

Oh, you live up where the alternate directions for freeze-dried food apply! I never considered how that would affect tea.

I think you can superheated water in a microwave. Not that I'm recommending that.

Laser thermometer, magnet soup, you are truly living in the future.

alternate directions for freeze-dried food apply

When I lived in Pennsylvania, I always looked at the high-altitude instructions on things and went, "Good lord, who's cooking this stuff, astronauts?" Well, it's me and my neighbors who are cooking this stuff.

Still, it's nice to go back to low altitudes and wallow in all that spare air there is to breathe.

that was my problem with the tea I got from Teavana

That's not a Teavana issue, that's a tea issue. Most dedicated loose leaf places will give you time and temperature instructions for optimal brewing. It's just extra information. It's not like most people pay any attention--I mean, Tom's stipulation of 212 for black tea won't even hold across all suppliers and all black teas.

I'm seriously lazy. I boil a kettle, put tea bags in the pot, pour the water in, and let it steep. I drink too much to brew by the cup, because ... I'm lazy. I will brew a cup of a special tea once in a while, though.

Well, it's me and my neighbors who are cooking this stuff.

Connie's an astronaut!

I'm seriously lazy. I boil a kettle, put tea bags in the pot, pour the water in, and let it steep. I drink too much to brew by the cup, because ... I'm lazy.

I microwave a mug of tap water and plop the bag in when it's heated.

But I also drink hippie fruit "tea" which doesn't actually have tea of any kind (black, green, white) and is more accurately categorized as an "herbal infusion" or some shit. But no one knows what an herbal infusion is, so I always just say "hippie fruit tea."

I don't even like the black teas that have a fruit flavor. Too bitter.

But we do keep a box of black tea in the pantry for when the dog gets hot spots. (That, and the dog likes a good cuppa.)

Too bitter.

I sweeten mine. No milk, though.

I had a question for milky tea drinkers. I'm told that you should properly pour the milk into your cup first, anyone know why?