Grandpa style tea means drinking loose leaf tea straight from a mug with the leaves steeping inside the mug. The term was coined by tea blogger MarshalN in honor of his grandfather to describe a casual style of brewing tea in China.
Brewing grandpa tea is the simplest way to enjoy tea. It brings out nuances and tea character that can differ from gongfu style brewing. It may be the oldest brewing method (along with a sort of Chinese matcha powder first recorded over a thousand years ago).
Bring along a thermos bottle to refill your mug for portable grandpa style. Or put the tea leaves directly in the hot thermos for strong thermos tea.
How to Brew Tea Grandpa Style
Heat or boil water, put tea in mug, pour water into mug, steep, sip, refill hot water as needed. Aged teas, factory teas, ripe puerhs, and tightly pressed tea cakes or puerh tea balls need a pre-rinse before you begin steeping.
A good grandpa tea brewing vessel holds 250-300 ml (about 8.5-10 oz) liquid or more. Any heat-worthy cup, jar, or mug will do the trick. Add a spare gaiwan replacement lid to your grandpa brewing vessel for better temperature control.
Math? You don't have to weigh the tea. If you do, portion out 1-10 grams depending on the experience you want. Ten grams of puerh in a 300 ml grandpa mug makes for a heavy gongfu-like session. Brewing green tea or oolong grandpa style favors lighter parameters like 1-3 grams.
How to Brew Grandma Style Tea
white2tea is coining the term grandma style to describe grandpa style tea steeped in a teapot. Like grandpa style this is a perpetual infusion that you serve, sip, and refill as needed. Also like grandpa style it's a simple method that's popular in China.
Toss some tea directly into a teapot that holds 100-400 ml (about 3.5-10 oz). Immediately start serving it to guests in their cups, or pour tea into your own cup or sharing pitcher for solo sessions. Early on you can top off the teapot around the halfway mark for more balanced infusions. As the tea liquid gets weaker, drink it empty and refill from the bottom to extract all the tea essence.
Teapots work better than gaiwans for grandma tea. They hold heat longer and you can pour directly into small tea cups without spilling. Ignore any gongfu style muscle memory that tells you to limit the infusion time or fully empty the teapot.
Higher leaf ratios in smaller teapots deliver a similar experience to gongfu style brewing. We decrease the ratio for larger teapots because the infusions will go longer. You don't have to weigh out precise amounts of tea for grandma style.
Tea Thermos Bottles - What to Look For
A good thermos for tea should be around 600-1000 ml (about 20-33 oz), include a built-in drinking cup and allow you to pour out hot water or tea without taking the lid all the way off.
With some extra tea on hand you can sip all day. To maintain a higher temp, leave a half cup of boiling water in the thermos bottle with the lid on loose for a few minutes before filling, then empty it and fill to the top with fresh boiling or hot water.
How to Brew Thermos Tea Without an Infuser
Skip the mug or teapot and make thermos tea directly inside the thermos bottle. The tea will steep for hours and become extremely strong so adjust accordingly. High ratios give a strong gongfu-type experience with each sip but can be overwhelming with certain teas.
The fun is in experimenting but your humble guide white2tea likes to do it like this:
- Ripe or shou puerh 5-20 grams in boiling hot water (overnight)
- Raw or sheng puerh 3-10 grams in boiling hot water (sip immediately)
- Red or black tea 3-8 grams in boiling hot water (sip immediately)
- Roasted or oxidized oolongs (Phoenix Dancong, Wuyi yancha) 3-7 grams in boiling water
- White tea, green tea or low-oxidation oolongs 2-6 grams in boiling/hot water (use lower ratios or lower temps for astringent or delicate teas)
The leaves don't need a rinse to open up, but shou puerhs and factory teas will smooth out nicely with a quick rinse - you can rinse in the thermos before filling up.
Sip and top off the tea thermos with more boiling water when it's half-empty, if you can. End with one last boiling refill from the bottom, then sip all the way down before you toss the tea leaves out.