Gendy AlimurungThe Hario Chaor Tea Maker snagged the “Best New Product” award at the World Tea Expo this weekend. Sungarden Tea company is the official North American exporter of Hario heat resistant glassware. The dapper Japanese gentleman demonstrating the winning product at their booth in the Mandalay Bay Convention Center was like a proud papa showing off his newborn son.
The cone-shaped lid pops off. Inside the lid is a receptacle for the tea. The bottom of the cone is a metal strainer. You push the round tipped lever at the apex of the cone, and the receptacle drops into the glass pot. When brewing time is done, pull up the lever to remove the tea. Ingenious. And space age.
The Hario teapot would have looked perfect in Captain Jean Luc Picard's quarters aboard the Starship Enterprise on Star Trek. Picard was an Earl Grey devotee (Earl Grey is the most popular flavored tea in the world). He drank his hot tea out of glasses that looked exactly like these Chambord mugs from Bodum. (I know this because I purchased these exact mugs expressly for that reason.)
In any case, Hario makes a range of cutting edge teapots and tea accessories, such as this one which resembles a beehive.
And these which are perhaps a scientist/labware twist on a classic Victorian design (the one on the right in particular).
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