Hide

Welcome to Steepster, an online tea community.

Write a tea journal, see what others are drinking and get recommendations from people you trust. Sign Up or Learn More

cteresa

107 Followers / 79 Following

Chá Vermelho Marco Polo from Empório do Chá

cteresa drank Chá Vermelho Marco Polo by Empório do Chá

Nope, not that Marco Polo, or even an “hommage”.

Red tea IMO is rooibos, but this is absolutely not rooibos but real tea. From description, twice fermented, I think this is a pu-erh, a type of tea of which I have drank very little (so far!). This is flavoured with red pepper, pink pepper and cardamom, and it is absolutely lovely. It is spicy, but not too hot (piquant) and the spice is very well balanced, none of the peppers or the cardamom rules. And it´s very tea-ey, earthy and deep, but not too much. If this is pu-erh, I am converted.

2011-03-10 13:56:41 -0500

205 °F / 96 °C

3 min 45 sec

I Like This

3 likes

4 comments

People who liked this

Comments

Angrboda 2011-03-10 23:46:24 -0500

I believe, in China, they refer to black tea as red tea. Oolong, amusingly, is blue tea which I think is just for the purpose of sticking to the colour scheme. :)

cteresa 2011-03-11 09:27:29 -0500

I did not know that. and makes sense, normal black tea is often reddish ( apart maybe from builder´s tea and similar). On the store they called black tea black and oolong oolong, so I was a bit baffled about the red tea. The owner said it was twice fermented, so probably some type of pu-erh – if it is, I am converted!

Angrboda 2011-03-11 16:06:38 -0500

I’m not aware of there being a colour for pu-erh as well. I’d say that usually turns out redder than blacks. I agree that ‘twice fermented’ sounds pu-erh-y. If it was just a black one, doing it twice wouldn’t really make any sense.

cteresa 2011-03-11 16:37:43 -0500

The odd thing is that while this was shelved along with their pu-erhs the pu-erhs were called pu-erh and not read tea. Still odd. But I liked it a lot.

Follow Get this person's updates

Profile

Bio

Inconstant tea drinker – I mostly drink tea when not too hot. I hang around steepster much more frequently in (northern hemisphere) cold season.

- Teas -

I like all sorts of tea, flavoured and unflavoured though I am picky. I always willing to try anything new. I am now particularly interested in single origins.

I am one of those people who actually loves Lapsang Souchong. I am not crazy about Earl Grey, in general. I don´t quite get Darjeeling teas, but I am trying to make sure …

I like rooibos, though not all bases. I loathe hibiscus. I do not like fennel/liquorice/anise in blends or teas with chicory. I am picky about what I consider true cinnamon.

As you can probably tell from my cupboard, the brands I find more interesting right now are Mariage Fréres,Thé-o-Dor and Yumchaa.