Ted Lasso's reaction to hot tea is probably about the median US attitude toward it. We're just not used to it, and those of us who dive into that world usually have to kinda acquire the taste through some effort, before we start enjoying it. Very few of us take our first sip of typical black or green tea and go "oh yes, that's delicious, I'd love to drink that every day". Black coffee's not far off, but it's more culturally present so there's more pressure and opportunity to acquire that taste.

For my part, despite working at it for years, I still don't really like cheap tea (the stuff I could actually afford to drink every day, and that can be found without seeking out rare-in-the-US tea shops or ordering online), though higher-end tea is really good.

We drink a ton of iced tea, but that's easily made on the stovetop in a large pot, and can be bought in gallon-quantities at the grocery store. Having a kettle doesn't improve iced-tea-making very much.

[EDIT] Part of it may be that we drink on-the-go more than other countries. Just a guess, but might be true. Iced tea and coffee (hot or cold) are both much better for that than hot tea—one doesn't usually make a thermos-full of hot tea and drink it straight from the thermos, I'd expect (but maybe I'm wrong?) but that's normal for coffee.

Everyone in my (American) family drinks at least a cup, and often 3-5 cups of tea per day. This is considered a lot here. Tea drinking is so non-normalized that despite my entire family's love for tea, I was well into adulthood before I learned of electric kettles (from Tumblr) and introduced them to my family.

They're easier to find these days but still rare. If you ask for a hot tea at a restaurant, you'll often get a suspicious-looking teabag that has spent at least 6 months in the cupboard (iced is more available). I'm sure you can guess at the quality of most of the teas in an American grocery store; I usually wind up ordering from specialty tea shops instead.

Out of all of my US friends, only two drink tea on a fairly regular basis. The rest either never drink it, or drink it rarely.

They might not drink tea much for having dumped all their kettles into the Boston Harbor back in 1773 or something.

We drink tons and tons of iced tea, but that's about as easy to make in a large pot on the stove as it is to make with a kettle, and most folks already have a large pot. Plus you can buy large containers of it already made at the grocery store.

> Don't know where the heat is being lost

On gas? Around the sides of the vessel, bound for the ceiling.

Over the past decade, decade-and-a-half, it seems to have become quite common in at least the Netherlands to install taps that provide cold, hot and boiling water in new kitchens. These days, the higher end taps also do chilled and carbonated water.

The origin story for the boiling water tap is powdered instant soup, which isn't quite instant without instant boiling water... :)

Fortunately for me, I dislike virtually all tea equally so my hot dispenser gets used for noodles and rice.

I have a kettle and it has never occurred to me to use it for cooking food.