Photos: Heather Beschizza Sorapot is a stylish and expensive teapot made from stainless steel and pyrex. Designed by Joey Roth , it is undeniably a beautiful creation. There’s even a matching teacup . But is tea brewed in it any good? I used it casually for a few days, including a blind test against a Brown Betty-style pot, and found it perfect as a compact tea-making gadget — a role that has its charms — but too small and fiddly to replace a traditional pot for hardcore tea addicts. Pros: • It’s gorgeous. Anyone who keeps it in a cupboard must be sent to industrial design appreciation camp. Pretty on kitchen counter and office desk alike, it’s also tidy. The “rectangular” base and short spout make it easy to store on a crowded shelf. • The metal used is distinctive and heavy-duty steel, not the junk they make cheap kettles out of. • It makes enough tea for two good-size cups: along with its small size, this makes it an effective way to get the business of brewing tea out of the kitchen and on to your desk. • Watching tea infuse and seeing the leaves unfold is mesmerizing. • None of the components will affect the brew’s flavor. Cons: • Small capacity means you won’t be making tea for more than one or two people. • It cools quickly. The open spout, and perhaps the thin pyrex, are to blame. This is not so much a problem for fans of herbal teas, but black tea lovers will want to craft a “Soracosy.” • You can’t stir the contents. The lack of a vent means that it can glug when poured, though it wasn’t too difficult getting used to it. • Ground teas may escape through the large holes on the spout’s grille. • The process of opening Sorapot is very clever , but likely to end in tears if you’re not careful. You cannot just whip it open; follow the instructions or risk breaking the flask or having a heavy chunk of steel crack the countertop. Conclusion: When it comes to getting a perfect brew , especially if you need lots of it, Sorapot’s little flaws mean that it’s not quite the equal of traditional pots. That said, it’s much better than garbage like the Sunbeam tea maker . It’s especially good for those who tend to make tea by the cup, squeezing flavor out of lukewarm, milky teabags after a 30-second steep. Getting a Sorapot will civilize you, you filthy barbarians. Likewise, if you hate to lug around a bulbous, unweildy, desk-scorching traditional pot, Sora’s portability will do you good. For the rest, it’s just a $200 work of art, and you’ll either like it or you won’t. Sorapot [Joey Roth]

Originally posted here:
Review: Sorapot tea pot. Verdict: Tea is officially sexier than coffee

Trash cans have always been a challenge in my household. Let me explain. My dog Ruby is a notorious trickster who can climb any counter and knock down any container if there’s food to be had. For years, I had no trash can, piled my recycling high above her reach on top of the fridge, then weighted down my previous cylindrical floor can with heavy metal chains so she couldn’t knock it down. Those days are over, thanks to simplehuman ’s steel bar rectangular step can, new this month with two compartments for separating garbage. Unlike most larger trash receptacles for the house, this one is wider than it is tall, which makes it really hard for a little nine-pound dog to knock down. Also, since it holds both the recycling and the regular trash, there are no more paper bags full of empty yogurt cups and milk cartons for Ruby to go to town on. My favorite things about this trash can, though, are the little details that make throwing away garbage feel kinda classy. For example, it has a lid that doesn’t slam and a hook you can engage so that you can keep it open while you change trash bags without stepping on the pedal. And to minimize stench while keeping it open, it has a little nook on the lid for a carbon filter — it doesn’t eliminate the smell of dog poop completely, but it definitely seems to help. Speaking of the pedal, it’s really nice and wide and sturdy so you don’t have to search for it at all with your foot — and fingerprint-proof stainless steel means smudges rarely show up on its surface. The bins also have holes on the sides that you can tuck excess plastic from the bags into, so little dogs can’t tug at its ends. (simplehuman cans have had this for years, but it’s still worth noting.) At $225 for the 38L and $250 for the 55L, this is not a cheap trash can, at all — but if you think of it as an investment into the overall cleanliness of your cooking space, I think it’s totally worth it.

Read the original:
Review: Two weeks with the simplehuman dual bin rectangular step can

Not only does this lemon squeezer look good, it also has a little scoop that catches seeds and prevents them from falling into the juice. [ Joseph Joseph via Dezeen ]

