The minimum
Red tea is the most forgiving category to equip, because it takes boiling water and a long steep.
A large porcelain mug with a lid will make a perfectly good cup of Dianhong.
A 100 ml porcelain gaiwan is the gongfu answer, and it costs about the same.
Choose between them on how you drink rather than on which one looks more serious.
Water at 95 °C suits nearly every red tea, and boiling water suits most of them.
A thermometer is less critical here than in green tea, since the tolerance is wide.
A strainer matters, because much of the category is sold as a broken leaf grade.
One vessel, a strainer and a kettle will cover every red tea in the cupboard.
A mug with an infuser basket is a legitimate starting point and not a compromise.
Skip the tray, the tongs and the scoop until you find yourself brewing for other people.
Red tea is the one category where a 500 ml pot and a long steep are genuinely correct.
Start with the size you will actually drink from, and the rest of the set follows.
Add as you go
A fairness pitcher is the first useful addition, since red tea pours strong at the end.
One of 200 ml will take a gaiwan or a small pot and even the liquor out.
A scale reading to 0.1 g comes second, and it stops the dose drifting between sessions.
Broken leaf packs densely, so 5 grams of a broken grade looks like half of a whole leaf grade.
Weighing settles it, and it makes a bad cup reproducible enough to diagnose.
A second cup is worth buying early here, since red tea is the category most often shared.
Two medium cups handle a pot that size between two people without refilling.
A tea tray（茶盘）earns its place once you start warming the pot and rinsing the leaf.
A small zisha（紫砂）pot is a reasonable addition for red tea, unlike for green.
Clay holds heat well, and a fully oxidised leaf tolerates that better than a green one does.
Keep it for red tea alone, because the pot will remember whatever you brew in it.
Everything beyond that is convenience rather than improvement, so add it slowly.
Where to spend
Red tea rewards a good vessel less than green tea does, so spend on the leaf first.
A whole leaf Dianhong with visible tips costs more than a broken grade and tastes like a different tea.
Temperature control is the second priority, though the tolerance here is generous.
A kettle that reaches a full boil and a probe thermometer will do the job between them.
Porcelain at 100 ml or 250 ml is cheap, neutral and impossible to buy badly.
Check the glaze for pinholes and the lid for fit, and ignore the decoration entirely.
A boxed set of a dozen pieces is poor value, as most of it will never be used.
Buy two vessels in the sizes you drink from instead, and spend the difference on tea.
A zisha pot is where the money can disappear, and it is the last thing to buy.
Anything advertised as zisha（紫砂）for under twenty dollars is slip cast and coloured rather than hand built.
Warm an empty clay pot and smell it, and a chemical note is a reason to put it back.
Honest porcelain and good leaf beat an expensive pot at every price level.
One set, many teas
A porcelain pot or gaiwan will handle red tea, dark tea and ripe pu-erh without complaint.
All three want water at or near boiling, so one vessel can sit on the same shelf as all of them.
Rinse it well after a ripe pu-erh, since the fermentation smell clings to anything porous.
Glass works too, and it shows the colour of the liquor, which is part of judging red tea.
Keep one vessel away from green, white and yellow, which brew at lower temperatures.
The separation is about temperature rather than flavour, but it keeps the habits clear.
Any clay pot you own should be dedicated to one family and never borrowed across them.
A pot seasoned on red tea will make a poor vessel for a delicate white tea later.
The ratio stays the same across the board: 5 grams in 100 ml, or 3 grams in 250 ml.
Steep 30 seconds in a gaiwan and three minutes in a mug, and taste before you add time.
A red tea that turns harsh and drying was brewed too hot for too long, not badly bought.
One pot, one strainer and boiling water, and the category is covered.