In this day and age everything technology wise is “smart,” there is even a smart plate but it doesn’t stop there. We now have smart teas as well. 42tea combines the tea tradition with the easy-to-use feature of connected devices using the smart cube that is connected to their smartphone app. The smart cube guides you through each step of preparation (dosage tea/water, infusion time and temperature) depending on the tea chosen.
IoTea will be officially launched at the CES in Las Vegas, January 2017, from the 5th to the 8th, where it was rewarded with an Innovation award in the category Smart Home. I will definitely stop by 42tea‘s booth while at CES because I am intrigued and also fail at making tea that taste good.
Below is the 42tea official press release with more information and also a demo video with Jamie Cudmore, international rugby player.
Official Press Release:
42tea is a unique device in the world that combines the perfection of tea tradition with easy-to-use features of connected objects. Tea is the most consumed beverage in the world (25 000 cups drunk each second, 70% increase since 1993). But it is also the most mis-consumed. Most of tea drinkers drink their tea “burned”, not enough or too much infused, and finally, all teas taste the same : bitter…
42tea designed IoTea (Internet of Tea), a smart cube connected to a smartphone app.
https://youtu.be/MsmsaIee1tA
Depending on the tea chosen, it indicates you the right dosage of tea and water, the right temperature for the water and the right infusion time. This way, the consumer will have the best taste experience, for each tea and there are thousands!
IoTea will be officially released at the CES in Las Vegas, from January the 5th to the 8th, 2017, but it is already highly anticipated, especially in Japan, country of tea and technology, where it will be available for the first half of 2017 in department stores!
Thousand-year beverage, tea is the most popular drink in the world. In Western countries, tea is a 3 centuries-old discovery, but it is subject to a real craze at the moment. The diversity of flavors, the benefits of wellness, the possibility to drink it hot or cold are its main assets. It is overtaking coffee among young generations (in 2015, Americans under 30 drank as much tea as coffee according to Yougov’s study). Tea is drunk more and more “pure”, and its tasting is a real break, a “Zen” moment in the day.
If the British are used to put milk in their tea, historically, it is to make it less bitter, because they don’t know the rules of tea! What’s more, milk reduces absorption of flavonols by the body (the vegetal active substances diffused by tea). The universe of tea is limitless, and the Japanese explored it in-depth : there are MANY teas, all different, all unique, all with a distinct experience. In Japanese culture, tea is a moment stolen from the day-to-day life, to develop its personal perfection.
Tastes of the tea are of a wide diversity. The sugary ; present in some varieties of very light Chinese green teas. The acidity : present in some green teas : Oolong and Darjeeling of Spring, which gives freshness and nervosity. The bitterness, usual for some teas full of tannins, but which spreads to all varieties when they are infused too much. Or even « Umami », a specific taste which is felt in a large part of Asian food, because linked to the presence of glutamate. Beyond, tea offers an extraordinary olfactory overview : vegetal, green, marine, floral, fruity, spicy, buttery, vanilla, undergrowth, earthy, wooden, animal, pyrogenic, mineral, smoked… To discover all this richness, adequate preparation is essential.
Today, except the tea experts, the large majority of tea drinkers “miss” their preparation : they put too much or too few tea, they dip their tea in a water too hot (burned tea) or too cold (sub-infused tea) and set a completely fanciful steeping time considering the tea chosen… Unfortunately, there are many ways to ruin a tea! With IoTea, the preparation of tea is very easy and the perfection of the experience is ensured. The app counts more than 30.000 tea references and their precise parameters of preparation.
42tea controls also its supplies and sells its own teas (bulk exclusively, because tea bags are made of the waste of leaves collected for the bulk tea sells, industrially crushed). A quality tea, well prepared can be infused up to 8 times during the same day. Quality can go hand in hand with savings thanks to IoTea.
IoTea embeds a proprietary technology connected to a mobile device via bluetooth and a battery of sensors. It is and remains waterproof even after replacing the battery block which offers a 2 year lifetime thanks to its incomparable design and its silicone parts.
42tea addresses the world market of tea drinkers. More than 4 million tons of tea sold every year in the world to more than 4 billion of people. IoTea will be available at $55 and packs including a solid wood dock and premium teas start from $99. 42tea it’s real tea time.
