Sadly no, he has televisions all over the house - even in the bathroom - and is easily distracted. I never leave tea to steep for longer than 5 long breaths (for the first cup) and add an additional breath for each subsequent brew. Otousan always forgets about it and leaves the tea in for a good few minutes - ends up being incredibly bitter. He never actually seems to notice - I put it down to him being a 'non-taster'.

I'm always fascinatd with how others make tea - thanks party_boy for your detailed explanation (do you have a favourite brand?). I differ with you about discarding the first cup as I tend to enjoy this the most - although I learnt last year of doing this for Oolong Tea (I got a wonderful batch from Taiwan as a gift).

I'll try the 'sun tea' method next time I'm in Spain.

And thanks Calcifer for updating your post with the info!