See the rest here:
Pretty designer juicer with integrated seed-stopper

According to its inventor James Dyson, the DC31 handvac has the fastest motor in the world at 104,000rpm &mdash five times as fast as a Formula 1 race car engine! That’s cool, but what I really want to know is, does it bust dust cleanly and efficiently? I have been using its predecessor, the DC16, for about two years, and I’m sad to report that it has become virtually obsolete &mdash the suction is weak, the battery only lasts 2-3 minutes, and dust accumulates relentlessly at the nozzle. This review will not give an answer as to whether the newer DC31 will have a longer lifespan than that, but here’s what I think of it so far after a couple of weeks of use. The DC31 is lighter, smaller, and doesn’t require a giant docking station. These are all great improvements. It definitely has a lot more power than the 16 ever had &mdash it swept up everything from dog hair to human hair to wood chip fragments without hesitation. The .09-gallon bin is small but easy to empty, you just push a lever down &mdash I actually prefer it small because it urges you to empty it more often, which prevents old dust from hanging out in there for too long. There are two problems I wish Dyson would fix in their next iteration of a handvac, though: 1. This thing is still pretty loud. I would be willing to give up some of that motor power for a more quiet dust-busting experience. 2. This might sound nitpicky, but there are air holes in the top back portion that blow out a significant amount of air while the nozzle is doing all its high-power sucking. That’s fine when you’re bending down to vacuum the floor, but when you’re working on a parallel or multi-tiered surface like on stairs or between furniture, this actually blows dust and hair away. Which is kind of annoying. And then there is the meta problem of handvacs being inefficient to begin with &mdash they’re nice for daily upkeep, and I like having one in the house, but a device that only cleans a couple of square inches at a time with a 10-minute battery life that makes lots of noise may be a dying breed of gadgetry. Product page [Dyson]

Original post:
Review: Two weeks with the Dyson DC31

[via gnr8 ]

See the rest here:
Power On Self Test: Beech Wood Flashlight

Someone named P. Marchio filed this patent for a “banana extractor and ice cream injector” in 1932. What a wonderful idea! Unfortunately, there’s no evidence that this was ever actually made, nor is there any sign that a banana with ice cream in it will ever replace the classic banana split. [via Gizmodo ]

Here is the original post:
1932 banana-ice cream injector patent

This looks like a deformed dildo, but it’s actually a kitchen tool, a home water carbonator for those of you who prefer agua con gaz over normal tap water. It was designed by Aemillios Grohmann and Andr Kieker for water treatment machine maker WasserMaxx . via MoCo Loco

Visit link:
Water carbonator looks like a sex toy

Dyson’s DC22’s is a compact and powerful canister vac that looks like a cyberpunk chain gun. Though it’s extremely good at its job, the $800 price tag highlights its few flaws and places it out of the price range of many shoppers. The edition tested is the “Motorhead,” pitched to those with pets. It differs from the standard model mostly in the attachment, which whips up hair using motorized bristles just like an upright vac. Like the standard model, which is $100 cheaper, it comes with a telescoping standard attachment and heads for use on stairs, hard and carpeted floors. The DC22 weighs 18 pounds, is 16 inches long, and uses the same cyclonic technology as other models from Dyson. A 1/3 gallon bin clips off for easy emptying, and the cord is just over 16 feet long. The high-tech head made fast work of open rooms, but was also pokey enough to get into tight places: the best of both worlds. It’s designed to be easily stored, too, but not every head has a place to “click in” on the vac’s body. In testing, it had to be emptied twice to vacuum a mostly-carpeted 2300 sq ft house inhabited by two hairy mutts. Expect about 800 square feet of coverage per load, unless you’re a slob or a yeti breeder. Pros - Great suction - Motorized attachment makes it a match for uprights - Small size good for stairs, car seats and storage - 5 year warranty Cons - Short power cord - Low capacity. - Complex internals don’t look terribly sturdy - $800

Read the rest here:
Review: A week with Dyson’s DC22 Motorhead

Designed by Jun Yasumoto, Alban Le Henry, Olivier Pigasse and Vincent Vandenbrouck, this reading lamp turns itself off when you drape a book over it . Genius. [Core77]

Here is the original post:
Reading Lamp

I’ve never roasted my own coffee, but I’m game to try it. The GEN2 Coffee Roaster drum kit is an aluminum cage and rotisserie you place on a standard bbq. Seems like a simple, potentially useful way to heat your beans. Then again, it costs $110. Not terrible, but that’s several times the price of an old popcorn popper , which can roast just fine and doesn’t require manual turning. Aside from handling larger batches, I’d love to know why the bbq roaster is preferable. [via Cooking Gadgets ] Previously: Hands-On With A Whippit-Powered Travel Espresso Maker Internet able coffee machine runs Windows XP - Boing Boing Gadgets Scoop Clip scoops from, clips on bags - Boing Boing Gadgets Behold! A styrofoam coffee cup power inverter What Happened To The Analog Coffee Grinder? Siphon Coffee: Because Single Origin Brew Wasn't Elitist Enough …

Go here to read the rest:
BBQ Coffee Roaster