Green tea wants two minutes, black tea wants four or five, and a delicate white tea can turn bitter after just three. If you're working at your Mac when you start steeping, the timer has to be fast enough that you actually use it — otherwise you'll "just wait a bit" and end up with an oversteeped, bitter cup more often than not.
The problem isn't remembering the steep time. It's that starting a timer on macOS takes longer than it should, so people skip it and eyeball the clock instead.
The built-in gap
macOS has no timer you can start from the desktop without opening an app first. The Clock app requires navigating to its Timer tab and scrolling wheels for what is often a two- or three-minute duration — more setup time than the difference between a good cup and a bad one. Siri works, but talking to your laptop about tea steep time in an open office feels unnecessary.
The fix: Tickpull
Tickpull sits in the menu bar and starts with a drag. Pour the water over the leaves, drag to 3 minutes, release, and go back to your screen. The ring fills quietly while you work, and a haptic tap tells you the moment it's ready to strain.
Matching steep time to tea type
Drag shorter for green or white tea, longer for black or herbal blends. The gesture is forgiving enough to eyeball a rough duration in a second or two, which is all a steep timer really needs.
Multiple cups, different teas
Making tea for yourself and a colleague with different preferences? Start two timers with two drags — each cup gets pulled at exactly the right moment instead of both steeping for the same generic duration.
Second and third infusions
Loose-leaf teas often get re-steeped with slightly longer times each round. A quick re-drag between infusions is far less friction than reopening an app three times in one tea session.