r/whatisit • u/t3jan0 • 21h ago
New, what is it? Small prophet object - water device on bed?
What is this thing ? At first I thought it was an old CPAP and then an espresso machine!
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u/Uzi_Osbourne 14h ago
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u/A88Y 12h ago
What an innovation
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u/ParticularShock1023 11h ago
I want this so bad, but I think it was a fire hazard 😓
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u/KarmaPoliceDog 8h ago
As a former owner I can tell you that they are not as good as they seem. They take five noisy minutes to boil and pour into the cup, at which point you’re wide awake before the alarm even goes off. What’s worse is that you still have to remove the tea bag, add milk (which has been carefully measured and left out of the fridge all night), and then wait for the tea to become a drinkable temperature. A complete waste of half an hour of sleep.
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u/ReserveNo4779 10h ago
Nespresso makes one with wifi and a morning coffee timer thing on the app… but this is so much cooler.
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u/Hammon_Rye 11h ago
Wow.
I was guessing maybe some sort of humidifier.
It never occurred to me someone would want bedside tea when they first wake up.
When I wake up I want to get up and go pee.5
u/UnlikelyChemical5558 11h ago
Maybe he spends more time in bed bc of health reasons or likes to read in bed 🤷🏻♀️
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u/Hammon_Rye 10h ago
Yes, that's possible.
But both of those reasons would not need to be tied to an alarm clock.
People who are bedridden or just enjoying time in bed reading are typically not using an alarm to wake them up at a set time for their tea.It does kind of give me Wallace and Gromit vibes though. :)
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u/GeneralSpecifics9925 9h ago
I had a bedside mini coffee maker. I'd set it up at night and turn it on, plugged into a timer that would send power to the machine ten mins before my alarm. It would wake me up and I'd rest until my alarm/when the coffee was brewed.
I make my coffee with a different style of brewer now, but it was great while it lasted.
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u/jellyschoomarm 11h ago
Lol thats the most English invention I've ever seen. Who needs a bedside tea
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u/HugoNebula2024 11h ago
You seem to have made an error in your post. You clearly meant to say, "who doesn't need a bedside tea".
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u/RoboTon78 15h ago
I'm stuck at trying to figure out what a "small prophet object" is.
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u/TIP-ME-YOUR-BAT 15h ago edited 6h ago
Small prophets is a TV series in the UK.
The object is... well. An object.
If that helps.
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u/stroompa 14h ago
It clearly isn't a well
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u/Critical-Cost9068 14h ago
It’s not a well what?
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u/dblakeborough 14h ago
It’s not a well object - it has some kind of medical malady
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u/TheeFryingDutchman 14h ago
I am NOT your lady!!!
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u/Connect_Rhubarb395 13h ago
Ohh. It is as if proper punctuation, including capitals, makes reading something easier. 😑
(Displeased with OP, not you).
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u/TIP-ME-YOUR-BAT 12h ago
Silly idea. It'll never catch on.
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u/LisaMiaSisu 11h ago
Clearly it hasn’t. Educational books on grammar and punctuation have been around for decades, if not centuries, and the internet exists, yet here we are devolving into cavemen. Pretty soon we’ll be back to painting pictographs on walls.
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u/dread-naughty 13h ago
Somehow I came to the comments expecting "small prophet object" to be some UK slang for a toilet paper holder.
Somehow it still involves the UK
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u/U_zer2 14h ago
I’m still really sad it’s not on any American streaming service. It seems like a great program.
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u/SmallRocks 13h ago
High seas, friend. High seas.
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u/U_zer2 12h ago
I don’t know how and I fear I’m too old to figure out vpns anti malware and Nigerian princes :(
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u/BigInSheboyganGus 13h ago
Apple TV has American rights. You can grab it off the internet if you don’t want to wait.
Brilliant series but that’s not surprising as it’s from Mackenzie Crook and all of his work is wonderful.
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u/giganticturnip 21h ago
Teasmade
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u/EugeneHarke 20h ago edited 13h ago
In case anyone reading this thread is wondering what a teasmaid is. It is an alarm clock that wakes you up with a cup of tea. They were all the rage in the 80s.
Edit: to make sure /u/giganticturnip did not think I was talking to him directly.
