I don’t like licorice. At all. It’s evil. Oddly enough, I don’t anticipate liking this tea. But I’m a glutton for punishment so we’ll give it a quick go.
The dry leaves smell horrid – exactly like licorice. The juice smells like someone dropped a licorice candy in my tea to dissolve. Those bastards. It’s not as strong as the dry leaf but still smells like licorice so it’s icky.
But oh my gosh. The taste is… good! What the what what? There’s a faint sweetness and a little hint of licorice but not actually licorice. Not icky licorice. A sweetness that lightly melds with the (silver needle-tasting?) white tea giving it an almost dark nectar-y, somewhat floral taste.
I’m really really shocked at how delicious this is. I don’t know if this needs to go on the ‘to buy’ list but it has potential. Sadly, I only had enough leaf for one cup but I’ll see how the resteep goes. Because this was really quite yummy!
ETA: The second steep was more licorice tasting but not in a bad way. It was more identifiable but without the cloying… stickiness that I associate with licorice. Really surprising how good this one was.
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I can’t stand licorice either- you give me hope for this one:)
Must try and torment myself with this tea tomorrow :D
I LOVE licorice, so once again I find another reason to order the GM sampler..
@Bethany, yep- there are 31 of them!:)
This review may give me the nerve to try this once I order my sampler. It’s the only tea that really scares me.
I was really terrified of this one too. I loathe licorice! I think the trick here is that it’s not really licorice in the tea, but anise, which has a slightly different flavor. And somehow, it WORKS. And tastes really good. It’s bizarre on many levels!
I can’t stand licorice, and it’s in so many tea blends out there! Anise is more tolerable by a smidge. Star anise is very nice, though, so I really think it’s a matter of proportion and sweetness. I find licorice utterly cloying and will avoid teas containing it like the plague.
Looking at it, I think star anise is what’s actually in this tea. Delicious!
Anything even remotely licorice is evil in my book… except this tea. This was good. I don’t think I’ll be getting a full tin of it, but I am wondering what size their sampler is… I’m guessing it’s larger than the one or two cup envelopes in the 31 tea sampler set but not 100% sure. Does anyone know? Because I’d like to have like… 5 cups of this on hand.
My guess is that the samplers are these little packets.
Boo. I need a few more cups to figure out if I think this is good because it is licorice and not evil or if it really is super-good. Or both. (At the moment, I’m leaning towards both, but I need confirmation!)
That sounds like something I would love to pieces!
I can’t stand licorice either- you give me hope for this one:)
Must try and torment myself with this tea tomorrow :D
I LOVE licorice, so once again I find another reason to order the GM sampler..
@Bethany, yep- there are 31 of them!:)
This review may give me the nerve to try this once I order my sampler. It’s the only tea that really scares me.
I was really terrified of this one too. I loathe licorice! I think the trick here is that it’s not really licorice in the tea, but anise, which has a slightly different flavor. And somehow, it WORKS. And tastes really good. It’s bizarre on many levels!
I can’t stand licorice, and it’s in so many tea blends out there! Anise is more tolerable by a smidge. Star anise is very nice, though, so I really think it’s a matter of proportion and sweetness. I find licorice utterly cloying and will avoid teas containing it like the plague.
Looking at it, I think star anise is what’s actually in this tea. Delicious!
Anything even remotely licorice is evil in my book… except this tea. This was good. I don’t think I’ll be getting a full tin of it, but I am wondering what size their sampler is… I’m guessing it’s larger than the one or two cup envelopes in the 31 tea sampler set but not 100% sure. Does anyone know? Because I’d like to have like… 5 cups of this on hand.
My guess is that the samplers are these little packets.
Boo. I need a few more cups to figure out if I think this is good because it is licorice and not evil or if it really is super-good. Or both. (At the moment, I’m leaning towards both, but I need confirmation!)
That sounds like something I would love to pieces!