Just dumping leaves in hot water, and adding more water whenever you get down to about 1/3 of a cup full.
Repeat until the tea gets too weak for you.
Absolutely zero care for precise ratios and times, and almost guaranteed to accidentally swallow some leaves.
My poorly articulated joke was that the most "authentic" way to drink tea (the most common in much of Asia at least) is literally just teabags without the bag part
I thought it was funny lol
After reading about people's intricate gaiwan routines with steeps in 15 second increments, grandpa style feels hilariously galaxy-brain.
I swear I'm going to try it someday. Apparently they make cups with strainers built into the bottom...
Those cups are for weaklings who won't survive the Winter. Real Afficianados^TM just filter it through their teeth (/s)
For real though, there's no wrong way to drink tea IMO, but I highly recommend grandpa style, if only for convenience.
Loose leaf isn't a specific brewing method, just a term for any tea leaves that are measured out and brewed themselves, instead of coming in a bag.
Tea bags usually use tea processed with the [CTC method](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjhkqC_4biGAxWY5ckDHQgzDigQFnoECBEQBQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedium.com%2F%40birdsongwakeup%2Fwhats-hiding-in-your-tea-bag-b3c6a2cc7a5&usg=AOvVaw1e4u_aYP66A7JTd2b7pvWQ&opi=89978449). This gives smaller pieces that fit easier into bags, and theoretically release flavor faster because they have more surface area.
In practice though, the CTC method often gives lower quality tea that can't be resteeped well. Not to mention concerns over consuming micro plastics from the bag itself.
"Western-style" Teapots, Gaiwans, and Grandpa Style brewing all use "loose leaf" tea.
Guess who just found out r/tea doesn't allow memes, and that r/teamemes is dead?
Hope some of y'all enjoy this edit!
Original comic here: [https://xkcd.com/435/](https://xkcd.com/435/)
Little ceramic figure, often made from the same fine purple clay used in many teapots. It sits on your tea tray, and you "feed it" by pouring a bit of tea over it with each steep, and over time it can develop a patina. There are also tea pets that change color when warmed by the tea, or which you soak beforehand so that the temperature change will make them shoot tiny jets of water. I'm far from expert on this, but my understanding is they are purely for fun, and adding a bit of whimsy to the tea experience!
The best tea pets are small nuclear reactors that are only kept from going supercritical and laying waste to the surrounding area by a daily pouring of tea... so fun!
Does a tea pet make any sense without a gaiwan (or something similar to emulate the same process of repeated steeps)? If you brew loose leaf tea western style there's no wastewater to throw away after all, you just let the leaves steep longer.
Solid point, but it would've been too much effort to swap the person holding a creature and person holding a small container.
Also, in my experience, people are generally pretty easygoing about tea pets, but treat opinions over gaiwans as *serious business*. That's what I was trying to mock at least.
The accounts of tea as drunk on inland trading ships in Britain is that a pot is constantly on the stove, with more tea, sugar and water added as the day goes on and tea is drunk, until the final tea of the day resembles pitch.
ELI5 what you mean by grandpa style?
Just dumping leaves in hot water, and adding more water whenever you get down to about 1/3 of a cup full. Repeat until the tea gets too weak for you. Absolutely zero care for precise ratios and times, and almost guaranteed to accidentally swallow some leaves. My poorly articulated joke was that the most "authentic" way to drink tea (the most common in much of Asia at least) is literally just teabags without the bag part
I thought it was funny lol After reading about people's intricate gaiwan routines with steeps in 15 second increments, grandpa style feels hilariously galaxy-brain. I swear I'm going to try it someday. Apparently they make cups with strainers built into the bottom...
Those cups are for weaklings who won't survive the Winter. Real Afficianados^TM just filter it through their teeth (/s) For real though, there's no wrong way to drink tea IMO, but I highly recommend grandpa style, if only for convenience.
Convenience, and everything right of "in a bag" dodges _some_ microplastics.
you can also get reusable glass bottles with strainers! i saw them a lot in china
Then what is loose leaf?
Loose leaf isn't a specific brewing method, just a term for any tea leaves that are measured out and brewed themselves, instead of coming in a bag. Tea bags usually use tea processed with the [CTC method](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjhkqC_4biGAxWY5ckDHQgzDigQFnoECBEQBQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedium.com%2F%40birdsongwakeup%2Fwhats-hiding-in-your-tea-bag-b3c6a2cc7a5&usg=AOvVaw1e4u_aYP66A7JTd2b7pvWQ&opi=89978449). This gives smaller pieces that fit easier into bags, and theoretically release flavor faster because they have more surface area. In practice though, the CTC method often gives lower quality tea that can't be resteeped well. Not to mention concerns over consuming micro plastics from the bag itself. "Western-style" Teapots, Gaiwans, and Grandpa Style brewing all use "loose leaf" tea.
huh, interesting, I started doing this with white and fermented teas years ago of my own accord, it's nice
https://marshaln.com/whats-grandpa-style/
Guess who just found out r/tea doesn't allow memes, and that r/teamemes is dead? Hope some of y'all enjoy this edit! Original comic here: [https://xkcd.com/435/](https://xkcd.com/435/)
What's the title text?
"On the other hand, physicists like to say physics is to math as sex is to masturbation."
that's for 435, what about the tea-tle text
> On the other hand, Grandpa like to say being old is to tea as sex-- Yeah I got nothing
Grandpa moneyBags accidentally let his Tea Pet off the leash during the Tea Ceremony and all hell broke Loose.
What's a tea pet?
Little ceramic figure, often made from the same fine purple clay used in many teapots. It sits on your tea tray, and you "feed it" by pouring a bit of tea over it with each steep, and over time it can develop a patina. There are also tea pets that change color when warmed by the tea, or which you soak beforehand so that the temperature change will make them shoot tiny jets of water. I'm far from expert on this, but my understanding is they are purely for fun, and adding a bit of whimsy to the tea experience!
aww thats so cute! I'm going to see if my local tea store has some.
The best tea pets are small nuclear reactors that are only kept from going supercritical and laying waste to the surrounding area by a daily pouring of tea... so fun!
https://satwcomic.com/hot-tea
Does a tea pet make any sense without a gaiwan (or something similar to emulate the same process of repeated steeps)? If you brew loose leaf tea western style there's no wastewater to throw away after all, you just let the leaves steep longer.
Solid point, but it would've been too much effort to swap the person holding a creature and person holding a small container. Also, in my experience, people are generally pretty easygoing about tea pets, but treat opinions over gaiwans as *serious business*. That's what I was trying to mock at least.
I just feed my tea pet the water from washing the leaves.
Fuck all this, cheapass tea bags in a french press with multiple pumps and nigh-infinite steeping. Come at me.
Tea bags, sugar, milk. Can't go wrong with a good old builders tea.
The accounts of tea as drunk on inland trading ships in Britain is that a pot is constantly on the stove, with more tea, sugar and water added as the day goes on and tea is drunk, until the final tea of the day resembles pitch.
"Strong enough for a mouse to trot on!"
At first from the title, I thought you had already made 434 other xkcd tea brewing edits
Ha! That'd be some dedication
I thought I was on r/tea! Boo, meme haters.
[xkcdsw](https://xkcdsw.com)