[Keycap inventory] It's three o'clock, let's drink tea first——Recommendation for food-themed keycaps (1)

from IC

This set of Thai-style milk tea-themed keycaps was designed by designer pwade3, who also designed GMK Analog Dreams simulated dreams and GMK Taro sweet potato keycaps that are also milk tea-themed. From the several sets of milk tea-themed keycaps he designed, it can be seen that he is a designer who has a high love for milk tea.

From IC Base

dark letter area

It is a pity that this set of keycaps does not have any personality additions, so it also lacks some personalized expression.

Source of inspiration in IC - Thai Milk Tea

When it comes to Thai milk tea, I may not have much contact with friends in other regions, but it is one of the most popular tea drinks in Guangdong, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other places. From my own point of view, there are two biggest features of Thai milk tea.

Regarding the reason for the orange color of Thai milk tea, there was once a saying that

"In Thailand's milk tea industry, it is almost monopolized by a Cha Tra Mue tea with a gold trademark on a red background. This brand story was originally opened by the Chinese. More than a hundred years ago, a Chaozhou tea merchant purchased tea and resold it to Thailand. Over time, tea and Western culture have been widely brought to the royal family and the streets. Some people will imitate the drinking method of mixing milk in the West, and variations of star anise and orange flower water flavoring appear on the streets of Thailand. But for those who always like strong taste For Thai people, foreign western tea is not a good taste. So Cha Tra Mue transformed from a tea merchant, bought fields in northern Thailand, mixed Indian Assam tea with other teas, and mixed with half of the tea with a shorter fermentation time. Black tea and long-fermented black tea are blended to produce a thick but not astringent, vanilla-flavored Thai black tea. Coupled with the local rains all year round, the wet weather causes the soil to be rich in iron oxide, making the soil acidic red soil , so the tea planted is also dyed with this layer of orange, which shapes the characteristics of Thailand."

Does this story sound decent? It explains very reasonably why the color of Thai milk tea is orange. It turns out that it is because of the soil! Later, it is even used as a background text in many Thai milk tea shops, but the reality is always cruel.

“近期，台湾的食药署为大家解答了这个问题。根据台湾食药署表示，泰式奶茶的「橘红色」并非茶叶造成，而是茶叶中添加了食用色素。食药署还表示，泰国知名茶叶品牌标有「FD&C NO.6」，即是台湾常见的「食用黄色5号」色素，为合法添加物。接着，他们也透露，所有进口茶叶都是有经过检验的，只要餐厅有标示产地，就没问题，因此泰式奶茶不需要特别注明含有色素。”

To be reasonable, this statement is indeed full of loopholes. How could the red soil phenomenon turn the tea leaves red together, let alone the brewed milk tea, but this "beautiful" story did make me believe it for a long time. Of course, the color of Thai milk tea itself is indeed reddish, but there is also the possibility that some merchants continue to add food coloring on the basis of red to make the color more vivid.

The red tea body of Thai milk tea is also integrated into the keycap as a design element. Whether it is the base letter or the dark letter area, they are all designed according to the color and appearance of Thai milk tea.

Photographed by ZF "Ordinary Players"

Photographed by Le Zong

The taste of Thai milk tea is characterized by cold drink and strong sweet taste. Cracking tea and twisting tea are important brewing techniques of Thai milk tea, which can arouse the tea aroma. Brew black tea and condensed milk together, and then add a lot of ice cubes. Come to neutralize the sweetness, and come to quench your thirst. The habit of drinking ice is also derived from the local climate in Thailand. Under the high temperature, only ice cubes can soothe the skin and flesh burned by the high temperature. And under the extremely hot environment this year, the frequency of my drinking iced drinks has also increased greatly. However, the sweetness of authentic Thai milk tea is still too high for me, even a little sweet, so friends who want to try it should not buy too much at one time, so as not to drink it and walk around.

IC

This set of keycaps is designed by Ovie Grant, a designer of AlohaKB Studio. His other set of design stamps is about to start. If you are interested, you can read the column I wrote on a certain station.

In fact, strictly speaking, English afternoon tea is not just drinking black tea, but a simple meal. The designer said that "Low Tea is the name of the orthodox British afternoon tea, which is enjoyed by the British aristocrats and upper class at three or four in the afternoon. The aristocrats sit on low sofas and refreshments are placed on low tables. Therefore, here "low" refers to the height of the tables and chairs, not the configuration of refreshments... ”

traditional english afternoon tea

Now, a popular legend holds that in the mid-1840s an English high-society lady, Anna Russell, Duchess of Bedford, was bored in the afternoon and asked her maid to prepare a small amount of toast, cream and black tea. This easy way of eating quickly became a great way for British aristocrats to spend their afternoons. Afternoon tea has evolved into some eating habits with local characteristics after it spread to different regions.

