http://gizmodo.com/a-400-smart-tea-machine-gave-this-brit-an-existential-1796219286
The Leaf will only brew Teforias own teasSips (Selective Infusion Profile System)which come in K-Cup-like pods. The Leaf ships with 15 samples, but if you buy them yourself from the Teaforia website they cost between $1 and $6, and only contain about two servings of tea each.
Instead of popping the entire pod into the machine as you would with a K-cup, the tea itself is dumped in the Infusion Globe, which sits in the Nest, into which you slide the Carafe. Yes, every Part is Capitalized. The lid of each Sip contains an RFID tag that the Leaf reads to determine how, exactly, to brew the tea, including the temperature of the water and the amount of water it uses. The RFID chip is scanned on the top of the Leaf, which tells the device what recipe to use.
That RFID tag also complicates the companys claim that their Sips are fully recyclable. The Sips container is compostable, but youll have to take your Sips lids to an e-recycling center.