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u/NiceTrySuckaz 20h ago
I enjoy having breakfast in bed. I like waking up to the smell of bacon, sue me. And since I don't have a butler, I have to do it myself. So, most nights before I go to bed, I will lay six strips of bacon out on my George Foreman grill. Then I go to sleep. When I wake up, I plug in the grill. I go back to sleep again. Then I wake up to the smell of crackling bacon. It is delicious, it's good for me, it's the perfect way to start the day.
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u/Enough_Survey_9404 20h ago
Why not get a timer plug and have it come on before your alarm goes off so you don't need to get up first?
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u/The_12OCKET 19h ago
It does the same thing but from 40 years ago. It’s the British (hot tea) version of a timer drip coffee machine. Which I, as a coffee person, depend on for my daily existence
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u/feel-the-avocado 17h ago
Make it a wifi timer plug so you can turn it on from your phone.
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u/realglowup 16h ago
OK, This is brilliant. I was worried about them just having it on a timer and sleeping in or through an alarm one day.
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u/DasArtmab 15h ago
You can sleep through an alarm, you can’t sleep through bacon
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u/1983Targa911 12h ago
Hold my beer. I’ve fallen asleep while motorcycling. I’ve also fallen asleep with coffee in my mouth, awakened only because of the coffee dribbling out of my mouth on to my shirt.
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u/kindnessincmusic 20h ago
you could buy an electrical plancha and a programmable switch and automate all of that
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u/Glass_Ear_5886 13h ago
It takes the misery out of making tea but some of us like the misery
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u/Sun_Bearzerker 17h ago
I can't tell if you're kidding or not, but you know you can get a plug in timer that will automatically turn the grill on at set times in the day, right?
Also I worry about the bacteria that may grow on the bacon in this time frame, but you do you.
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u/AllenSmithee59 17h ago
It's Michael on "The Office" explaining how he burned his foot.
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u/Signal_Plane1114 17h ago
bacon is a cured meat, i mean not shelf stable but it isnt the worst meat to be left sitting out for awhile
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u/Emotional-Ad6682 14h ago
What’s it cured of?
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u/Signal_Plane1114 13h ago
cured of anything that doesnt like growing on salt and nitrite cured meat
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u/seamustho 17h ago
It’s a quote from the show the office lol
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u/Sun_Bearzerker 16h ago
Sigh, my chronic lack of pop culture knowledge strikes again.
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u/baward72 16h ago
You are worried about bacteria and not the place bursting into flames. Do not worry about the bacteria any that survive the fire will get flushed out by the fire hose.
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u/Andouiette 15h ago
Careful out there, that seems like a good way to accidentally start a fire in the kitchen if you fall back asleep
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u/bantamw 17h ago
My sister in law had a Goblin Teasmade. She threw it out after her husband got very drunk and in the middle of the night decided to have a piss in the kettle portion, topping it up. Cue 6:30am boiling piss smell 😬
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u/Ok_Lawyer_829 15h ago
I'm humoured that you would say "sister in law and husband" rather than "my brother and his wife" like you just can't be related to some kettle peeing fool.
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u/KarenFromAccounts 13h ago
If you want to start a great Mandela Effect argument, ask people if they think it is a Teasmaid or a Teasmade.
Most will be shocked to find out it is and always has been Teasmade.
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u/Comediorologist 16h ago
They were around for a while before that, too. I learned about them on an episode of Endeavour, the cop show largely set in the 1960s.
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u/RobinBumholes 13h ago
Oh, they've existed a lot longer than that. I think they've been making them since the 1930s (about when middle class households ceased being able to afford servants)
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u/perfect_insanity93 18h ago
Why am I only learning about this now. God damn. I just need one that does coffee and im set.
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u/BelleMorte00 12h ago
You all know that coffee makers have timers you can set to start at a certain time right? …. Right?
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u/Fearless_Lab 16h ago
Well that explains the line in The Commitments about Jimmy's mum wanting one.
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u/christofilth 17h ago
About twenty years ago my mum bought a second hand one for her bedroom, and I was so jealous of it, she used it every day until it broke. Waking up to a cup of tea every morning in bed should be every British persons dream, we need to bring them back into fashion.
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u/The_Primate 16h ago
you can still get em in argos and on amazon. what are you waiting for? have at it!
