Race to the Finish

I've posted a lot of things recently which involve steeping or cooking for specific periods of time. Tea can be wonderful and smooth if you figure out just the right timing for its infusion. However, in practice, I very frequently make tea when I'm in the middle of other things, or I start doing other things once my tea is steeping. It's easy to lose track of time (I once steeped some leaves for over half an hour), and it's hard to swallow the results.

As such, I've been looking for a tea timer for quite some time, to no avail. There are hourglass-type tea timers galore, but what I need is something that beeps at me until I remember that it's time to take five minutes out of my maniacal multi-tasking and savor my cup of tea.

I found kitchen timers that you dial and which BBRRRING! at you annoyingly, and even though those might work (they're hard to be precise with), I thought I could do better.

And I did! Behold, the scientific timer by Taylor. This is the best and cheapest scientific timer I could find. I was inspired by my summer job working in a biomedical research lab to get a timer like the ones I'd been using for two months to time my chemical reactions. It counts up, it counts down, it pauses and resets, all with just three buttons. There's a clip, a stand, and a magnet on the back, so you can use it just about anywhere. One AAA battery is used, which is included, and it got me well on my way to the requisite $25 for free Amazon shipping.

All in all it's just a little thing, but it makes my life a little less stressful. It's a good start, since I'll be going on vacation starting today!

What little things make your tea life, or your regular one, just a bit better?