Tea Review

I suppose it's only appropriate that as one of the resident Brits on the 148apps team that I take a look at Tea. After all, it's the British way to take tea under our wing and decide it's our drink when technically it's a Chinese creation. Cultural history aside, if you're a tea fan then Tea could be right up your street.

Doing what apps like Pocket Wine have done for alcohol, Tea set outs to offer both a comprehensive Tea timer facility and a way of collating notes on your collection.

Using the app is easy enough. A sample tea demonstrates just how to set it up. You simply add things like the name and type of tea involved then Tea provides you with some standard settings that it thinks are appropriate for the type involved (such as if it's green tea or a herbal infusion, amongst many others). A timer appears that you can set underway so that the app tells you the exact optimal time to finish brewing the tea. There's also a temperature suggestion added as not all teas need to be done with boiling water, some prefer cooler water than that to bring out the flavor.

Once you've finished drinking your tea, you can then add notes on how it worked out - whether you need to do something differently such as brew it for a longer time or use hotter water. You can always add what you thought of the tea and whether you liked it which has to be the most important factor! Being able to add your own notes means you'll always keep on top of your selection, and you can easily share that information with your friends via Twitter and Facebook support. In which case, it's darn useful. An inventory tracker also ensures that you know exactly how much tea you should have left after purchasing a new bag. If you can't decide what to drink, you can even let the app decide for you by giving your iOS device a quick shake. A neat little touch. My only request as a bit of a tea novice, is that I wish it had a brief glossary or encyclopaedic reference tool built in. It would have been a great idea to help educate those trying to understand all the different tea types of the world.

Of course by its very nature, Tea is going to be a niche choice. If you don't like tea, or you're not a hot drink fan, you probably shouldn't have even started reading this. For the connoisseur though, this is ideal.