Gizmodo Australia » tea

There Is A US President In My Tea Cup

Jesus Diaz — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:00:00 +0000

Here’s one of those simple, zowielala inventions that will make some people smile. The ones who matter, anyway: Those who love tea. And tea parties. With rainbow cookies and carrot cake. And jacuzzis too. And famous people in their cups.

These are made by German design company Donkey Products. They come in three sets, each with five bags: RoyalTea, DemocraTea, and StripTea.

Yes, I know my dear tea purists. Having had an English wife for a long time, I know that you don’t put the tea bag in the cup full of hot water, but you pour the boiling water over the bag in the empty cup. However, I’m counting that these have cords like every normal bags, and that you just hang the Queen there when the time is right (and while I’m against monarchy, I mean that in the nicest way possible. You know I still love you, Liz. Don’t stop inviting me to Windsor for this. Come on. Yes? No teabagging involved, promised). [Direct Daily]

Space Invaders Tea Best Served With Side Of MIDI After Dinner Music

Jack Loftus — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 20:30:00 +0000

This ingenious tea pot and serving pitcher not only features classic Space Invaders, it’s completely functional as well. When the water is hot, the blue invaders appear, letting you know it’s ready for service.

For the design, the kettle won the World Kitchen Tea Off 2009, which I sadly had no idea existed until the moments before I typed “World Kitchen Tea Off 2009″ for the first time. [Vesselidation.com. (broken link) via Gamer Grrlz via Technabob]

Tea Bag Lighting Concept is Absolutely Tea-lightful

Elaine Chow — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 05:03:00 +0000

Korean designer Wonsik Chae’s light concept is in the shape of a teabag filled with fluorescent molecules that react to chemicals in a teacup. The result: a new meaning to the words “tea light.”

Much like normal cups of tea, you dip the teabag in to start the reaction. You then “draw a light” by pulling up the teabag and letting the fluorescent molecules slip into the chemical concoction. Draw it multiple times to make the concoction darker and thus the light brighter.

While it’s bound to make your party prettier, it seems like something you should warn your guests of beforehand. Something tells me this tea isn’t drinkable. [Toxel]

Three Cups of Coffee Makes You Three Times More Likely to Hallucinate

Mark Wilson — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:20:00 +0000

Maybe you aren’t at work right now. Maybe you aren’t wearing a suit. Maybe that giant polka dot bunny can’t hear your thoughts. Maybe you just drank too much coffee.

Researchers from Durham University (queried, we believe) 200 non-smoking participants, taking into account their intake of tea, coffee, energy drinks, caffeine pills or coffee consumed on an average day as well as their propensity to see things that were not there, hear voices, and/or sense the presence of the dead.

It was found that 315 milligrams of caffeine (about what you’ll find in three standard cups off coffee) increased hallucinations by three times, though it’s unclear as to whether or not this data could be correlational with crazy people simply drinking more caffeine to begin with. [LiveScience and image]

UFO Teapot: Let’s Make Some F’ing Tea

Mark Wilson — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:45:00 +0000

For some reason, a teapot permanently takes up one of the four, sacred burners in my kitchen. Occasionally I’m able to hide it, trapping the unused fixture in a cabinet where the Pyrex watches guard. To circumvent this subtle, strategically culinary mating dance that is marriage, I’d be glad to place this adolescently glorious UFO teapot in a spot of household prominence all year long. Forget the stove. I’m thinking the $US80 UFO sits on a pedestal in the middle of my living room—where it partially blocks the TV, commanding your full attention at all times, of course. [Andy Titcomb via Nerd Approved]

Steampunk Tea Pots Are Very Rust-Tea

Jason Chen — Sat, 31 May 2008 22:00:00 +0000

Apologies to reader Miguel for taking his fantastic creations and shoving a lousy pun on it, but it was either that or “sTEAmpunk”. These Steampunk Tea Pots are really, really amazing, and they’re all hand-made and unglazed coloured clay pots perfect for putting your morning tea into. Mr. T would approve.

