Farewell Gongfu ceremony, hail the machine?

[Jackie]

Well, here’s a surprise. I came across a Gongfu (Kungfu) automated teamaker today.  No more awkward ceremonial steps to follow, you just press a button. One button ladies and gents and you’ve got your Chinese tea steeped perfectly. Drastically cuts down on all that time spent Gongfu’ing, so if you’re in a hurry for the perfect cup, or just want to find your inner peace more quickly, this machine has got to be yours. While I don’t mind tea makers that help brew a really good cup, I can’t help thinking that it is a pity if the “possession of great skill” – Gong Fu is now transferred to a machine. Seen at the Xiamen international Tea Fair, for more details peruse my source here:   

H

http://www.whatsonxiamen.com/news27719.html

[Jackie]

@bram Perhaps just thinking about pushing the button should do it. 

To everyone else: have you read this yet? Yes you. I’m sure you’ll find this interesting… 

[Xavier]

Too easy and totally lacking of charm and interest.

[peter]

The machine has designed models for Tieguanyin, Oolong, Longjing, Dahongpao and 20 other types of tealeaves..

My Breville handles different tea types all by itself…just with the push of a button. No need for a separate machine on the counter.

But looking at that picture, that thing is ugly. Looks too much like a kitchen appliance (and a coffee machine). When designing an appliance to make great tea in a ceremonial way (at least to replace the ceremony) there needs to be a visual aspect to it. The machine needs to beautiful or have an engineering that is artistic. The Breville succeeds in this, it’s a nice looking machine, but also in operation with its silently lowering basket it is fascinating to watch.

No reason that engineers can’t include some beauty into their work – the ability to do so is a sign of a good engineer. In engineering school they call it accommodating the human element.

[bram]

* @jackie if you use something like this thinking is too much

[Xavier]

@Peter true but your Breville doesn’t pretend to do the traditional Chinese tea preparation instead of you.

[Gingko]

*Yeah! It looks almost like an American style coffee maker!

I feel this kind of things would mainly fool Chinese, who don’t use a coffee maker and see it as novel and fancy. I bet this is by far not as good as Breville, although I never fancy Breville either :-p

[Anonymous]

Next, these inventors or others can integrate this technology with the Keurig K-Cup system. The inner peace it brews in a jiffy may be like that afforded by a sort of Huxleyan soma.

[Warren Peltier]

*That’s the LePod that brews tea gongfu-style with the press of a button. You can check out their website. Met the CEO a few weeks ago. Lepod

[Author]

Posts