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u/sock_cooker 12h ago
I got a second hand one off ebay- it's 60 years old and works perfectly. I love it, easily my favourite gadget and I have loads of gadgets
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u/Sweaty-Adeptness1541 16h ago
My parents had one when I was a kid. The noise of the boiling water would wake up the whole household, not just my parents.
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u/MrSmokii 16h ago
my mum used to have one, she'd make tea for me, my dad and herself without having to get out of bed in the morning.
i have fond memories of sitting on their bed first thing in the morning, drinking a cup of tea and watching wacky races.
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u/MinimumSuccotash8540 19h ago
Am I the only one worried about burns? It seems like a really bad idea to have it so close to the bed.
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u/peegee56 16h ago
We had one as a wedding present and it definitely did splutter a lot and if it was on your bedside table you could feel hot splashes, my wife quickly consigned it to the back of the cupboard
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u/TulpaPal 21h ago
coffee machine Tea kettle alarm clock. Haven't seen this exact one but I know it is a thing.
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u/rabbi420 21h ago
Does it brew the tea also, or is it just a hot water pot with an alarm clock?
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u/Enough_Survey_9404 20h ago
It has a teapot with a teabag in it (or two, depending on your preference), and a filled water pot that has a spout hanging into the teapot. The water boils and pours into the teapot, the alarm goes off and voila! - a fresh pot of tea as you wake up.
One of the great British inventions.
Edit: in the picture you can see the pot on the left will be full of water, the white pot on the right is the teapot, and there is a silver spout resting on the white pot spout - that's where the hot water gets transferred
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u/rabbi420 19h ago
That’s fucking cool as fuck.
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u/Enough_Survey_9404 19h ago
This was the height of technology in the 1970s. That and the Pogo stick.
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u/miltonwadd 18h ago
I thought they only existed in Wallace and Gromitt 😂 this is so cool!
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u/The_12OCKET 14h ago
Richard Osman’s House of Games has one as a weekly prize. Definition of Kitsch
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u/Captain_Dachshund 19h ago
Oh god I just started this show! Took me a second to realise what the title meant and where I knew the dude in the bed from 🤣
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u/justsignthesheet 16h ago
I am so excited to already be seeing the show getting posted places (even if for the random thing next his bed). Watched the first two eps and am loving it so much already!
Show is Small Prophets if anybody wondering.
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u/princess_ferocious 15h ago
I LITERALLY just watched this episode, turned off the TV, came downstairs, opened reddit, and this popped up 😂
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u/ProfessionalMottsman 21h ago
Takes the misery out of making a cup of tea
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u/Wretched_Ions 15h ago
I’ve never understood why making coffee or tea is “misery”?
It just takes a few minutes.Course I’m not a coffee or tea drinker. I just drink a soda or take a caffeine tablet.
Is it the lack of instant gratification?
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u/ProfessionalMottsman 14h ago
It was a joke from father Ted that another poster has replied appropriately with the response “maybe I like the misery”
No there is no misery involved at all, especially for all the gratification of its enjoyment
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u/Flacier 11h ago
This is a tea alarm clock called a Teasmade they were popular in the UK for a time.
Very handy if you like waking up to a hot cup of tea.
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u/S1nnah2 11h ago
I mean that one has raspberry pi zero attached.
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u/Boris7939 19h ago
My grandmother used to have this exact machine. It's an alarm clock with built in water cooker and teapot. It makes you a pot of tea when your alarm goes off.
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u/Jolly_Technology7989 19h ago
The gentleman?
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u/Adorable_Past9114 19h ago
It's a still from the UK series small prophets
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u/sunnypickletoes 17h ago
Thank you. I was very curious why OP had a photo of someone sleeping but couldn't ask them a question. I thought we were dealing with a crime.
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u/Jazzlike-Compote4463 17h ago
Great show, it's been on iPlayer for a bit but I think Apple TV might have now picked it up internationally.
Either way, well worth it for Michael Palin alone.
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u/gimmemorepasta 19h ago
It makes you a cup of tea when the alarm goes off. My mum had one, would never guessed she was from the UK.
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u/Obvious-Water569 14h ago
That is the humble TeasMade.
Alarm clock with an automatic tea-making robot.
Pure 70's innovation.
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u/BigInSheboyganGus 13h ago
Teasmade.
