Rob Waugh on a Teasmade for the digital age

The Teasmade probably peaked when John Major’s wife installed one in 10 Downing Street. But while Teasmades are no longer a fixture on most bedside tables, the dream of waking up to a fresh cuppa (without having to do anything so undignified as pressing the button on an espresso machine) lives on. 

These days, merely having an alarm clock (not just the one in your phone) is a sign of taste and distinction – so the Barisieur is a rather fancy machine. Well, compared to a Teasmade, anyway. 

The Barisieur looks and sounds like a mad scientist’s apparatus, waking you up with bubbling noises as an induction hob boils water out of one vessel, via a stainless steel filter (which you can pre-load with either filter coffee or loose leaf tea), and into a waiting cup. There’s also a milk container with a peltier thermoelectric cooler. 

You do, of course, have to remember to pre-load it all at bedtime (and clean the pipes). The gentle hissing and bubbling sound the apparatus emits was enough to jolt me awake –but just in case, you can set the device to emit a piercing bleep as well, although this feels like missing the point. 

It actually makes a not-bad cup of coffee, with a filter coffee coming out nice and strong – although my wife griped about having to empty the filter before she could have hers. A little drawer in the back lets you add sugar. 

My wife griped about having to empty the filter before she could have hers. A little drawer in the back lets you add sugar

In a concession to our wired world, you can charge your phone via a USB port – although the LED timer is defiantly low-tech, and not dependent on some silly app. 

Would Norma Major approve? Well the gentle bubbling and pleasing aroma are certainly a more agreeable way to wake up than the digital shriek of a smartphone alarm…