Gadgets
The latest tools aimed at ease of operation
by Chris Ryan

A small, circular item sits next to my computer as I type this. Let's call this item a gadget, as we'll be throwing that term around frequently on the following pages. This gadget sits to my right, and fitting into its circular platform is a ceramic coffee cup containing the coffee I am currently consuming. A USB chord dangles from the device, and that chord is plugged into my computer, powering the gadget and keeping my coffee warm.

The USB Cafe Pad is one of many gadgets proving useful in the specialty coffee and tea world. But these tools aren't just futuristic doohickeys that make the public feel like they're ahead of the curve: they are also functional in the day-to-day worlds of coffee and tea. Whether coffeehouses use them while making drinks for customers or coffee lovers employ them at home, gadgets can offer a change from the usual and, in some cases, a window into the future.

Filling the smallest (but nonetheless nagging) hole in the market

With Stix to Go, Tom Burns went from rocket science to simplicity. His invention is a plastic device that plugs the sipping hole in a hot beverage lid, preventing spills and reducing heat loss by up to 40 percent, he says. The item also features a tab that enables the user to move it in and out of the hole in the top of the cup's lid. That oval hole has been a problem, Burns says. You pay $4 for a cup of joe, you kind of expect it to come in a container that would satisfy your requirement. Burns' device is so simple that it might be surprising to some that the inventor was once a corporate executive at aeronautical company Boeing in Seattle.

In July 2004 while working for Boeing, Burns went to Vietnam to attend an aerospace symposium. When getting up from his seat to give a speech, he spilled his cup of coffee, and an idea was born. I said, 'One of these days, I'm going to quit my day job and plug that hole,' Burns says. He told one of his companions of the idea, and the next morning the man showed Burns a prototype he had created. I thought, you know, there might be something to this, Burns says.

Upon returning to Seattle, he started researching the lid market to see whether there was a place there for his invention. What he found was that Americans use 58 million disposable lids every day. It was then that he decided to move forward with his invention. In February 2005, Burns quit his vice president job at Boeing to pursue Stix to Go full time, working on the patent process, trademark issues and the formation of the company.

Burns debuted Stix to Go in February at Coffee Fest in Washington, D.C., where the product won a prize in the New Products category for innovation. Burns says the simplicity of the product is part of what makes it attractive to consumers. What we get from 90 percent of the people who see the product is: 'Why didn't I think of that?' or 'Congratulations, you've come up with the next straw.'

Another facet to Stix to Go is its advertising capabilities. The device's balloon-shaped tab lends itself to a small logo, and Burns says he is talking to advertisers about placement on the tab. He says that advertisers sometimes run promotions on cup sleeves, but those offer obstructed views of the advertisement because the consumer has to hold the cup to drink from it. Consumers using Stix to Go will have an unobstructed view of advertisers' logos. This is above the rim at eye level, Burns says. It requires 100 percent interaction for the consumer¡ªthey actually have to look at it, fiddle with it and pull it out to take a drink of their coffee. It's just a brand new medium for advertising.

Burns is in the process of introducing the product with a grassroots campaign to spread the word, and attending as many trade shows as possible. He is particularly interested in generating interest from independent coffeehouses that in turn can get consumers interested. I believe that the independents are the bread and butter of this industry, he says. The folks who have a single stand or a coffeehouse or what have you¡ªwe're trying to get our product known to them. We really want them to embrace the utility of it.

Burns' time at the trade shows is already paying off, as the small numbers of people familiar with the product are clamoring for more. I've had a number of people who were at Coffee Fest who said, 'I only got five or six of your Stix, and the customers who have them are just dying for more,' Burns says. I think we're building that end-user interest, and certainly the consumer demand.

A lid with smarts, for when you don't have any

Coffee has always been served hot - extremely hot, actually. And with that extreme temperature, problems have arisen. In 1994, for example, an 81-year-old woman was awarded $2.9 million in a lawsuit she filed against McDonald's after being scalded by the fast-food empire's coffee.

For those who may be predisposed to horribly burn themselves, a new product has emerged that might help combat the problem. Smart Lid Systems has introduced the Smart Lid, a brown coffee lid that turns red when placed on top of a hot drink. As the drink cools down, so does the color of the lid. The Smart Lid also visually informs the user when the lid is on incorrectly. A broken brown ring appears on the outside rim of the lid if it is applied incorrectly. If it is correctly applied, a complete brown ring appears around the edge.