Bedside alarm clock that also puts boiled water over a teabag so it’s ready when you awaken.
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u/fattmarrell 15h ago
One thing about being an insomniac is the opportunity to become more cultured. I would have no clue what this was about but here we are with this post
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u/After-Instruction199 18h ago
I had a Goblin teasmaid but I took it back to the shop because it only made tea.
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u/Prestigious_Set_4555 15h ago
My aunt and uncle had a teasmade. 10 year old me saw this as the height of sophistication in the early 80s 🤣
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u/tuckergw 14h ago
Used to be called a Goblin Teasmade until Goblin were bought by Swan. I have one. They make quite a lot of gurgling noises before the alarm goes off
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u/Far-Construction5675 14h ago
So, does it make the tea then throws it on you? Based on the brown stain on the corner of the blanket.
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u/PootMcGroot 14h ago
It's time for a teasmade revival.
I last saw one as a child on holiday in Blackpool in the 80s.
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u/Federal_Sell348 13h ago
That almost looks like a smart wick external catheter system but I don’t think they work on men
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u/Actual_Attention9697 13h ago
It's an '80s alarm clock with a built in teapot. When you go to sleep, you put cold water in the kettle and a teabag in the pot. Five minutes before wake up time, the kettle warms up and comes to a boil. When the alarm goes off, the tea is ready. Nice way to wake up. 🙂
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u/Senior-Internal8436 13h ago
It's a teasmaid. Word play on maid and tea is made. They are still incredibly useful if you want a pot of tea or coffee made automatically for you when your alarm goes off in the morning. My gran had a Swan teasmaid, which is a well-known teasmaid brand. And I got one when I started a job that needed me to get up at 5-6am.
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u/Evacuation_euphoria 13h ago
It's a Teasmade - will wake you up with a freshly brewed cuppa - very popular from the 1970s to the 80s...
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u/SonnyListon999 13h ago
For clarity. It doesn’t make a cup of tea. You fill the boiler, put the teapot ( with a tea bag inside ) in its place within the teasmade. Switch on, make sure the clock is showing the correct time, set the timer ( for the morning ). In the morning the gurgling starts then the whoosh ( as the boiler empties ) then there’s a beep; your hot tea is ready inside the tea pot. You need a cup/mug nearby and milk ( if you take it ) How you keep the milk fresh overnight is your concern. Many have a container on the window sill. I have mine in a small double walled steel mug with a lid and this works for me.
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u/drgoatlord 12h ago
Its a teamaker/waker. You set the alarm/timer and then you wake up to hot cuppa
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u/Muted-Mushroom-4570 12h ago
That is an old, or at least old-style, device that sets a kettle or coffee percolator to turn on at a specific time. It combines the functions of an alarm clock and a timer based kettle. The idea is old man will be able to wake up and in very short order be guzzling his caffeinated beverage of choice.
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u/The_Mother1 12h ago
For those interested: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bi7JFpTQXLM&pp=ygUZU29ydGVkIGZvb2QgdGVhIHBvdCBjbG9jaw%3D%3D
They showcase retro gadgets and that clock teapot is featured.
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u/axe1970 12h ago
r/FuckImOld A Teasmade is an automated bedside alarm clock and tea-maker that brews a fresh cup or pot of tea before you wake up
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u/postjade 11h ago
Is it an alarm clock attached to a kettle so you can have your tea before you get out of bed?
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u/Trusty_Coyote 11h ago
Coffee maker/ clock.
There was a time when all in one device ps were popular.
Edit to add, possibly a tea pot as this is a show that takes place in UK.
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u/Path-Relevant 11h ago
That is a Goblins Teasmaid
Heres one for sale at an auction: https://www.ryedaleauctioneers.com/catalogue/lot/a1cb6b2722fe48f83fa2ca19f29c8443/02d8863b5de7d5d97f6ef64910788336/general-interiors-and-collectables-lot-475/
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u/OddStuffHappensTwice 10h ago
Did you have a stroke while writing that title? Did you even try reading that back before spamming "post"?
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u/DatGuyatLarge 10h ago
When the song "Paranoimia" from Art of Noise came out, Max Headroom asks "Is that my teasmaid?" And I though he said tea's made and just screwed up the pronunciation. It wasn't until a few decades later I learned about the teasmaid alarm
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