Around the end of October 2017, Teforia announced it would close its doors. The company offered a $1,000 tea maker that was an internet-connected tea brewer. Once you chained yourself to the machine, you were hooked. The machine could only be used with an exclusive set of pods with RFID chips that initiated pre-programmed settings for each tea. Teforia offered 2 versions of the machine – the $999 Teforia Classic and the $399 Teforia Leaf.
Reactions to Teforia
Opinions of the machines abounded.
A Gizmodo reviewer noted the machine was a pain to clean, and brewed weak tea.
World of Tea lauded the Teforia Leaf’s praises for drawing the best from the leaves.
So what were the problems that led to Teforia’s demise?
Tea Drinking Public
There aren’t enough tea drinkers eager to fork over that kind of dough.There are still way more coffee drinkers, and there are still a good chunk of tea drinkers who throw back tea just for the medicinal value. For others, tea is a cold bottle they get at the convenience store. The vast majority of tea drunk in the US is iced tea. The portion of specialty tea drinkers is truly quite small, and Teforia and other gadgets do not provide the impetus for a seismic shift.
Overkill
Wifi. Bluetooth. Apps. RFID chips. Does the path to better tea really require that much tech? I do understand the importance of quick, convenient, and great tasting tea. But there are very good ways to make tea that aren’t that complicated.
It cost too much
$400 or $1,000, and I still have to hand wash it? No thanks. I’d rather use that to buy yixing teapots that will increase in value while potentially improving the taste of the teas steeped in them.