If you’re serious about your tea like I am, then you need a serious brewer. Skip the tea bags (they’re amateur hour) and stock up on as many varieties of loose leaf tea as you can stand. Then scale it back a bit so you can afford the Breville One Touch Tea Maker (Amazon, $249.00) – it’s a bit expensive but one hell of a machine. What makes it so great? You can brew any type of tea in here and it will come out prefect every time. The secret here is that you specify which type of tea (green, white, black, etc.) and the machine automatically knows what temperature to brew at and how long to let the tea steep. The brewing basket instinctively knows when to lower the tea basket into the hot water and when to raise it at the end of each brewing cycle. Heck, the brewer even agitates the tea leaves to give you a more precise brew! If you like to customize your brew, there’s also a setting for that as well as the ability to brew just hot water. The brewer will keep you tea warm for 60 minutes after brewing and even keep track of how long it has been since you last brewed so you don’t end up drinking a stale cup of tea.

Tea time has never been so chic.

5 out of 5 stars.

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One thing I had to learn the hard way about wine consumption is that it’s not just the quality of the wine that matters, but also the temperature. No one wants to drink a glass of warm wine, yet anyone who’s tried to drink an ice cold goblet of vino knows that’s no picnic either. The Corkcicle (Perpetual Kid, $21.99) strikes a perfect balance between the two without sacrificing flavor. Instead of hauling out a messy ice bucket (which can makes wines way too cold) or *gasp* throwing an ice cube in your glass (which will only water down your bev), this wine chiller fits perfectly inside the vino bottle itself. Attached to a cork stopper is a long plastic icicle filled with non-toxic freeze gel – simply freeze and stick inside your favorite fermentation for the perfect cool down.

Nothing says romance this Valentine’s Day quite like exquisitely chilled wine.

5 out of 5 stars.

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My least favorite thing about loose tea is cleaning out my infuser afterwards. No matter what, tiny specs of tea leaves always get stuck inside it and it seems like I spend an eternity trying to get them out. Meanwhile, my tea has gone cold. The Paper Tea Filters (Not On The High Street, £4.50) allow you the luxury of loose tea living without the hassle of fine mesh infuser cleaning. Because these paper filters are disposable, all you need to do is fill one with your tea of choice (I’m currently into oolong), slide the wood stick through the notches, and place the whole thing in your cup. The wood stick keeps the filter upright and provides a burn-free extraction. Each set of 40 even comes packaged in its own reusable cotton bag!

Tea: the other breakfast beverage.

5 out of 5 stars.

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This Trivet Set (Generate Design, $39.00) is right up my alley. In case you don’t know (and some people don’t), a trivet is used as a barrier between a hot dish and your countertop. Some of us lazy/poor people just use a pot holder, but that’s neither here nor there. I’m already jazzed that this set includes not one, not two, but three trivets of varying colors so imagine my delight when I realized that each trivet can be repurposed into a coaster or dish drainer! The secret here is the flexible silicone they’re made of which allows them to be easily molded into another useful shape. When you look at it that way, it looks like you need some trivets in your life.

A trivet for all seasons! Well, three of them at least.

4 out of 5 stars.

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…which is exactly what the Color Alert Kitchen Timers (Vat19, $9.99 – $14.99) do. Instead of relying solely on a faint beeping noise, each of these timers uses color codes to signal how much time is left before your kitchen bursts into flames (or, dinner is done). Whether you choose analog or digital, the method is the same: simply twist the timer clockwise to add time or counterclockwise to deduct it. The timer has a 60 minute set time maximum and will glow green when there are more than 10 minutes remaining. Once you hit that 10 minute mark, the color switches to yellow and will stay that way until you whittle your way down to a minute. At this point the timer will glow red, sounding an alarm to signal the end of the allotted time and continue to glow red for another full minute. Basically as long as you can remember to look at the timer, you and your food should be fine.

“Danger, Will Robinson! Your souffle is burning!”

5 out of 5 stars.

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