So I don't have any real proof but there's a common belief that I also share that microwaved water tastes different from kettle-boiled water. I realize many people will dismiss this, but most of them probably aren't tea drinkers. And that all said, I'm sure there are a lot of people who use microwaved water for tea and are very happy with it.

Also, if you're making a pot of tea a kettle generally works better. Not sure if I'd want to put a whole teapot in my microwave.

Anyway, the real solution is to own one of these: http://www.zojirushi.com/app/category/water-boilers

Can confirm, just microwaved my tea water this morning. Still yum.

Personally, I don't use a microwave to heat pure water because of the danger of superheating (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superheating), which I have seen first-hand before.

Once you're keenly aware that this can happen, it ceases to be a danger. So it becomes pointless to avoid the microwave.

I enjoy superheating when making instant coffee; I like the burst of churn that happens when you sprinkle the stuff into the superheated water and try to nail it just right so that it fizzles vigorously but doesn't burst out of the cup, sending half the water over the counter.

You could... if you're a teabag-using plebe!

(Just kidding... but no, seriously. Loose leaf or bust.)

I always use the microwave, but some people think that makes the water taste funny. Maybe their microwave is so filthy that it does make the water taste funny.

You could. I find it is harder to heat the water to a given temperature and I also make a pot of loose leaf tea then keep it in a thermos. So need about a kettle worth of water. And imagine it is hard to beat direct resistive heating energy transfer. As opposed to say, run it through a transformer, mangetron, drive a cooling fan and spin the platter.

People are afraid the microwave will irradiate the water. Not really logical but it's hard to convince someone otherwise and since the alternative - putting a pot on the stove or turning on an electric kettle - is also pretty fast and convenient, there's not a lot of reason for them to switch.

Concern that a microwave oven will irradiate the water is usually logical; it is just that the logic makes reference to ignorant beliefs, rather than facts. :)

You need to boil the water for optimal black tea flavor, which results in heating the mug/glass to the point it's too hot to hold, and causes a portion of the water to splash out of the mug in the microwave once it bubbles over.

Well, I use.

But I'd prefer a Kettle. It seems to go faster and you have better control of the temperature (since you see what's going on and can shut it down easily, I don't like coffee with boiling water)