We’ve all been there. You’re making the drinks for the same old work friends with the same maddeningly specific preferences (two sugars, a little milk, only stir it twice and do it counter-clockwise etc) – and you end up in the same pickle once you’re back at the desk. Whose is whose again? Which one had no sugar? Where’s the Canderel coffee? Who wanted THAT?

Well, now there’s a solution – personalised Tea-stain™ mats are designed for groups of people who regularly make drinks for each other.

How does it work?

Rather than making a list every time you make the drinks, just enter all that information at www.tea-stain.com, and you’ll get a personalised tea tray mat, showing ring templates for each person’s drink and how they like it. Never forget a drink never forget how people like it, and never get them mixed up, ever again!

These crazy little tea light sculptures are made using chain and wire and simple gravity to create a whimsical optical illusion of pouring tea. Check them out here.

I have just stumbled across this hilarious feature on Tazo.com. Click on ‘Consult the tea leaves’ on the header and let the Great Oracle of Tazo see into your future or provide answers to the unknown.

Note from Tazo: Your actual future may vary – obviously Oracles need their own terms and conditions now!

Great musical navigation too – I’m a fan!

I found these lovely drawings inspired by tea stains on the ‘Tea Sketches’ group on Flickr

Cool packaging design and printing from Andrews & Dunham. Each tin is decorated with a unique, hand-printed label and is produced in a very limited quantity so get your hands on them here while you still can!

Beautiful print ads from the advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather out of Mumbai, India by creative director Anup Chitnis for Taj Tea Trail

You can find the full size ads here

Domestic Construction a multi-disciplinary design studio specializing in interiors created ‘The Ted light’ made from vintage ceramic or porcelain teacups, acquired from flea markets and thrift stores all over the country. They ‘dangle delicately on the end of an 11 foot chord with an attached plug…ready to illuminate any space’.

Domestic construction also offers their Ted Lights in cluster and chandelier form. Ranging from 3-13 exquisite teacups, these bundles of beauty are hardwired and fully prepped for immediate installation in the ceiling.

I love this Tea Bag Coffin by designer Jonas Trampedach at Yanko Design!

Jonas has ‘been observing the behaviour of tea drinkers and has developed a solution to the bag dilemma that is as simple as it is ingenious’.

Now with the saucer coffin, tea drinkers can tidily bury the bag under the cup instead of soaking the table cloth, hiding it in plant pots or having a saucer full of slop! Long live the coffin!