Things are really heating up nicely. I scrounge the pantry to find something really special for the occasion, and return with a lovely little sachet lightly scented with bergamot. I stand by impatiently, adding my ardor to the brownian motion already drawing us together.
Suddenly the phone rings. It's the boss. I check something for the boss, and ring off. Then another work-related doubt creeps in, and I click about on the computer for a moment. Soon I'm in full swing, and have forgotten the tryst which was unfolding in the kitchen.
At length, however, I chuck the wheels of commerce, and finally return. An hour out of countenance, my cherished cup is cool, her expression dark. I am thirsty, so I drink, but the tenderness is gone. There is bittersweet regret amid the damp and fallen leaves...
WANTED: A large mug for steeping tea which uses a beam of light and a light sensor to determine how dark my tea is. Should also have a temperature sensor and a motion detector. If the tea becomes too dark (adjustable setting), the mug should beckon me thither. If the mug is first rapidly warmed, but then is unmoved during the subsequent 5 minutes, it should become positively petulent.-- dijontoothpaste, May 20 2003 Perfect temperature teasmade http://www.halfbake...perature_20teasmadeSimilar idea. [waugsqueke, Oct 05 2004] Beautiful, Dijon. A little work of art on the page! And a workable, valuable idea. A heart shaped scone for you. +-- k_sra, May 20 2003 Bravo! Great idea, great wordsmanship. I can't believe more haven't commented...they must all still be stunned by the poetic-perfection. (+)-- silverstormer, May 20 2003 I wouldn't worry, she is only an old tea bag.
beautiful.-- po, May 20 2003 <oligatory>I thought this was a coverting mug</oligatory>-- silverstormer, May 20 2003 The most useful evolution of this idea (for me) would be a tea timing pot. It's always the pot I'm neglecting.-- k_sra, May 20 2003 Very moving. +-- lintkeeper2, May 20 2003 I don't drink tea much, but I'd like one for my girlfriend. Nice writin'! +-- snarfyguy, May 20 2003 Thank-you, thank-you one and all for your gracious compliments and croissants.
But seriously, somebody tell me this is baked so I can get one. I've had two mugs of tea today, and one of them was cold, the other tepid.-- dijontoothpaste, May 20 2003 A bit of a lovely ad-diction.-- thumbwax, May 20 2003 speaking as someone who is permanently chained to their desk all day - a hot drink is my lifeline. I have recently purchased a thermos mug which keeps my drink hot for at least an hour. would that help at all?-- po, May 20 2003 Ay, there's the rub. The biggest problem with most currently commercially available options for keeping a hot beverage hot is the scald factor. For example, I have a small hot-plate type unit which holds my glass teapot just nicely, thank you. When plugged in, it maintains the infusion wonderfully warm for my sipping pleasure. But as minutes grow to hours, the libation becomes darker and more bitter (bitterer?) as this once glorious source of warmth slowly cooks the living daylights out of my English Breakfast. Ditto for my mug warmer, a smaller version of the above heating unit which holds just one mug. I haven't tried one of those immersion heaters (it's a plug-in device with a small metal coil you submerge in your beverage), but I would assume they end up cooking the tea as well. Insulated mugs are good but not a long-term solution. I guess the only option left is to build a corner-of-the-desktop-sized miniature microwave oven, just large enough to accomodate my jumbo mug (400ml). It should have a temperature sensor probe that dangles in the liquid in order to maintain the optimum degree of warmth. Any other features we need?-- Canuck, May 21 2003 I have a one-cup coffee maker: you dump in a mug of water, then set the mug in the spot where the "pot" would be, and soon you have a fresh-brewed, hot cup of coffee. No heating element, but since it's meant to be used on your desk, that's really no problem.
[po] I bet your thermos mug does help. However, I'm a sucker for good ole porcelain mugs, plus I'm a guzzler anyway. I'd have it all hot if I could just be in the right place at the right time. I'd do better if I'd just carry the mug with me back to my desk, but then I've got to also bring accoutrements to sort out the tea bag. It's such a niggling little problem, and yet it *does* frequently result in cold tea.-- dijontoothpaste, May 21 2003 I once saw a mug that had a side 'pocket' for holding the used up tea bag. Thus eliminating the need for *niggling* details. The only flaw I can see, is of getting yourself a face full of cold, wet tea bag with every sip. Not so nice.-- k_sra, May 21 2003 ahh the elegance, the simplicity, the desirability!
there are loads of insulating/heating cups - the beauty with this is that it addresses the 'steaping' factor nicely -> an oversteaped tea is not nice-- seedy em, Nov 12 2003 Kind of Related: There is a product coming out pretty soon - might even be out right now - which is a collection of cups in ever so slightly varying shades of brown. Thus, you can choose the shade which most matches your own personal preference of tea/coffee. Now you need never have some philistine firing too much/little milk in your hot beverages, trying to force their personal tastes on your tea drinking.-- ChewTheBeef, Nov 13 2003 I just wanna say how nice this is even the second and third time around. Re-bun. +-- k_sra, Nov 04 2004 Aye, the ubersteep is a fiendish foe. How about something like those Camel-Paks? They're a backpack type water carrier, but it seems like with a little ingenuity, you could rig a heatblanket to the outside, set the blanket control to, say, 3 (comfortably warm), and set it on your back/back of your chair and sip from the tube.-- reverend, Oct 21 2005 [dijontoothpaste] - wherever you are, I hope you have found your mug.-- wagster, Oct 21 2005 random, halfbakery