NOW A SMART MUG FOR THE PERFECT CUPPA
Ember Temperature Control Mug €92, ember.com ★★★
Five years ago I tested the first Wi-Fi-enabled ‘smart kettle’. I should probably have seen what the future held. There’s a certain inevitability to the fact that I am now slurping coffee from a selfheating ‘smart mug’ armed with its own paired phone app (and LED lights). I should probably go out right now and trademark the idea of a ‘smart teaspoon’ before anyone else does it. The Ember ‘smart mug’ keeps your tea at exactly the right temperature, with alerts on your phone telling you when it has cooled down enough to drink. It also offers tips on whether your coffee consumption is affecting your heart rate or your sleep. It’s over €90, which is frankly bonkers. But being able to set the exact temperature of your drink is oddly satisfying, and I’m enough of a geek to get a genuine thrill when I receive an alert saying my coffee has reached the perfect temperature. I should probably get out more. You can also get notifications that tell you when you’ve stewed your tea to perfection and there are customisable settings for different drinks. It’s all very silly, but I keep thinking to myself: ‘Is it that different to having a filter machine keeping your coffee warm?’ Bonkers or not, the company isn’t going away and it’s now looking into smart plates (although not smart teaspoons…yet).