r/Lightbulb • u/byaameka • 2d ago

trash my idea - tea machine

a machine that can make tea depending on the hex colour you pick on a gui

like it handles the milk and the the tea strength but this is for like an office setting.

I grew up drinking milk tea and compared to all the other machines, i haven't found one that could press one button and make a good brew.

7 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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u/TheMoneyOfArt 2d ago

Automated beverage devices like a Keurig, Nespresso get disgusting very quickly, it's the nature of food preparation. Adding milk will make it disgusting basically immediately. If you've ever encountered a drink machine that wasn't disgusting, someone cleaned it regularly. (Soda fountains, espresso machines, beer taps all require frequent cleaning).

The individualized coffee machine doesn't get cleaned often enough so it just tastes like bad, stale coffee. They also remove what was a social experience (a guy walking around after lunch counting how many cups to make) with an isolating one. The Keurig is almost strictly inferior to a traditional coffee pot except in perhaps waiting rooms, particularly when occupancy of those rooms is unpredictable.

Tea brewing preferences are individualized and practiced. The ritual is part of the experience. 

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u/byaameka 2d ago

i understand it a personal practise - i agree.for the application i was thinking is on the go/ increasing the speed it can be made for mass hence an office setting

also the milk is an issue that would need to be dealt with.

both tea and coffee are big markets and both can be made by hand, but what about for those that need it quick and opt for the machines. there’s a device for coffee but not for tea.

i’ve seen some in south asian countries that work in business but not in the western European counties. let me know what you think

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u/app_devvvvvvvvvvv 1d ago

The colour picker is fun, but two cups can look the same and taste completely different: strong tea with lots of milk versus weak tea with a splash. I'd keep strength and milk as separate controls, then let people save a 'my usual' button. That's the bit that would make sense to me in an office. Picking a hex code before a meeting sounds like extra work for a cup of tea lol.

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u/byaameka 1d ago

i understand, this may complicate things for the user if there was 2 dials

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u/byaameka 1d ago

i agree with the regualr cup thing; idea was that the mug used in an office will be recongnised and deliver the same cuppa each time

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u/app_devvvvvvvvvvv 23h ago

Ah, recognizing the mug makes more sense. I meant the two controls for the initial setup, then save it and leave them alone. You could tweak the first cup with 'less milk' or 'stronger' until it's right. After that, mug down, press start, done. I'd keep that start button though, in case someone puts a half-full mug under it lol.

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u/IanRastall 1d ago

You would need to invent a machine to do it, and it could work, if you simply automated the process of making a proper cuppa. Granted, being part-English, I have very specific ideas about tea. But being mostly-American, it's not my place to throw the word "cuppa" around. But nonetheless, you bring your water to a rolling boil (if it's black tea) then steep for a few minutes, less if the leaves are finely cut, and they need to be able to move around in there. Even teabags don't do the right job. So to try to turn this into more of a pod-based tea system, that would suck all the butts in the world, man.

The machine in question would simply dump a proper amount of tea into a container of boiling water, steeping properly, strain it out automatically, and that would work. But I don't think that exists yet. As far as choosing based on hex color, that would make sense, if you were just talking about steeping time. But the color of the "liquor" often involves which type of tea you're using, and the steep time is just the steep time. Go too far and the tannins kick in and make it bitter. Steep too little and it's a weak brew. It's not really like choosing between coffee roasts.

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u/byaameka 1d ago

good insight. i heard colour and taste is mutually exclusive

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u/IanRastall 1d ago

Color indicates different things. For instance, if you think of the general "buckets" that tea falls into, that's based on the level of oxidation. Fully oxidized is called black in the West and red in the East, should be at a full boil, and stands up well to milk. Once you start keeping the leaf somewhat green, you have oolong, which needs to be off the boil, and really challenges the idea of adding anything to it. Non-oxidized (I believe) is green. Unless it's from the top of the plant, in which case it's white.

The color with black is red (as mentioned). Oolong is too. But green is more greenish, and white is the same color but just lighter. (You do green well off the boil, and white even less than that.)

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u/MaryLMarx 1d ago

You mean something not quite entirely unlike tea?

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u/byaameka 1d ago

no i mean tea

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u/MaryLMarx 1d ago

Here I am thinking a sly reference to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy will garner a few upvotes for me. But alas.

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u/No-Security-7518 1d ago

Can't trash anything related to tea,,man. Sorry. You wanna make a... drinkifier that allows people to drink pre-heated sips while giving them a massage? I'm game.