It takes usually 3 minutes for your tea leaves to reach peak flavor. Take the leaves out sooner and you haven’t used them to their full capacity, and leave them in for longer and you’ve got over-steeped, bitter tea. So how do you ensure you steep your teabag for exactly 3 minutes? Kang Yeonsoo has a pretty ingenious answer.

Merging teacup and hourglass, Yeonsoo’s contraption lets you time your brew. The tea rests in the container at the top while the hourglass at the base of the cup lets you keep time rather accurately. Once the last grain of sand travels from the upper chamber to the lower chamber, take your teabag out, knowing that your brew is just perfect!

The Hourglass Teacup is a Silver Winner of the K-Design Award for the year 2017.

Designer: Kang Yeonsoo