There was a time when an alarm clock that could serve you tea first thing in the morning was seen as more than a simple silly novelty, but in the face of more modern clocks, it has been seen as quaint if not completely kitsch.
However, the idea of the Teasmade began long before its most popular examples, and thanks to the advent of smart technology and the Internet of Things, has not truly gone away either.
The first documented example of a tea making device was in the pages of Work Magazine in 1891, where Charles Maynard Walker published illustrations of an “Early Riser’s” Friend, and by the end of the year, Samuel Rowbottom had applied for a patent.
Whilst it is unknown whether he ever sold his Automatic Tea Maker, Mr Rowbottom’s device worked using the same principle most other teasmades do and forces water through a tube using steam once an alarm clock sounds.
Once the concept was aided by the development of electricity, George Absolom patented the first electric tea maker, which became known as the Teesmade.
However, when Goblin created a similar device called the Teasmade in 1936, which featured a lamp, a kettle and could even glow in the dark.
Goblin became the main supplier of teasmades over the years and several of the designs in their 1960 and 1970s peak have become emblematic of the era.
However, by the 1980s it had become seen as a rather novelty retro product, with the mocking of one of the Teasmade’s most famous designs in a Queen music video being a sign that its day had passed.
Goblin was sold to Swan in the mid-1980s, who continue to sell Teasmades to this day.