Red tea: leaf oxidised all the way

The leaf is left to oxidise to the end — which is why the liquor comes out dark amber and the taste goes to honey, cocoa and dried fruit. In Europe this tea is called black; in China, red, after the colour of the infusion. It is the same tea.

Nothing like the tea bag you know from breakfast. That is broken leaf and dust, giving everything at once and turning bitter if you look away; this is whole leaf, and one spoonful gives three or four cups that keep changing.

We keep seven reds. From Fujian, Jin Jun Mei, made of buds alone, sweet and honeyed, and Lapsang Souchong, smoked over pine — the strangest of them all and the one people argue about most. From Yunnan, Caracol de Oro, hand-rolled. From Taiwan, Ruby 18, with a mint-and-cinnamon note like nothing else. And three Peruvians from Huyro, Cusco: Puma Rojo, Vicuña Roja and Red Llama, strong and sweet, from the mountains next door.

Red is the morning tea and the only one that takes milk well. If you want something softer, look at oolong; if you want something for after a meal, go down to pu-erh.

"Red tea for weight loss": where that came from

We do not promise weight loss, from red tea or from pu-erh. And since it is why many people arrive here, it is worth saying where the reputation started.

For years pu-erh was sold in Peru under that name and that promise, in boxes and tea bags. The Chinese habit of drinking it after a heavy meal is real; the jump from there to "loses kilos" was made by advertising, not by the leaf.

What you can check for yourself: tea without sugar adds no calories. A cup instead of a soda or a frappé takes sugar out of your day, and that is arithmetic. It also sits well after food, which is exactly when people snack most.

If someone sells you tea by naming kilos, do not trust it — not the tea, not the seller. We sell flavour and a named origin, plus a sample so you can try before buying a bag.

Start with a sample

Pu-erh: the tea that matures

From Yunnan, and the only one that improves with age. Sheng matures on its own, slowly, growing more complex; shu goes through an accelerated fermentation at the factory and comes out dark, dense, "earthy". Both are drunk after food.

Shu is the easy pu-erh: never bitter, never sour, and forgiving of brewing mistakes. Young sheng is sharper and more astringent, and it is the one people keep for years to see what it becomes. If you have never had pu-erh, start with shu.

Brew it with very hot water, 95–100 °C, in short infusions: a quick rinse that you discard, then 20–25 seconds each time. It holds ten rounds without trouble. If it comes out bitter, you left it in too long — that is the clock, not the leaf.

This is the tea Peru usually calls "té rojo", and the one that was sold with weight-loss promises. We promise no results: we promise flavour, warmth after a meal, and ten infusions from a single spoonful.

See the pu-erhs