Tag Archives: tea

This adorable little tea-infuser looks exactly like the Piranha Plant from Super Mario!

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When you’re not using it to brew tea, you could turn it into a prop for your Lego Mario set.

OTOTO‘s Tea Trap puts a fun spin on the art of brewing tea. Unlike those boring metal infusers, the Tea Trap models itself on a carnivorous plant that chomps down on your tea leaves. Once the Tea Trap’s stomach (or mouth) is full, just dunk it in a cup of hot water, and the tea begins infusing through the perforations on the sides of the infuser. Use the Tea Trap’s elongated handle to stir it around till your tea reaches the right color, and when you’re done, the Tea Trap will very kindly spit out the tea-leaves into the waste-bin, because nobody likes eating tea leaves… not even carnivorous plants!

Designer: OTOTO

The Tea Trap is made from stainless steel along with BPA-free silicone. It’s 100% food-safe and dishwasher-safe too.

Award-winning ‘Inclusive Kettle’ allows the disabled and impaired to easily brew tea

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It’s difficult to shake the fact that products that have existed for centuries can sometimes be prime examples of non-inclusive design. Stairs are a notorious example – they’ve existed for centuries, but are an accessibility nightmare for people in wheelchairs. The humble kettle is yet another specimen… It’s been around for practically 5000 years, and is a visual icon with its short stout body, handle on one end, and spout on the other. However, ask any disabled or visually impaired person, or someone with reduced strength or dexterity and they’ll tell you how cumbersome the product’s design can be. The handle on one end means you need a fair amount of wrist strength to hold a kettle upright without it tipping over, and pouring the hot liquid into a small cup can be very challenging for people with physical or visual impairments. Nick Fitzpatrick’s ‘Inclusivitea’ hopes to change that.

A winner of the Lakeland Design Award, the Inclusivitea reimagines the quintessential kettle shape, allowing it to be easily carried and used with little effort. Styled almost like a pour-over coffee maker with handles on either side, the kettle comes with its own stand that lets you brew and then directly dispense tea into your container.

The Inclusivitea kettle highlights the two biggest problem areas when it comes to using a kettle – the filling and the pouring. The redesigned kettle comes with two handlebar-shaped arms that let you easily carry it to fill it up with water. Dock it in the stand and plug the kettle into a power outlet and it begins brewing your tea. Once your tea’s ready, simply put the cup in its dedicated zone right under the kettle and press the main button that both filters the tea and dispenses it right into the cup. The dispensing stops once you release the button, completely eliminating any chances of over-filling your cup and/or spilling tea all over the place.

Each Inclusivitea tea-set comes with the kettle and stand, but also with an assortment of containers housing everything from sugar cubes to tea bags, spices, and even a small dairy creamer jug. The easy-to-hold kettle is also accompanied by a tiny cup with an extended rim instead of a handle. Made so you can grip it by its rim comfortably (rather than with your finger through a small handle), the cup even has a small cutout in the extended rim from which to sip through.

Designer: Nick Fitzpatrick

This smart kettle is an upgrade your kitchen REALLY needs!

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That plastic kettle sitting on our kitchen counter probably looks like something from a time capsule compared to all the other appliances that have gotten design makeovers. Finally, it is the kettle’s turn and the B POINT shows it all off. It features a touch interface that instantly gets the appliance up to speed with others and lets the user form a more organic connection with it. The circular display has two rings – the outer ring shows the temperature and the inner ring shows the water level inside. Countdown starts after setting the water temperature and will beep once its ready!

The choice of CMF really elevates the simple appliance into an aesthetic product that you can display proudly on your kitchen counter. The minimal form has metal and wooden details that are evergreen as well as work with all interior settings. The body has a linear shape that is well complemented with the oblong ring that connects the handle which looks like it is almost floating. B POINT is possibly one of the most beautiful kettle designs we’ve seen.

Designer: Andrew Chang

This tiny tea café fits in a 1.5 sq. ft. fold-out box on the back of a Vespa

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Ask any Indian what their country runs on and the answer will inevitably come, “Chai”. Introduced to the country by the British and the Portuguese, Chai (or tea) is as much of a legacy to India as the New York Pizza Slice or the Chicago Deep Dish is to America. We’ve taken the drink and co-opted it, introducing our rich culture and complex flavors and spices to what’s otherwise a simple beverage of tea leaves, water, milk, and sugar. Today, chai can be found everywhere – At tiny roadside stalls in the city or on highways, and even in the up-market urban Chai cafés that are the “tea-quivalent” of Starbucks. However, possibly the most iconic form of Chai is found on the roads, sold by people on push-carts or even out of canteens on the back of scooters. The CHAIGAADI builds on that culture, modernizing it and turning it into even more of an icon.