Nick Bayss, managing director of Smart Lid Systems, says he came up with the idea from spending a lot of time in cafes and seeing issues over the years that he thought could be improved upon. I saw coffee drinkers in a take-away environment spill their coffee, mainly when the lid was not correctly applied by the person making it, he says. Also, there needed to be a universal way of warning coffee drinkers that their coffee may be too hot and to be careful. I felt the best way to do this was via color, a way of communicating with no language barriers.

Bayss says that so far coffeehouse customers have greeted the product with much enthusiasm. The 'wow' factor when they receive their first coffee with a color-changing lid is amazing, he says. Bayss says that because coffee is universally loved and consumed frequently, he sees a market for this gadget that makes a positive impact on people's daily ritual. When there is an improvement in something that affects so many people daily, it gets noticed, he says.

Bayss, who lives in Sydney, Australia, says he is in negotiations to license the concept with several distributors and manufacturers in the United States and Canada, and he expects the product to be released in those countries in the next three to six months.

Steel-ing the show at the tea party

Usually, a product billed as a toy brings to mind images of bouncy balls and energized children. But the Teastick is the exception to the rule: a toy that serves a greater, more delicious purpose.

The stainless steel gadget is a tea infuser that scoops, slides and steeps all in one. The Teastick is made of two cylinders The outside cylinder is perforated, and the inside cylinder has a small cutout and a scoop. To operate the device, the user slides the perforated cylinder back toward the handle and scoops the tea, then gently shakes the Teastick where the cutout is, so that excess loose tea falls out, leaving it filled to the proper level. The user then slides the perforated cylinder back in place and puts the Teastick in a cup of hot water to steep. Once the steeping process is complete, the user slides the cylinder back, knocks the used tea into the garbage and rinses the device.

Teastick creator Ty Beddingfield came up with the idea for the gadget when he owned a coffeehouse in North Carolina and felt his tea service wasn't as efficient as it could be. You have a line of people and then somebody orders tea, and the tea takes twice the amount of time, he says. So you have the guy standing right behind the tea person that just wants a cup of coffee to go. Someone orders tea and he rolls his eyes.

To address the problem, Beddingfield searched for a way to offer high-quality tea service that was as fast and convenient as the coffee service. Working in a machine shop with his partner, Beddingfield went through many designs before the two decided on what would become the Teastick. Once the device was made, they started using it for tea service in their coffeehouse. It wasn't long before the idea became bigger than the coffeehouse, and Beddingfield's customers started asking him how they could buy one.

After some strenuous years spent working in the mornings making Teasticks then returning to the coffeehouse to work behind the bar, Beddingfield decided to concentrate solely on the Teasticks. It actually took years to figure out how to manufacture this and make it cheaply so that we could afford to resell it, he says. That was sort of a long process - like five years - that it was a side project. In the meantime, I sold the coffeehouse, and then I picked this up as a full-time project.

The product hit the market in summer of 2005, and Beddingfield says the response has been fantastic. It's just gone crazy, he says. It's been more successful than we

imagined. It's a project that we wanted to experiment with, and it's really turned into a business.

The best of the rest

From a French press timer to a single-serving brewing tool, a hodgepodge of other gadgets are on the market as well.

The Bodum Brewing Timer is a teardrop-shaped device that attaches to the Chambord, Bodum's classic French press model. When the user presses the start button, the timer begins a countdown from four minutes, the ideal time to brew coffee using a French press. According to Jeff Malkasian, Bodum's vice president of sales, the French press is the best way to brew coffee. This is just a helpful gadget to automate the process. To promote the new timer, Bodum has a first-come, first-serve offer for June and July in which customers who buy Bodum's Chambord 8 Cup Press will receive the timer free with their purchase.

The aforementioned USB-port activated USB Cafe Pad allows the user to press a button to turn on the stainless steel heating pad, warming it up so the user can place his or her coffee cup on the platform where it will stay hot.

What will the future hold?

As I finish the last drop of my coffee and unplug the Cafe Pad from my USB port, I wonder if I could integrate this device into my daily routine. Could I get so attached to the USB Cafe Pad that I wonder how I ever lived with out it, like people do with television and the Internet? I don't know if that day will ever come for this small device and me. But with new coffee inventions continuously cropping up, it may not be long before each coffee lover finds a gadget to fall in love with and live happily ever after.

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