A driver who successfully manoeuvred a massive articulated lorry in order to drop a teabag into a glass of hot water has become internationally famous with friend requests from around the world.

Johan Groteboer, 49, who is from the region of Twente in the eastern Netherlands said he did the video with a pal as a joke and was “completely stunned” when he posted it and woke up the next day to find thousands of comments.

The incredible video shows the massive 25-metre (82-foot) vehicle reversing backwards until the teabag hanging from an indicator is exactly above a glass of hot water sitting on a traffic cone, after which the suspension is lowered, dropping the teabag neatly into the middle of the glass.

He told Newsflash: “I had friend requests from China, Japan, Austria, Italy and Norway. I am still stunned at the reception, but I must admit it’s getting a bit out of hand now.”

He said he had only decided, as a bit of fun, to take part in the “teabag challenge” which originated in Finland and is popular with truckers.

The idea is to hang a teabag from the lorry, and then move slowly backwards until the teabag is exactly over the glass before lowering it by changing the suspension.

The reason that the video by Johan was so popular is that he drives an LHV, which is a long heavy vehicle, that made the whole job even more difficult.

He said: “It is one of the largest vehicles on the road. I guess that’s why the video is so popular. My one is 25.25 metres (82.84 feet) long, which is quite a bit bigger than a standard lorry.”

The professional driver, who is from Rijssen, which is one of the 14 regions in Twente, added: “I had to pull out all the stops to really get past the traffic cone without disturbing it and yet still drop the teabag directly into the hot water. In that scenario, you only have to go very slightly off track and you lose it.”

He was even more amazed that he managed to do on the first attempt, and even his wife had been sceptical, refusing to allow him to take a glass from home because she was convinced he would break it.

He said: “My wife refused to let me have a glass, she said I was going to break it so I only grabbed a few which I bought at the local flea market first.”

He has been a trucker for 30 years and is married to Anjo Groteboer-ten Dam, with the couple celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary last month, and as Johan put it, an extra 25 kilogrammes (55 lbs) as well.

He says driving a lorry is the best job in the world, adding: “The freedom that you have is wonderful and you go to some crazy places. The other day I had to reverse 1.5 kilometres (0.93 miles) so you can’t say that this job isn’t challenging.”

Asked if completing his teabag challenge on the first attempt also involved luck, he smiled and replied: “Not at all, it was pure talent.”