From Concept to Creation: Developing a Sugar-Level Adjustable Tea-Making and Vending Solution ^†

In Sri Lanka, tea is a staple and a highly desired beverage. Recently, the preparation of tea has involved brewing tea dust by hand in boiling water to suit the maker’s tastes. On the other hand, customer desires for less sugar play a significant role in modern tea vending.

In response, we present a novel tea-making machine prototype that makes use of a PID temperature controller for accurate heating control and an ATmega2560 64-bit controller. With the help of this automated system, tea preparation may be tailored to the tastes of the customer, taking into account factors like cup size and sugar content. The machine begins boiling water when it is connected to a power source, and an indicator signals when the operation is complete. Customers enter the number of cups they want and the desired sugar level, with three options available: one for minimum, two for medium, and three for high. The machine pours hot water into the strainer, directs the output to the mixing container for blending, and then successively dispenses tea dust from a container into a strainer, sugar into a mixing container, and so on.

After mixing is finished, customers can grab their personalized drink whenever they want. Here, the quality of the tea was defined by its taste and the color of the beverage. The test was performed by giving some sample cups of tea to a group of people and listing out their preferences on the taste and the color of them.

With further development, this automated technology can be extended for versatile beverage preparation beyond tea, accommodating a variety of herbal beverage formulations.