It’s probably hard to miss, because it feels like it has been all over the place, but Twinings has recently released a new ad featuring a cover of The Calling song ‘Wherever You Will Go’. The advert is currently aired on UK television and it’s quite refreshing and unusual – a daring move on the company’s part. Finally they got in some talented illustrators and animators to create this visually beautiful ‘art-film’. Hopefully we will get more of this in the future.
No, it’s not a tobacco-flavored tea blend. Cigarettea is a concept design developed by Anton Schnaider, that marries the healthy and unhealthy lifestyle. Initially it looks just like any pack of cigarettes, however the usually harmful ‘smokes’ are filled with tea leaves and when dipped in a cup they infuse the water. The filter at the end makes the ‘tea bag’ float.
And so you end up with a somewhat unattractive view of a cigarette swimming around in your cup, but just imagine people’s reaction. Smoking has never been so cool, at least not since the invention of chocolate cigarette. But I highly doubt this would be a great substitute for smokers to quit.
Very dramatic and very funny – the adverts for Rare Tea Co. Royal Air Force Blend. “Not a load of dust stuffed into a bag” and indeed Britain desperately needs de-bagging, not to mention the whole milk and sugar ritual.
Origami tea – an amazing concept by Russian designer Natalia Ponomareva. A very simplistic design of package and tea bags inspired by origami folding. I dont’ doubt that this would be a huge hit with all tea lovers out there. Let’s hope it goes into production!
Callum Kenny, a design student, has created a tea set which allows tea drinkers to brew a perfect cup of tea. The very clinical looking set includes devices such as a glass carafe, three temperature bulbs, a tea caddy and a tea filter. The main feature of this design is usage of the Galileo thermometer to get the correct temperature of brewing water. The three bulbs indicate different temperatures and raise to the top of the glass cylinder when water is ready to be used.
Once ready, you place the tea leaves inside the filter and put it into the tube. You wait and admire the water changing color and there it is, your perfect cup. The inspiration for this project was that 64 millions of cups are being brewed on a daily basis, however few of them are prepared with deserved care and attention to achieve the optimum flavor.
However, this brings me to the question ‘Is there a perfect cup of tea which can be endlessly executed in the same ritual?’ I agree, tea is usually prepared with little care, in fact, what most people do with tea is sacrilege, but can there be a device which will produce a perfect cup of tea every time. I’ll leave you with that. Enjoy the video.
So during a road-trip we stopped at a random gas station on the way to Warsaw. I roamed though the small shop for food and beverage and found this… I read Lemon Tea – Self-heating, no way! The future is now. The appropriate geeky thing to do was to buy it and try it out and most importantly see if it’s any good.
I was most interested in the heating process itself. The heating is caused by calcium oxide. The can has two lids, you remove the bottom lid, press in a strange piece of plastic, shake the can and let the magic happen. The process is really quite bizarre when done for the first time and it happens much faster then anticipated. You turn over the can and it starts getting warmer. It goes up to about 40ºC, so not boiling hot, but it’s perfect temperature to start drinking straight away. It keeps heat longer then time needed to consume the beverage.
The tea tastes surprisingly good. It looks like those Nestea Iced Teas, brown in color, a bit sweet with that slightly lemony taste. Although it is not a health drink, we got instant lemon tea and black tea extract, some sugar and citric acid here, I could imagine drinking this on the road. When your nose gets close to the can it does however smell a bit like there’s been a chemistry lab going on. I guess you can’t avoid side effects with gadgets like this.
Everyone knows, cool things don’t come cheap and neither does this one. The price is the only downside really – just about 2.60 EUR is a bit much for a take-away drink, but it is worth the excitement you should treat yourself to in this jolly holiday season. 2Go tea brought to you by Fast Drinks.
Rare Tea Co together with Saintsbury’s release a special edition Royal Air Force tea, celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. The blend was first created for Terry Clark, a veteran of the Battle. This tea it contains fine black tea from estates in India and Malawi and has a classic English character.
The tea is hand processed by farmers and 10% of the benefits go to support the RAFA Wings Appeal and the RAF museum. You may also fine a golden ticket with prizes including dinner with Terry Clark and creator of the tea, a year’s supply of tea and a flight in a spitfire airplane. And who said tea is a boring activity for stay-at-home grannies?
Available nationwide in the UK and online on the Rare Tea Co website.
This is a video with some handy advise on how to choose or rather what to avoid when buying sencha. It points out important features of packaging that are essential for your tea to stay fresh and be properly storaged. Do not be fooled by teas that pretend to be real or Japanese!
A private tea moment is best enjoyed with soothing background music and thanks to the Drip with Song teacup design you can do both at once. The musical gadget features a CD player inside the saucer with built-in speakers, while the cup can be used to adjust the volume. Other controls are also placed on the saucer to ensure easy control of the player.
Although this idea is a bit outdated and CDs have been mostly replaced by audio files, it is nevertheless noteworthy. Who knows, a player like this, with a hard drive inside could be a handy element of a daily relaxation routine. The design is also universal and simple to use. If you think about it, a tea cub is a very simple piece of kitchenware, but the design ideas can be endless. Brought to you by designer Jongmin Kim.
If you think 80 quid is a lot for a caddy with a few fancy tea bags, then you surely haven’t heard about world’s most expensive tea bag. It’s only a measly £7,500, yes, exactly. Of course it’s not expensive tea that contributes to this price tag. The bag, made by Boodles jewelers to celebrate PG Tips 75th birthday, is decorated with 280 diamonds. It is also hand-crafted and took three months to complete.
Even if you can afford it, it doesn’t look like you could drink it anyway, because that makes sense, right? Nowadays you can any item luxurious by adding some diamonds, luckily I prefer my tea non-diamond-studded.
The fancy tea bag has been used to raise money for Manchester Children’s Hospital.
