Monday 17 January 2011

Redspresso #1















A long time ago I came across a website pushing a product. A product which was just a new way of brewing the increasingly popular tea known as rooibos. That website is here.

In reality you don't really need to buy it from them. After all, I am 90% sure it's just tea.

Sunday was a strange little day. It was gloriously sunny. This is not so unusual for January. You get those crisp, sunny winter days but this was not at all one of those. It was warm. As in, just wearing a t-shirt (& trousers) sitting outside in the garden, warm. Global warming. Literally. It'll be minus two again later this week. Having a temperature variance of around twenty degrees in five days is not right at any time of year.

So, sitting outside, enjoying a cold beer, doing a spot of reading and suddenly I remember this website. I remember the concept. And I realise that I have both loose leaf rooibos and an Italian-style stovetop espresso pot. So, off I go and the result is as above.

Now, there's no crema (the light brown, slightly foamy top that an espresso has). Although, that is a problem that I have noticed with the pot itself. I'm sure I've had stovetops in the past that have made a proper espresso, but this one doesn't seem to manage it. I'll have to delve through the hell of online coffee snobbery and check on that.

Rooibos espresso, the taste is different, if only very slightly. But then, you might expect this as it has only "infused" very briefly, but at increased pressure. I'm not sure it's the way forwards. But it's interesting. And I want to try again.

1 comment:

Pauly-S said...

Interesting stuff - I'm going to try this out in my espresso machine!

BTW - The reason you aren't getting crema from a stovetop is most likely down to the pressure, or lack of, that the water is forced through the coffee.

If you have a grinder then try a finer grind, although too fine and the water might not rise up at all, so some playing about is required.

This is a great article if you're interested: http://coffeegeek.com/opinions/barista/10-14-2006