If you follow the articles I write for this site, you might have noticed that a certain topic turns up rather often. That would be gadgets. For a while now I’ve been writing a regular monthly column on tea gadgets, and from time to time I throw in an extra article. Having written about so many tea gadgets by now, you’d think that I’d seen absolutely everything and that there’s not really anything more that we can possibly hope for in this great wide world of gadgetry.

Or not. I have a few suggestions, actually. Most of which fall into a category somewhere between serious and perhaps just a bit frivolous. But one can hope, after all.

Stainproof Cups
As someone who primarily drinks black tea I find that the glasses I use tend to get quite discolored over time. This is resolved easily enough by treating them with a diluted solution of bleach. My solution to this might be asking a bit much and yet I humbly propose that we make tea cups or glasses from a type of porcelain or glass that doesn’t stain. Which should be simple enough to do as soon as someone invents… a type of porcelain or glass that doesn’t stain.

Inventory Keeper
If you buy most of your tea through mail order, as I do, then it’s important to keep tabs on how much tea you have on hand and work out the math of how long it will last versus how long it takes for more to be shipped to you. I do pretty well with this most of the time but not always. Which is why I’d humbly suggest that someone devise an app that’s connected to a sensor in your tea storage container and which does the math and reorders in time so that you’ll never run out of tea. If you buy your tea locally then this one can simply remind you that it’s time to head to the store soon.

Cleaning House
I’m probably swinging for the fences with this one but I wouldn’t mind a tea-steeping device that automatically removes the used tea leaves, disposes of them in an acceptable manner and proceeds to clean itself. If it also did windows that would be nice.

See more of William I. Lengeman’s articles here.

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