> but surely someone wanted hot tea faster
No one in the USA drinks hat tea. The choices (and it tends to be regionally-based) is sweet or unsweet tea. No need to boil a kettle quickly for that.
> No one in the USA drinks h[o]t tea.
There are dozens of us.
Perplexingly I was traveling in one of the iced tea regions of the country in need of a cup of hot tea, and they had no way to make it. Like, you have a commercial coffee maker and hot cups, the coffee maker has a hot(ish) water tap. All you need is a $4 box of teabags that’ll last until the heat death of the universe. Nope.
As a counter argument, things like pour over coffee is getting to be more popular in the US and older drip coffee makers seem to be getting slightly less popular.
Still though, I don't seem to see most of those people seriously clamoring for the electric kettle to go a bit faster. The cost for the wiring difference and dealing with odd imported kettles just isn't worth it generally.
What? Plenty of people in the US drink hot tea.
> The choices (and it tends to be regionally-based) is sweet or unsweet tea.
... Unless you're buying it pre-made, does this not still start with making hot tea the regular way? Or what exactly are you doing with the tea bags and loose tea from the supermarket?