Grandpa style
Leaf loose in a tall glass or flask, topped up with hot water through the day and drunk around the leaf. It is how an enormous proportion of tea is actually consumed in China, and it needs no equipment whatsoever.
Also called mug brewing, leaves-in-cup, flask brewing.
How it works
A small quantity of leaf — considerably less than a western steep would use — goes straight into a tall glass. Hot water is added and drunk down to roughly a third, then topped up again. Because the leaf is never removed, extraction is continuous and self-limiting: the tea reaches a plateau rather than becoming steadily more bitter, provided the leaf quantity was modest to begin with.
Why choose it
No infuser, no timer, no pouring off, no waste, and it works for hours. It also shows the leaf, which is the traditional pleasure of drinking a good green tea from a glass.
Equipment
No vessel is recorded as required for this method. Browse teaware for what is commonly used, including what to reach for when the traditional object is not to hand.
Tea types it suits
Recorded on the method rather than inferred from the catalogue. A type missing here is not ruled out; it simply has not been written down.
Common problems
- Using a western leaf quantity, which does become bitter with nothing to remove it
- Choosing a tea with fine broken leaf, which is unpleasant to drink around
- Letting the glass run dry, which concentrates the remaining liquor sharply
Diagnosed problems
Written from the symptom, with the likely causes in order and a question to rule each one out.
- Leaves stick to the cup, the pot and my teeth — Fine leaf clings to the inside of the vessel, comes through into the cup, and ends up in the last mouthful.
- My leaf floats on top and will not sink — Dry leaf sits on the surface in a dry-looking raft, and the tea underneath is pale long after it should have been ready.
- Tea from my flask tastes stewed by mid-morning — Tea that was fine when it went into the flask is dark, thick and harshly drying an hour or two later, and worse again by lunchtime.
Teas with parameters authored for this method
38 teas have a parameter set written for grandpa style, in alphabetical order. Each row is transcribed from that tea’s own record.
| Tea | Leaf (g/100 ml) | Water (°C) | Authored infusions | First infusion (s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anji Bai Cha | 0.5–1 | 75–85 | 1 | 180 |
| Anji Bai Cha supreme | 0.5–1 | 75–85 | 1 | 210 |
| Beigang Mao Jian | 0.6–1.2 | 80–90 | 1 | 300 |
| Bi Luo Chun | 0.5–1 | 75–85 | 1 | 180 |
| Bi Tan Piao Xue | 0.6–1.2 | 78–88 | 1 | 240 |
| Duyun Mao Jian | 0.5–1 | 75–85 | 1 | 180 |
| Enshi Yu Lu | 0.6–1.2 | 78–88 | 1 | 240 |
| Gong Mei | 0.5–1 | 88–96 | 1 | 360 |
| Gou Gu Nao | 0.6–1.2 | 78–88 | 1 | 240 |
| Hou Kui supreme | 0.6–1.2 | 80–88 | 1 | 300 |
| Huang Jin Ya | 0.6–1.2 | 78–88 | 1 | 240 |
| Huangshan Maofeng | 0.5–1 | 75–85 | 1 | 180 |
| Huoshan Huang Da Cha | 0.7–1.4 | 90–98 | 1 | 300 |
| Huoshan Huangya | 0.6–1.2 | 80–90 | 1 | 300 |
| Jasmine green tea | 0.6–1.1 | 80–88 | 1 | 210 |
| Jin Shan Cui Ya | 0.6–1.2 | 78–88 | 1 | 240 |
| Junshan Yinzhen | 0.6–1.2 | 80–90 | 1 | 300 |
| Liu An Gua Pian | 0.5–1 | 75–85 | 1 | 180 |
| Longjing | 0.5–1 | 75–85 | 1 | 180 |
| Lu Shan Yun Wu | 0.5–1 | 75–85 | 1 | 180 |
| Meng Ding Gan Lu | 0.5–1 | 75–85 | 1 | 180 |
| Meng Ding Huang Ya | 0.6–1.2 | 80–90 | 1 | 300 |
| Shan Tuyet | 0.7–1.3 | 82–90 | 1 | 240 |
| Shou Mei | 0.5–1 | 88–96 | 1 | 360 |
| Song Yang Yin Hou | 0.6–1.2 | 78–88 | 1 | 240 |
| Taiping Houkui | 0.5–1 | 75–85 | 1 | 180 |
| Tian Mu Qing Ding | 0.6–1.2 | 78–88 | 1 | 240 |
| Vietnamese green tea | 0.7–1.3 | 82–90 | 1 | 240 |
| Weishan Mao Jian | 0.6–1.2 | 80–90 | 1 | 300 |
| Wenzhou Huang Tang | 0.6–1.2 | 82–90 | 1 | 240 |
| Wu Niu Zao | 0.6–1.2 | 78–88 | 1 | 240 |
| Wuyuan Ming Mei | 0.6–1.2 | 78–88 | 1 | 240 |
| Xinyang Mao Jian | 0.5–1 | 75–85 | 1 | 180 |
| Yu Hua Cha | 0.6–1.2 | 78–88 | 1 | 240 |
| Yu Lu supreme grade | 0.5–1 | 75–85 | 1 | 210 |
| Yuan An Lu Yuan | 0.6–1.2 | 80–90 | 1 | 300 |
| Yunnan green tea | 0.6–1.2 | 78–88 | 1 | 240 |
| Zhu Ye Qing | 0.5–1 | 75–85 | 1 | 180 |
Sources
This page is TeaHQ synthesis. No external source stands behind the description of this method. It is written from common practice as TeaHQ understands it, and the parameters in the table above come from each tea’s own record rather than from this page.
The numbers for this method are held per tea, never on the method itself. Where a tea has no set written for grandpa style, TeaHQ shows nothing rather than converting its numbers from another style — a scaled ratio and a halved time read as an answer while being one nobody authored.
Written comparisons
Where TeaHQ has set this method against something it is routinely confused with, and argued the differences out in full.
- Grandpa style vs a basket infuser — Both put loose leaf in a single mug and both are aimed at someone at a desk. The difference is whether the leaf is confined, and confinement turns out to be the variable that decides whether loose leaf feels worth the trouble.
- Grandpa style vs gongfu brewing — Two Chinese methods that sit at opposite ends of the same argument about what to do with leaf and water. Gongfu separates them constantly and grandpa style never separates them at all, and both work — for different teas, on different days, with different amounts of attention available.