Red Espresso?
Posted by deCadmus on 17 Aug 2007 at 12:30 pm | Category: Coffee
I’d never heard of “red espresso” — at all — until this week. And in just the last few days I’m hearing about it, well… lotsa places. Which makes me wonder… just what the heck is it? And why am I hearing about it now?
First of all, apparently red espresso isn’t espresso at all, which is to say, it’s not coffee. It’s tea. Well, that’s not exactly true, either. It’s Rooibos tea, or South African redbush tea, which isn’t exactly tea in that it’s not Camellia sinensis but a piney, low-growing shrub (Aspalathus linearis) that grows only in the Western Cape of South Africa. Its leaves are fermented oxidized, like black tea, but it has no caffeine.
And the espresso part? Evidently folks are using espresso machines to brew the Rooibos and the resulting cup exhibits much of the same character as espresso coffee, including crema. Or something like it.
If I recall, a few years back at the Midwest Barista Championships, one of Barry’s baristas had a specialty drink that paired a Kenya-based espresso blend with tea… and that may have been a rooibos tea. It was a strange but tasty brew… but there was *definitely* no tea in the portafilter, which would have been strictly against competition rules. (And surely you’d have to scrub the hell out of your portafilter afterwards!)
So… anybody been pulling shots of red espresso? Do tell!
I played with this about two years ago in shop. We used a grinder though and approached it like espresso. Has similar physics if you want a good shot, pulls in same time/volume. The few shops here in boston selling it now after the tea guy picked it up are using preground and it’s lackluster.
You need a dedicated group, dedicated grind, and it can be very interesting. We tried to offer it as a decaf option and it stuck for a lot of the decaf ladies. I think red espresso is misleading as a term so I hope that doesn’t stick. You can also pull shots of mate and mint, really anything herbal(not really tea). Real tea will expand and clog your pf, so don’t even try it.
So you started with a “full leaf tea” and ground it much as you would coffee? I’m guessing that makes for a messy grinder? But dang… I wanna try.
I just gotta figure out who I can convince to sacrifice a grinder to the cause. ;)
I can see how you have a fascination with coffee.-I’ve never been really in to wine tasting, but I’m always interested in trying different coffees.-There is so much to learn about the subject!-Thanks for giing your input on my blog.
‘Welcome, Larry.
Coffee does tend to become an obsession if you let it. And I do. ;)
Rooibos is not a leaf nor a tea. it’s an herbal and looks more like red rice than tea. Grind that up and you can pull a good shot.
You cannot pull shots with real tea leaves as the temps are not right AND the leaves would expand and clog the pf.
The “red espresso” with ™ comes preground from South Africa, it is very fine consistency. I use it at home (espresso machine, and moka pot), it doesn’t clog. I know it took them a lot of experimentation in SA to get it to where it doesn’t. Grounds tap out of the pf just like coffee espresso.
(Full disclosure, I’m their PR guy, but I’m trying hard not to be PR-like here, please don’t flame me. Just ran across this blog on a random search)
Why you’re hearing about it only now, or rather, back when you posted, is that it was only intro’d to US in May, and only really big-time in July. Been in South Africa since 2006, so it’s not that old there either.
Many coffee shops report brisk sales. But being the PR flack I’ll stop now before I get all promotional…fingers twitching to type promo copy…must resist…
The other day I started making red espresso tea (100% rooibos) using a Breville espresso machine. I get a rich rooibos flavor with excellent crema. The red shot is a tasty caffeine-free beverage. My favorite way to drink it is with brown sugar and a touch of cinnamon.
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