Tea Infuser Design Clips On, Catches Drips

Gizmodo US Edition — Tue, 20 May 2008 10:05:00 +0000

Tea is the fuel that keeps many an editor’s brain ticking over here in the Giz office: I make mine with teabags, Blam loves the new Sorapot. So this new design is of more than passing interest: student Paul Sukphisit has reinvented the tea infuser. And it actually looks like he’s really “built a better mousetrap” with his idea, since it cures some of the ills of normal infusers.

It clips neatly inside a mug so it doesn’t fall in, and when you whip it out at the end of brewing it catches its own drips so you don’t dribble tea everywhere. Its even got minimal parts for simple cleaning. No wonder Paul’s just won a merit award from the Industrial Design Society of America.

“Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cozy, doesn’t try it on.” says Billy Connolly. Wonder what he’d say about this gizmo? [Yanko design]

TeaCube Auto-Undangles Tea Bags for Perfect Cuppas

Gizmodo US Edition — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:20:00 +0000

All the knowledge about freshly drawn, freshly boiled water making the best cup of tea won’t help you if you’re as absentminded as me. Four times out of five, I forget all about the tea bag and leave it dangling in the water until the liquid is as dark as the inside of a cat, and just about as tasty. Which is where the TeaCube by Jieun Yang and Hanah Suh would come in handy—its timed retracting spool fishes out a clipped-in tea bag for you at exactly the right moment. Simplicity itself. Combine it with the self-stirring cup, and tea-making couldn’t be easier. It’s just a design concept, but tea addicts like me would love for someone to really produce it. Please? [Yanko design]

Lightning Review: Beautiful Sorapot Tea Kettle

Brian Lam — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 23:22:32 +0000

The Gadget: I’m not a big tea drinker, but I appreciate the Sorapot tea pot’s design. It’s been an object of desire since I first saw the renderings and the how to video.

Price: US$179.

The Verdict: Using it, I’ve got a few gripes that people who plan to use this every day might complain about if they want practicality over pure design porn. First, the tea kettle is to be filled by the spout, which leads to spilling. This is presumably because on it’s side, cylinder in the vertical space, the glass feels pretty unstable. (See my awkwardness in the video. BTW do not expect to be entertained.) Secondly the pour is kind of inconsistently slow then very fast, because there’s no way for air to initially make up for the vacuum left by the water until you pour at a certain angle. Closing the kettle involves tightening a hand screw, which is not all that convenient

Having just complained about the pot, there is no doubt that it is the best looking tea steeping device I’ve seen in some time, and will be for some time to come. That’s worth a lot, and I’m sure the inconveniences above could be overcome by someone in lust with it. [Sorapot]

Self-Stirring Cup of Tea Puts My Left Hand Out of a Job

Addy Dugdale — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:42:00 +0000

In GizmodoWorld, no one loves a cuppa quite like I do—although the amount of times I go to the kettle each day is giving me RSI. Anyways, two French guys have designed a cup of tea that stirs itself. Simple in its design, all you need do for it to work is channel your inner Cognac-drinker, swilling the liquid around the cup until the sugar has dissolved. More info, including a How-To cartoon is after the jump.

The cup, called Ceramic For Mix, has a protruding base that bulges out—imagine a boa constrictor after an all-you-can-eat sheep buffet—and a ceramic ball that goes in the bottom. Pour in the PG Tips, add the milk, spoon in the sugar (if that is how you take your tea) and then swill the cup. Gravity ensures the ceramic ball doesn’t bop you on the nose when you drink, apparently.

One of the designers, Florian Dussopt is expecting to sell his invention to cafes and bars, eliminating the need for a spoon (unless your sugar comes in a bowl, in which case you’ll have to use your hands to shovel the sugar into your cup.) Should this be seen as spoonicide? “The aim is not to kill the spoon but to suggest an alternative for a special occasion,” he says. So that’s alright, then. [Daily Mail]