It seems sometimes that hardly a day goes by without some tea-related gadget or novelty item hitting the market. Okay, so maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it is safe to say that there are a whole bunch of the aforementioned.

There are any number of gizmos out there these days that can help you fine-tune the process of making a great cup of tea. Included among these is Steep.it, which goes out on a limb by billing itself as “the simplest Internet tea timer ever.” And it is quite simple, now that you mention it, consisting merely of a chart with a recommended steeping time for various types of tea and a timer into which the user inputs that recommended time. Try it out here.

Tea-based art is not a new notion, but there seem to be an increasing number of artists employing tea in one way or another these days. Take Austin Kleon, for instance, who use wet tea bags in a more or less random manner as the foundation for his unique cartoons. Russian designer Natalia Ponomareva takes a somewhat different approach to tea artistry with her rather clever tea bag designs that are based on the art of origami.

If it’s eye-catching teaware and whatnot that floats your tea bag, then you might be interested in this tea set by designer Arthur Xin. It’s based on the board for the ancient Chinese strategy game, Go. Also in the eye-catching category, a selection of nicely designed Tea Trays from Pino, which combine electric tea kettles with glass teapots. Along similar lines, the very sleek Touchscreen Teapot and teaware, from designer Kochurov Evgenii.

Which is all a great big step up from what our astronauts had to deal with in the heyday of the space shuttle. For some teaware that’s decidedly less glamorous — and one can only imagine what the tea tasted like — have a look at this Smithsonian Snapshot of the Week: Space Tea, recently posted at We Love DC.

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