The group owner provides real shots

For example, in Guangdong, Cantonese not only like to drink morning tea, but also like to drink afternoon tea, and this afternoon tea also has a time, this time is 3:30, It is called drinking afternoon tea, "Today we drink baa tea at 3:30, and the beef offal must be a food powder." Regarding the origin of 3.3, there is a saying that the tradition of "drinking tea at 3.3" originated in Hong Kong. It is said that many Hong Kong restaurants will offer discounts in the afternoon to attract customers to eat at staggered peaks, and workers in the three industries (carpentry, paint, muddy water) often take a half-hour break at 3:15 p.m. , Sigh tea meal ". Another way of saying is that there is a person from the UK who has lived in Guangdong for more than ten years. The lunch is simple and the dinner is relatively late. Therefore, the British is very hungry, so an old lady treats this British friend to eat. Things fill the stomach, so it has become a traditional custom and has been passed down.

real shot

The afternoon tea industry has different tasting methods and names when it is promoted. For example, British afternoon tea is also called High tea by Hong Kong people, but the two are actually different. It refers to the high height of tables and chairs, because this meal is usually a meal for migrant workers to refresh their minds and fill their stomachs after work, so it is often accompanied by meat.

Hong Kong style afternoon tea

real shot

The letter area of ​​this set of keycaps has the feeling of strawberry milkshake pink, especially some hand-painted snacks, and the large keys are brownish in the rendering. Black tea is mainly used, and later black tea grown in India and Sri Lanka was gradually adopted, and Ceylon black tea from Sri Lanka was also one of the important raw materials for Hong Kong-style milk tea. But the actual picture is more reddish. I don’t know if it’s intentional by the designer, or the product has the same effect. I personally think that in any case, it’s better to have the same color of the keycap as the rendering. If there is any change, it must be changed in advance. Post to notify consumers. In general, it is indeed a slight overturn, and it is inevitable to do five-sided sublimation. For those with high color requirements, it is recommended to make two-color molding keycaps, but relatively speaking, the cost will increase accordingly.

This set of keycaps is a barista-themed keycap designed by the black leaf blcklvs designer of OneKey Studio. This is also the first set of themed keycaps designed by him. Designer: "When I got this opportunity, I immediately remembered my first job many years ago - as a barista - Barista worked in Starbucks. Although it was a very long time ago, I still maintain my appreciation for it. Interest in coffee, so the first set of works chose Barista-Barista as the theme."

To make some digressions, although it is not recommended to go to Starbucks to learn coffee, if you want to find a stable Starbucks barista job, it is very good to go to Starbucks to learn the internal operation process. If you want to learn about coffee as a personal hobby, since Starbucks machines are not home-use, the technology you learn can be said to be a dragon-slaying skill. Process-based production and high efficiency are what Starbucks needs. Starbucks has already made the production process Hua has achieved the ultimate in rapid production, sacrificing some things, but also achieving something. Of course, it is also very good to learn some operational and spatial design.

Keycap color card

The color composition of this set of keycaps is also about some common elements in the coffee industry - black coffee, milk coffee, and the colors of condensed milk and various plant milks

black coffee

milk coffee

condensed milk, plant milk

Updated personality kit

The personalized design contains many elements of specialty coffee, such as common latte art patterns: multi-layered hearts; swans; roses; symmetrical and asymmetrical leaves. And all kinds of tools used to make coffee: French press, coffee machine, coffee filter, etc. The chemical formula of caffeine and the imprint of coffee are very interesting personality designs.

Caffeine chemical formula

Latte art

In fact, there are two types of coffee Latte Art:

One is Free Pour, which "pulls" the pattern while pouring frothed milk into the espresso;

One is engraving (Etching). After the latte is brewed, use auxiliary supplies such as chocolate sauce and toothpicks to "carve" directly on the foam on the surface of the latte.

This time, in addition to the traditional personality area, there are also many personality derivative Kits for matching

cupping kit

cupping kit

milk reverse color letter area

mandarin duck

Two kinds of beverages that seem to be irreconcilable and occupy each other's ecological niches. Three different beverages, tea, coffee and milk, are constantly colliding in this land of China. The relationship between pure tea, pure coffee and the younger generation is changing, including The integration and confrontation of milk, tea and coffee, subtly after accepting the coffee culture, how to transform the imported products that have been recognized by the public into a more localized and flavorful drink is also something worth thinking about.

""One person buys milk tea, one person buys coffee, mix the two cups evenly, and you can make a cup of mandarin duck by yourself""