Noah Mechnig-Giordano, ’22 Engineering and Computer Science and G ’23 Whitman School of Management, is heading to Florida State University on April 1 to represent Syracuse University at the 2022 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) InVenture Prize to be broadcast on PBS. The competition is a a televised student start-up pitch competition open to teams from the 15 colleges and universities in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Academic Consortium. The Blackstone LaunchPad hosts the qualifying campus competition which is open to students who are the original creators, inventors or owners of the intellectual property underlying their invention.
Noah’s invention is the Happy Loose Leaf Tea Ball, a portable and flexible tea steeping device with a proprietary mechanism that produces the perfect cup of tea. The tea ball is filled with loose-leaf tea and then automatically stops the steeping process based on desired strength through a patent-pending timing technology. He has produced a fully functioning 3D printed prototype, has worked with legal counsel to complete an extensive international patent search, holds a provisional utility patent, and is on the way to a nonprovisional filing. Working with the Blackstone LaunchPad, and with support from the SU Libraries LaunchPad Innovation Fund, he has already incorporated Happy Loose Leaf Tea as a C-Corp, and is in talks with manufacturers. He will be selling directly to consumers through the Happy Loose Leaf online marketplace.
Tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the entire world after water and has become even more popular during the pandemic to boost immunity, support calming health benefits and enhance wellbeing.
Past Syracuse contestants who participated in the final five live PBS-broadcast included: Kate Beckman ’17 G’18 (Newhouse School) founder of FreshU; Kayla Simon ’19 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) and Elizabeth Tarangelo ’19 (College of Engineering and Computer Science), co-founders of In-Spire; Alec Gillinder ’20 (College of Visual and Performing Arts’ School of Design) and Quinn King ’20 (VPA School of Design), co-founders of MedUX; and Russell Fearon ’20 G’21 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) and Ricardo Sanchez ’21 (VPA School of Design), co-founders of SugEx.