ChaiGaadi is the world’s tiniest tea stall ever made. At just 1.5 sq. ft, the foldable tea stall fits right on the back of a Vespa, allowing the tea vendor to easily set up shop anywhere and sell tea along with select confectionery and snacks. Everything fits right into a 1.5 sq. ft. box that’s mounted on the back of a Vespa. Designed to work like a food truck, traveling from location to location (and often parking outside large offices in the evenings to businessmen can get their ‘chai break’), the ChaiGaadi can be set up anywhere in minutes. The box opens out into an elaborate setup comprising a copper tea boiler, a cup-warming tray fitted with signature ‘cutting chai’ drinking glasses, a tray for confectionery like buns and tea-cakes, and a fold-out counter for serving your wares and collecting cash. Once consumed, used tea glasses can even be docked in a special tray on the side, along with a small compartment for food waste.

The copper construction on the tea boiler is a bit of creative fusion from the designer, Arun Prabhu. Inspired by the copper glasses used by Turkish baristas to brew their coffee, the ChaiGaadi’s copper boiler relies on the metal’s conductivity while hinting at that cultural inspiration from the Middle East. Vents on the top of the boiler serve two purposes. Not only do they help keep the chai-glasses above warm (the vendor or ‘chaiwallah could pre-pour 10-15 glasses to quickly serve hot to customers), but they even occasionally let out steam, spreading the familiar whiff of strong milky tea in the air.

“We spent months prototyping, itching to find the right balance between usability and the skeleton of the structure”, says Arun Prabhu, founder of cross-disciplinary design and research firm The BILLBOARDS® Collective, and the designer of the ChaiGaadi. Touted as the world’s tiniest tea café, the ChaiGaadi was designed for Hyderabad-based cafe chain, Chai Kahaani, and is currently going through testing and trials as it prepares for an eventual nationwide rollout.

Designer: Arun Prabhu NG

Japanese tea rituals inspired this flexible, modular, origami-like wooden table!

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Tea time is significant in many Asian cultures, it is a moment of pause in the day where one can enjoy a peaceful moment of solitude or socialize and relax with friends. Tea time is a beautiful ritual in Japanese culture and Hasu is a tea table inspired by that zen practice. Hasu transforms itself as the tea ritual progresses making it a contemporary piece of furniture that still pays a tribute to the process.

It starts as a minimal compact structure and ends as a complete furniture set for tea time. Hasu’s design allows storing an extensive tea collection while presenting it in a unique and clean manner – it is almost like you can fold or unfold the tea time ritual like origami. There is a lot of storage for all the objects needed for tea rituals and the table allows you to present them one by one during tea time, it is all on-site so everything is handy as well as neatly tucked away. The unfolding of the four upper tabletops marks the beginning of the tea time ritual. Extend the seating to four guests by simply pulling the floor chairs from the table. Even when it is not in use, it still upgrades the space as an abstract piece.

Hasu is produced using several construction techniques (traditional + modern) and different types of wood joineries. The body is crafted from solid oak and features powder-coated aluminum details. It includes a brand new hinge system that was specifically designed for Hasu. The simple yet innovative design gives tea lovers a chance to elevate their rituals without adding clutter. It allows you to disconnect from the surroundings and cherish peaceful moments with loved ones while enjoying the warmth of the teacup in your palms.

“Just like an opening lotus flower, when the first rays of sun caress the horizon during sunrise, symbolizes the start of a new day,” says Mortelmans while perfectly describing the soul of Hasu.

Designer: Dieter Mortelmans

This portable kettle lets you brew and drink a single serving of tea wherever you are

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The Pocket Tea Set really challenges the notion of the way kettles look and function. Deviating from the standard practice of having a kettle-body, a spout, and a handle, the Pocket Tea Set abstracts the form while keeping the function intact. Designed to be small enough to carry around with you, the Pocket Tea Set serves you a single serving of freshly brewed tea with a unique form that makes it convenient and fun to brew tea on the go.

The Pocket Tea Set’s kettle comes with a revolved form, with a distinct rim around the sides, and with perforations running around it. The rim serves as a visual indication of where the kettle and the kettle’s cover meet, while its protruding shape means that it always remains cool to the touch, no matter how hot the contents of the kettle are. Perforations run all along the circumference of the rim, which means the Kettle can be held and used either which way, and all you need to do is grab it by the sides and tilt it over and the freshly brewed tea strains through, leaving the leaves behind. The tea set comes with two cups too, which nest inside the kettle when not in use, and a hard-shell case that fits all parts in, allowing you to carry a complete tea-brewing kit with you in the palm of your hand!

The Pocket Tea Set is a winner of the Golden Pin Design Award for the year 2020.

Designers: Tai-Ming Wei, Rong-Hui Lin, Bo-Kai Yang & Chun-Yu Wu

A coffee cup with a color-guide to help you make the right coffee every time!

