How To Make Red Tea

In this video I am going to show you how to make Pu Erh Red Tea. Today we are going to brew two different types of Pu Erh. We have the first kind, this is a ripened Emperor Pu Erh 2008 Vintage.

This is an organic tea. The second tea is a green Pu Erh 2010 Spring Papers Manuku Green Pu. This Manuku Green Pu comes from a Pu Erh tea kit like this.

If you have a tea kit like this, all you need is a very simple Pu Erh pricking knife. You could use a butter knife, or something that does not have such a sharp and pointy tip. To prick the tea cake, find a place along the tea cake where you can see different layers.

Stick the knife into the tea cake horizontally and prick the tea like this. Be careful not to cut yourself. Once you get a tea leaf like this you can start to brew the tea.

To brew the tea I am using a paper clay pot for the ripened Pu Erh. I am warming the tea pot now. I am pouring hot water over the exterior of the pot, this keeps the tea pot warm.

You may notice that I am using a really tiny teapot here. This is to ensure that each infusion is absolutely fresh and if we wanted to have more tea, we simply brew the tea again in the teapot. I am now warming the pitcher.

This is organic Emperor Pu Erh 2008 vintage. Both of these teas require very short brewing times, 15-20 seconds, no longer. The ripened Pu Erh requires slightly higher water temperature, so we are talking about 95-98 degrees Celsius.

I am pouring water on the outside of the pot, this keeps the teapot warm. This is organic Manuku 2010 Spring harvest green Pu Erh. This is organic Emperor Pua 2008 Kentish, this is the ripened Pu Erh.

And this is organic 2010 Spring harvest Manuku green Pu Erh. You can see the difference in colour. One is happily oxidized, one is just mellow and over time will change into this colour.

This is how to make Pu Erh Red Tea.