If it walks like espresso and talks like espresso...Okay, fine: if it's not made from coffee beans, it's not technically espresso. But it's still a fun alternative for the tea drinkers amongst us: Cape Town, South Africa's Red Espresso is rooibos tea (a sweet red) ground especially for use in an espresso machine.
The resulting shot is a gorgeous deep red tea with a deep yellow crema on top, and the taste is a strong, nutty flavor - all of the presentation, just without the caffeinated edge.
The idea seems to take away from one of the points of drinking espresso as opposed to a cup of coffee, and that's the jolt of caffeine that accompanies the drink. In that sense, a single shot of the rooibos seems like more of a novelty than anything else.
However, the site suggests using the product to make things like lattes and cappuccinos, which sound more intriguing. Plus, as long as you don't add too much sugar, you're getting great health benefits: rooibos contains five times the antioxidants in green tea. And in that sense, at least, tea definitely trumps coffee.
3-04-2008 @10:14AM Kiwi Carlisle said... I hope this stuff tastes better than most rooibos. I've been trying to like rooibos for thirty years, and it tastes nasty to me. It combines blandness and acridity in an odd combination that's really unappealing to my tastebuds.
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3-11-2008 @8:50PM badfrog said... Most espresso is actually fairly low in caffeine. The dark Italian-style roast kills much of the caffeine.
And I'd hate to get a shot of espresso right after the barrista put through a shot of the roibos tea. I don't care much for the taste either, plus without caffeine my business would collapse.
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