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MyCuppa makes the question “How do you like your coffee?” a little easier to answer! The cup, which comes with its own color-matching guide along the rim, helps you make consistent coffee every time by allowing you to visually judge the coffee’s strength. The color guide ranges from milky beige (which incidentally is how I like my coffee) to a strong, dark black. Just pour your coffee in and keep adding milk or creamer till you get the color your heart and taste-buds desire. There’s even a color-guide version for tea-drinkers, so you can calibrate your beverage’s intensi-tea!

Designed by the fun-loving folk at SuckUK, the ceramic mug comes in a single standard size, and is microwave-safe and dishwasher friendly. Makes a perfect stocking-stuffer for any coffee-craver or a tea-vangelist!

Designer: SuckUK Design Team

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Uncle Iroh approves of this bamboo-inspired tea set!

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You already know Uncle Iroh would 100% approve of this simple bamboo tea set, he would probably give you a wise lesson on being like bamboo as he brews his tea! I can already hear his voice saying “Zuko be like bamboo, resilient, flexible, and versatile.”

This tea set will appeal to any minimalist looking to add zen to their kitchen and their life. Designed for a luxury hotel brand located in southern China’s natural treasure—Jintan District, it is a nod to the scenery and bamboo fields. Jintan is known to have some of the best bamboos and high-grade green tea, both these natural gems are blended into this one tea set. “We perfectly interpreted and integrated the bamboo shape with the tea set for tea ceremony. The minimal bamboo-shaped tea set showcases the elegant contour of the product and the features of the tea set as well,” explains the team. It includes a teacup, a teapot, and a tea spoon that can all be stacked on top of each other to create your own bamboo. The little leaf/green shot is a thoughtful detail turned into a spoon that highlights the elegance of bamboo.

The stacking is symbolic of the layers of different steps of a traditional tea brewing process. It gives you a chance to enjoy the gradual progress and appreciate it – as Uncle Iroh would say, the tea is the reward.

Designer: RONG Design

teaset

The Bariseur 2.0 wakes you up each morning with a fresh cup of coffee and a charged phone

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Aside from having a puppy lick my face, the Bariseur 2.0 gives me everything I need to begin my day the right way!

The Bariseur really made waves when the first edition debuted back in 2016. A great design experience always aims at being a multisensory one. We love motorbikes not just because they get us from A to B, they’re a thrill. Whether it’s the wind in your hair, the purr of the motor, or just the way the motorbike looks, it’s the overall multisensory experience that makes riding a bike so goddamn amazing. I’d say that the Bariseur does the same thing with waking up. Nobody really likes being jolted awake by a neurotic noise-making box, right? Bariseur’s ability to cross over into the multisensory realm makes waking up an absolute treat, because not only does it wake you up with sound, it tantalizes your nostrils with the smell of fresh coffee, getting you out of bed with something to look forward to, and probably a sunnier disposition too.

It’s 2020, the world is practically on fire, but the Bariseur 2.0 does a pretty good job of making mornings a little more pleasurable than they would have been. In its second edition, the beverage-brewing alarm clock comes with an updated design featuring a better brewing system using a one-of-a-kind immersion brewer that works equally well with tea or coffee. Rather than brewing your drink right into the cup, the immersion brewer keeps your beverage contained in a chamber, allowing you to pour yourself a cuppa whenever you need it. The smell, however, wafts out pretty effortlessly, allowing you to wake up to the aroma of coffee beans or aromatic tea. The Bariseur 2.0 even features a redesigned shower-head and smart induction heater that allows water to be scattered across your coffee grounds or tea leaves evenly, and at a precise temperature of 94° C – ideal for brewing.

Along with its subtle-but-effective improvements, the Bariseur even comes with a mini-fridge to keep a small glass of milk refrigerated for you to pour into your coffee or tea, and if you want to use the apparatus without the alarm feature, the immersion brewer is detachable, so you can brew multiple cups in a day. The Bariseur 2.0 even features an added wireless charging mat that helps replenish your phone, giving you just the sheer joy of beginning your day with a fresh hot cup of chai/coffee and a fresh 100% charged smartphone. It’s the little pleasures, really!

Designer: Joy Resolve (Joshua Renouf)

This quirky jar turns your tea-leaves into soil, and the teaspoon into a sapling!

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I’ve been pretty vocal about my love for Qualy Design’s products and how they reinterpret mundane objects as beautiful, desirable keepsakes. The Sprout Jar is yet another example of how Qualy Design has this innate tendency to view products around them with an almost childlike curiosity, turning them from regular products into designs with depth, and emotional storytelling value. Unlike your run-of-the-mill jars, the Sprout Jar comes with a sprout-shaped spoon fixed into its cap. Designed for things like tea-leaves, ground coffee, dried herbs, or anything that would look like soil (I guess brown-sugar would work too!), the jar comes with a design that’s meant to be placed on counters inverted. When flipped over, the leaves/grounds/herbs form a base layer around the sprout-shaped spoon, making it look like a sapling emerging from the ground! The clear-plastic container also comes with a slightly domed top, making it look almost like a bell-jar that’s encasing a mini terrarium within!

Designer: Qualy Design

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