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AI Sommelier & Dynamic Theming Control Panel (pen.dev redesign)
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Live WhatsApp Business Inbox & Order Stream (pen.dev redesign)
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Official 1024x1024 Uncropped App Icon
Inspiration
In the UAE and GCC, millions of karak tea cups are ordered and delivered every day. Local cafeterias and specialty tea houses run their customer operations almost entirely over WhatsApp. However, managing custom orders, varying spice levels (saffron, cardamom, ginger, sugar options), multiple branch deliveries, and VIP customer preferences manually in WhatsApp chats leads to missed messages, order errors, and slow responses during rush hours.
We built Karak Tea UAE CRM to give tea businesses a native Android operations hub that combines dynamic Material You design, Gemini 2.5 AI sommelier intelligence, and real-time commerce sync for instant, automated tea ordering.
What it does
- Native Android 16 Material You Experience: Adaptive theming using dynamic system color harmony with tea-amber accents, compact header layout, and edge-to-edge Compose rendering.
- Unified WhatsApp Business Inbox: Real-time customer conversations with smart status badges (Order Pending, AI Active, Human Attention, Delivered), unread counts, and quick filter pills.
- Gemini AI Tea Sommelier: Automatically engages customers on WhatsApp, suggests customized blends (Classic Saffron Karak, Cardamom Bliss, Ginger Karak), answers flavor/ingredient questions, and takes customized order requests.
- Human Takeover & Escalation: Instant handoff between autonomous AI responses and human tea masters when a VIP customer asks for custom bulk orders or special catering.
- Multi-Channel Commerce Sync: Real-time order dispatch and inventory tracking with webhook endpoints compatible with Salla and Shopify storefronts.
- Interactive AI Control Center: Live configuration of AI autonomy mode (Full Autonomous vs. Copilot Assist), temperature, response constraints, and instant knowledge base sync.
How we built it
- Android & Kotlin: Modern Jetpack Compose, Kotlin 2.1, Material 3, and dynamic color extraction (
dynamicDarkColorScheme/dynamicLightColorScheme). - pen.dev Vector UI Engine: High-performance UI design integration with
@pen.dev/cliand headless canvas generation. - Gemini 2.5 Flash: Low-latency AI conversational intelligence running localized sommelier prompts and GCC tea ordering logic.
- Reactive Architecture: StateFlow, Coroutines, Repository pattern, and Clean Architecture for instant UI updates and offline resilience.
- Security & Privacy: Zero credential exposure on client devices; strict webhook signature verification and zero customer PII logging.
Challenges we ran into
- Integrating custom warm tea-amber branding while dynamically adapting to Android 12–16 system color palettes without contrast regressions.
- Handling rapid conversational turns in WhatsApp ordering while maintaining precise state tracking across AI suggestions and final cart checkout.
- Designing a compact, high-density UI layout optimized for fast-paced cafeteria counter use without visual clutter.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
- Smooth 120Hz Jetpack Compose performance across 13 screens with responsive dynamic theming.
- Automated bidirectional WhatsApp CRM simulation with instant Gemini sommelier recommendations.
- Clean separation of concerns with full pen.dev design sync and git tracking.
What we learned
- Deep nuances of Material You color roles (Primary Container, Tertiary Container, On-Surface variants) for maintaining brand identity within Android dynamic theming.
- Best practices for conversational AI handoff protocols in high-velocity food and beverage retail operations.
What's next for Karak Tea UAE CRM
- Deep integration with RevenueCat mobile subscriptions for tiered cafeteria enterprise licensing (multi-branch management, custom AI voice bots).
- On-device Gemini Nano inference for zero-latency offline order processing during peak network congestion.
- Direct Bluetooth thermal receipt printer integration for kitchen ticketing.
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