I've tried that, and there are two problems. One is that water has a tendency to superheat and then boil all over the place when you put the tea in, or it suddenly produces a big bubble and water goes everywhere. The other is that it is hard to get a consistent temperature. Even if you measure it with a thermometer it seems problematic (although perhaps the grocery store thermometers go out of calibration easily). If you're doing herbal tea it might not matter as much, but for something like Chinese green tea, it was always hit or miss. I bought the Bonavita kettle as soon as I found out about it, and now I always have consistent tea with no fuss or mess.
My daily driver, a flatbed Panasonic microwave, does a good enough job, but yeah actually boiling the water in a microwave is a recipe for a way too hot cup, and half the water boiling over.
220ml, regular ceramic mug, one minute forty, does what I need, but I’m not tea or coffee connoisseur, just a prole with a box of Twinings loose leaf.
Thanks for the kettle reference, I have been meaning to find a temperature controlled unit.
I recently picked up an inexpensive Thomson branded electric frypan with digital temperature and time controls, well impressed.
