Has anyone ever used a stove or coffee-maker to keep tea warm instead of a cozy or candle warmer? I'm thinking that while teapots are not made for stove-top use, tea in a kettle or other pot with an opening on top might be kept warm on the stove's lowest heat setting.
For teapots, are the warmers on coffee-makers too hot for glazed ceramic or glass teapots? I'd think that handles on metal teapots would get too warm for comfort w/o a pot holder.
I do it all the time.
No problem. They are perfectly adapted. They heat very progressively and never above a certain temp. In my experience, you have more risk to break a fragile pot by suddenly pouring hot water in it than by putting it on such warmers.
But, you cannot let a pot of tea (or coffee) sit on a warmer more than maybe
20 minutes. If you wait too long, the tea *cooks* and evaporates. Usually, I prepare the tea in a pot warmed on the coffee maker's hotplate, serve some, stop the warmer (and place the pot on the warmer that is hot but off). I serve the 2nd cup in the next 15 minutes. If the conversation makes we wait longer, I restart the warmer, and pour the second cup of tea about 10 minutes later.Kuri
An old fashioned samovar has an urn with a hole through the middle. The pot, containing tea concentrate (zavarka) sits on top. My new electric samovar boils water in the urn and vents the steam to keep the pot warm.
Since water needs to be boiled anyway, it makes sense to use the steam to keep the pot warm. You just have to find an arrangement which fits. I would hope that stove-top samovars are still sold, perhaps in Russian or other East European shops (apologies to trans-Caucasians for the implication).
Rick.
Thanks for the guidance.
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