red espresso?
i just saw "red espresso" on youtube for the first time and i wondered if anyone out there has tried the stuff. im not much of a tea guy but it seams like an interesting idea. so if any one has feed back on taste, quality, preparation or equipment issues id love to get some educated opinions.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Cedric on
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It's pretty much using roobois tea and adding steamed milk to it. Pretty much a chai.
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Permalink Reply by Samantha Bako on
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Well, no, not like chai, since chai is a combination of spices with a tea base. Rooibos isn't tea, but rather a sort of red bush in Africa that's caffeine free and full of great stuff. It can be used to make something chai-like if you add spices, and has a smooth, subtly vanilla flavor (it's in the honeybush family).
The "espresso" is just finely ground rooibos that you put in a portafilter. Frankly, you're better off just steaming loose rooibos directly in milk and straining it out, preferably soy since it has a higher water content (teas typically won't steep very well at all in dairy). I haven't put -ground- rooibos through a portafilter, but I've tried loose rooibos, which is pretty fine anyhow, and it just doesn't work out too well.
I also just don't like the idea of using portafilters for anything other than coffee.
Cedric said:It's pretty much using roobois tea and adding steamed milk to it. Pretty much a chai.
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Permalink Reply by Jake Robinson on
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we use it to make rooibos lattes, its interesting. Worth a shot! We reserve a whole head on our four group for mate and rooibos shots, to avoid coffee oil contamination. Arguably a lot more could be done to improve that set up, but we sell a LOT of soy honey and vanilla mate lattes. The rooibos is more popular as loose tea though. Our tea importer has been providing us with some very interesting preliminary studies on roobios and the antioxidants that it has. Apparently there are more than 50 times the amount of antioxidants in roobios than there are in green tea.
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Permalink Reply by paulito on
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interesting... what does it tast like as a extracted shot of tea? hows it taste when combined with milk in "teacinno" form(sorry for the blasphamy it was irisistable!?
Jake Robinson said:we use it to make rooibos lattes, its interesting. Worth a shot! We reserve a whole head on our four group for mate and rooibos shots, to avoid coffee oil contamination. Arguably a lot more could be done to improve that set up, but we sell a LOT of soy honey and vanilla mate lattes. The rooibos is more popular as loose tea though. Our tea importer has been providing us with some very interesting preliminary studies on roobios and the antioxidants that it has. Apparently there are more than 50 times the amount of antioxidants in roobios than there are in green tea.
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i dont think i like the idea of tea sneaking into, and then monopolizing a group head either but who knows maybe its awsome...maybe.
Samantha Bako said:Well, no, not like chai, since chai is a combination of spices with a tea base. Rooibos isn't tea, but rather a sort of red bush in Africa that's caffeine free and full of great stuff. It can be used to make something chai-like if you add spices, and has a smooth, subtly vanilla flavor (it's in the honeybush family).
The "espresso" is just finely ground rooibos that you put in a portafilter. Frankly, you're better off just steaming loose rooibos directly in milk and straining it out, preferably soy since it has a higher water content (teas typically won't steep very well at all in dairy). I haven't put -ground- rooibos through a portafilter, but I've tried loose rooibos, which is pretty fine anyhow, and it just doesn't work out too well.
I also just don't like the idea of using portafilters for anything other than coffee.
Cedric said:It's pretty much using roobois tea and adding steamed milk to it. Pretty much a chai.
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Permalink Reply by teresa pilarz on
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I heard about it about a month ago and purchased a bag to test at home. Samantha's right in that it is very finely ground rooibos, but I can definitely tell you that you will not get the same effect from just putting loose rooibos in the portafilter.
The red espresso runs thick and syrupy like espresso, and it has an excellent non-bitter taste. Even so, I'm not too fond of it straight, but combine it with steamed milk, honey (and spices or syrups if you wish) and it's a whole different flavor profile from chai. The only thing I've noticed is that on my home machine, which is much less powerful than a commercial machine, it tends to clog up before a can run a complete shot. I tend to think you probably wouldn't have this problem in a shop. But I do think Jake is right on... based on everything I've read, you should have a dedicated group for the tea shots.
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Permalink Reply by Cody Moorefield on
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We did this at the shop that I used to work at. It was a novelty thing and it did not last long. Its cool, but the loose in the group head is just as good. Its nice to try, but not to add to the menu.
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super cool, thanks for the input! id like to try it but im currently working on a 2 group machine so it would be impossible to deddicate a group to it. tea lattes sound like a cool alternative for customers that dont enjoy coffee though. when combined with milk does it require the honey and other additives to be enjoyable?
teresa said:I heard about it about a month ago and purchased a bag to test at home. Samantha's right in that it is very finely ground rooibos, but I can definitely tell you that you will not get the same effect from just putting loose rooibos in the portafilter.
The red espresso runs thick and syrupy like espresso, and it has an excellent non-bitter taste. Even so, I'm not too fond of it straight, but combine it with steamed milk, honey (and spices or syrups if you wish) and it's a whole different flavor profile from chai. The only thing I've noticed is that on my home machine, which is much less powerful than a commercial machine, it tends to clog up before a can run a complete shot. I tend to think you probably wouldn't have this problem in a shop. But I do think Jake is right on... based on everything I've read, you should have a dedicated group for the tea shots.
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no, i wouldn't say it requires honey to be enjoyable, but we're talking about americans! most people here dump a crapload of sugar into their coffee, so it's hard for me to say. i prefer all my coffee, espresso & tea plain, so to me it tastes fine without anything extra. my guess is that most people would want the sweeteners though.
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true that!!!! im horribly guilty of fantasizing about rolling my condoment bar right out into the parking lot next to the dumpster when i see the atrosities that they commit to beautiful beverages passionately prepared by my staff!
teresa said:no, i wouldn't say it requires honey to be enjoyable, but we're talking about americans! most people here dump a crapload of sugar into their coffee, so it's hard for me to say. i prefer all my coffee, espresso & tea plain, so to me it tastes fine without anything extra. my guess is that most people would want the sweeteners though.
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Permalink Reply by John Berkness on
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we serve this at our shop here in sodak. and it's suprisingly popular. tastes pretty good. just a new trend i dont forsee it staying for very long though
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That I would like to see...right when someone's in the midst of lacing your beautiful latte art with 4 sugar packets -haha! Good luck w/ the redspro!
paulito said:true that!!!! im horribly guilty of fantasizing about rolling my condoment bar right out into the parking lot next to the dumpster when i see the atrosities that they commit to beautiful beverages passionately prepared by my staff!
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