Hello my friends….

I wanted to follow up on something I had observed years before. I had written a Blog Post called “Would you like to come over for tea?”

 https://zuludelta45.net/2013/12/28/would-you-like-to-come-over-for-tea/ 

It was about the best way to make a hot cup of tea.

Today, the ideas are similar with some new “Empirical Data,” which is only the second most popular Data listed here on ZD-45. Obviously, the MOST popular data, is made up stuff; which isn’t to say that nonsense can’t be “empirical” (see, I told you).

Our story starts a few more years ago in the “real world.” I was walking into the hardware store with my friend Gus; a longtime reader, and the biggest advocate for the letter P segment of the A-Z Blog Challenge; “Power of Perfume.”

 https://zuludelta45.net/2018/04/18/power-of-perfume/ 

There was a large banner hanging in the front of the store; “Cooler Sale.” The sale was for Yeti products. I am not sponsored by Yeti; I don’t have any sponsors. Gus said “Hey, I need a new cooler.” I said I’ll be in the rear opposite corner of the store, in the screw and bolt aisle. A month before, I had seen the sign and decided to go look at a new cooler myself. I knew exactly what would happen to Gus, but left him no warning. 3 minutes later as I was in deep concentration about 1/4″-20 bolts when I heard a voice from the far end of the store scream out; “WHAT THE *^*&!!” Being sophomoric as I am, I burst out laughing. I knew exactly what had transpired. Gus liked the cooler, and when he checked the price tag, was immediately shocked into profanity! I was still laughing when he came down the fastener aisle. I had the same reaction, but managed to keep it to myself. In the end, we both agreed that we had heard great things about Yeti, but the product was quite expensive.

It wasn’t long after this that I received a holiday gift at work. It was a Yeti stainless steel travel thermos.

As a side note, I heard a forgotten comedian say years ago; “A thermos is one of the most ingenious devices on the planet….. I mean, …..how does it know whether to keep the liquid hot or cold?”

I never used the thermos to travel or drink around the house, and it sat on the shelf ever since. One day upon hearing the Randy Newman song, “Dayton, Ohio 1903,” I reached up on the shelf and took down the thermos. It was the perfect day for a nice hot, strong cup of tea. As mentioned in the above-named blog about tea, I had given up the stove top kettle in favor of making tea in the microwave (I called it Space Tea). Recently, I gave up that very method to now boil water in a beautiful countertop stainless steel electric kettle that my sister had given me. The kettle boils water VERY fast, and also has a “warming” option that keeps the water temperature hovering at 212 Deg. Fahrenheit.

I loaded up the cup with a tea bag and added the water and placed the cover on. After a few minutes, I added some milk and sugar (Mmmmmm!). I knew the milk would cool down the water a bit but I couldn’t place the metal thermos into the microwave to “top off” the temperature. After everything was set, I sat at my counter and figured the milk had already cooled off the beverage, so I took a sip. Well, as my friend Gus would say; “What the *^*&!!!” It was still hot…very hot. I tried and tasted two more times and it was still too hot to drink. I would have to take off the lid /cover to cool things down. This didn’t help. It was still too hot. After an extended time, and the rewriting of the proverb to “A watched pot will never cool,” I finished my tea and went on with my life. Later that day, I made some soup. It was a little spicy with extra ginger and white pepper. Not long after, I was thinking the spices in the soup had aggravated my gums and lips, as I was feeling discomfort in both of them. A day and a half later, I warmed up the soup again, and ate it with no problem. The only conclusion; I must have slightly burned the inside of my mouth with the tea, as I never had a problem with the soup recipe before or since. It got me thinking….

First, I contemplated suing Dunkin Donuts like the woman who sued when she spilled the hot coffee on herself. Well, I can’t sue myself so I moved on. I began to wonder…..”How Hot is Hot?”

Science time!

I pulled out my electric kettle, my Yeti cup, and my digital thermometer. Spoiler Alert…….The Yeti cup stays hot….really hot. In the old science experiment from the first blog, it took all the heating methods about 12 minutes until the temperature dropped to approximately 150 Degrees Fahrenheit. In the thermos, after 12 minutes, the temperature was still 190 Deg. F. With tea in the mouth, there is a big difference between 190 and 150 Deg. F.

I was definitely impressed by the heat retention power of the Yeti cup. When the temperature finally displayed 150 Deg. F, 120 Minutes-2 Hours, had elapsed. I will leave my test results below.

Oddly enough, I thought back to the Dunkin Donut story. Maybe their coffee really was “too” hot. Maybe, but most of us still consider that story a frivolous lawsuit. By the way, don’t get mad if the Dunkin clerk reiterates that you can have your blueberry muffin “warm” with butter instead of “HOT” with butter like you asked….and most certainly, don’t go home and pop the muffin into the microwave, because that butter will DEFINITELY BECOME TOO HOT, and WILL burn your mouth!!

Maybe…Sometimes hot is just too hot.

Allegedly……

TIME in Minutes		TEMPERATURE- Degrees
Just Poured		204
2		196
4		195
6		194
8		193
10		192
12		190
45		176
60		170
90		160
120		150