I have to say, I was a little scared when I read the ingredients on this one… Orange and vanilla (yum), cinnamon (meh), licorice root (his royal evilness), and sea buckthorn berries (…whaaaaat…?). This tea visually has the most “stuff” in it that I’ve seen from Kusmi – I’m assuming it’s chopped licorice root and the berries. The dry leaf smell is bizarre. There are obvious (and very powerful) cinnamon and licorice scents, but for some reason the overall smell reminds me of bubblegum…? There’s also definitely a sharp orange oil note. Smelling this tea made me sneeze – I think my nose thought he was under attack so he activated his ultimate defense. Yes, my nose is apparently a dude… Anyway, I brewed it at 175 for 3 minutes.
The aroma of the brew was much less worrying. It still smelled chiefly of cinnamon and licorice, but there was no bubblegum. I could also pick out the orange and a slight whiff of vanilla. Tasting it hot, the cinnamon and licorice kind of combine into one flavor and there’s a slight undertone of orange. I thought this isn’t so bad, added a bit of sugar, and let it cool a bit. Somewhere in the warm-hot range, I started tasting a lot more orange and vanilla, and it became a kind of spiced creamsicley tea. However, as it cooled past a certain point, I started to taste mostly licorice. Or should I say l-ick-orice? I read in a tasting note that this is better iced, but I can’t imagine how if it’s going to taste like eau de licorice root. I may or may not try it. Overall, this tea is not as bad as I thought it would be, but I would enjoy it more if it had more orange and vanilla flavor. Also, I don’t taste the actual tea in this at all. It seems like a strange flavor profile for a green, I would peg this description for a black tea.
P.S. – I was tempted to put “Sea Buckthorn Berries” in the flavors just to be a smartass, but it wasn’t there. No fair!
Flavors: Cinnamon, Licorice, Orange, Vanilla
Preparation
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i have a sample of it and im planning to make it as chai
Oh, how do you go about doing that? Just brew it with additional spices?
Steep it in simmering milk and add some sugar or maple syrup to taste, I dunno maybe like 5 -7 min
Sounds tasty, I’ll have to try that sometime. Thanks. :D
I find that less is more with this one. I like it better when it’s underleafed a bit because the flavor is so strong.
Do you still get the orange and vanilla at all? I found them to be very subtle even with the amount of tea that I used.
I find the licorice is so strong it kind of obscures everything else. This was great when I had a bad cold last year though!
I kind of drink this as a detox tea, as the licorice and sea buckthorn have medicinal properties, so does the cinnamon. I also like licorice, soi don’t mind this one.
Oops I take my words back, I just noticed it has green base. No hot milk but maybe cold coconut milk or almond milk and sugar to get all the flavors together.
i have a sample of it and im planning to make it as chai
Oh, how do you go about doing that? Just brew it with additional spices?
Steep it in simmering milk and add some sugar or maple syrup to taste, I dunno maybe like 5 -7 min
Sounds tasty, I’ll have to try that sometime. Thanks. :D
I find that less is more with this one. I like it better when it’s underleafed a bit because the flavor is so strong.
Do you still get the orange and vanilla at all? I found them to be very subtle even with the amount of tea that I used.
I find the licorice is so strong it kind of obscures everything else. This was great when I had a bad cold last year though!
I kind of drink this as a detox tea, as the licorice and sea buckthorn have medicinal properties, so does the cinnamon. I also like licorice, soi don’t mind this one.
Oops I take my words back, I just noticed it has green base. No hot milk but maybe cold coconut milk or almond milk and sugar to get all the flavors together.