the thing that i appreciate about "grandpa style" tea (just putting loose tea leaves directly into the mug, adding hot water, and drinking it once it's cool enough and the leaves have sunk to the bottom)
is that i stopped drinking looseleaf tea because tea bags were less effort and less spoon expenditure than steeping-and-straining loose leaves, because the latter involves dirtying an entire other awkward dish to clean,
but by comparison, grandpa style tea is actually even less effort than bagged tea. with bagged tea, you have to wait around for it to steep, creating a liminal time, and then you have to throw out the tea bag,
whereas with grandpa style tea, you can just throw the leaves and water in, and that is the end of your labor. take it to the table or desk or whatever, and drink it at your pace, AND it tastes so much better than bagged tea. and it makes doing second steepings completely effortless too. just add more hot water when it's almost empty but still has a bit of tea in it
there is something to be said about that liminal steeping time, about the ritual of using and caring for implements. sometimes i want that. (and this method doesn't work for herbal tea.) but i am so, so exhausted so much of the time, and this technique has made such a difference.
anyways that's my tea tip for all you tea-lovers & dolls out there. i know it sounds like heresy, but it's actually quite lovely. because it steeps for longer, i normally use only about half a teaspoon of leaves to avoid it getting bitter
I'm very tired all the time. reducing things that take a lot of work helps.
so i set my grinder to ultra-fine, mix 1:1 sugar and coffee powder, pour in boiling water, stir, let settle a bit, and then drink the coffee, including 70% of the coffee mass. you leave the last 10% of the liquid in the cup because it's gritty and tastes like paper.
