I make red tea in a gaiwan. I find it tastes better that way once you learn to use it. I like the really sweet smelling, perfumy kinds. Like used to make the good kind of milk tea here (except without the milk and sugar). I drink it mostly because it tastes good.

What we call ‘red tea’ you call ‘black tea’ in the West I think. What we call ‘black tea’ is usually pu erh or sometimes lapsang souchong. Both of those are very interesting – the former very earthy, and the latter very smoky, like drinking BBQ smoke. I like those too – the former with dimsum, the latter maybe in the evenings.

Sometimes if I get fresh green tea leaves in the market or a farm, I’ll clean them, bruise them, let them oxidize, then stir fry them, and roast them in the oven to make oolong tea. It’s pretty good, but I don’t have the time these days.