Make your own "Red Espresso"

So, with the story the other day on Red Espresso, a pressure extracted herbal tea (Rooibos tea), I decided to see what I could do on my own. So I picked up some Celestial Seasonings African Tea - Moroccan Pomegranate Red at the store which is a red, slightly sweet fruity tea and brewed it in the Breville Café Roma Espresso machine that recently arrived for review. Overall, not hard to do, but this is totally off the plan for what these machines were made to do, so try it at your own risk. I used the Espresso Pod Filter.

First I got the machine ready to go, and pulled apart two Celestial Seasonings tea bags. I then scrunched them one by one into the filter basket by folding in the corners, trying to cover as much room as possible to keep the high pressure water going through the tea, not around it. I also had to keep the edge of the portafilter free so the seal against the machine was solid.

I then wet the tea bags slightly to keep them seated in the portafilter. I then locked the portafilter on the machine, making sure the portafilter was seated as intended without gaps. I then placed the espresso glass under it, stood back and turned the machine pump on. I was ready to flick it off again if things didn’t go right, but then went fine, and all of a sudden beautiful red foam, dare I say red crèma came out of the Breville. After a couple of ounces, I killed the pump and enjoyed my Red Espresso like beverage. I can’t say that it’s dramatically different or better than the tea bag in a cup of hot water technique, but it’s a whole lot cooler.

Rooibos Tea at Amazon

October 23, 2006

Make your own "Red Espresso"