I used to boil water in a stovetop kettle. But that takes too long. So now I just use the microwave. Take a teabag, pour cold water over it, nuke for 90 seconds, DONE!
Of course it doesn't taste nearly as good as pouring hot water from a kettle onto a teabag, but it's so fast and convenient.
And I don't think anyone in the USA buys loose tea. It's all teabags here (i.e. probably 99% of the market).
The microwave trick not only tastes bad, but it also doesn't heat evenly as you get patches of boiling water and patches of cold water.
Modern kettles boil in about 2 minutes anyway. So I don't really see them as any more inconvenient than using the microwave. The real inconvenience is having to get up to switch the device on; what I really want is a networked kettle so I can boil it from the comfort of my seat hehe
