Golden Moon Sampler Tea #26
Like…well several other people, I am not a huge fan of licorice, so this was not a tea that I was looking forward to. The tea itself has giant honking pieces of star anise in it, and smells VERY strongly of licorice. Not reassuring! Proximity-to-slow-cooker induced sauerkraut smell would actually be an improvement.
The first cup (the shortest steeping), however, was pleasantly not licorice/anisey at all. So that was nice. Subsequent cups and cooling have let the anise taste come out. Nope! Still not a fan. There’s just something about the taste of anise that makes me think of plastic. I don’t want to be thinking of plastic while drinking tea!
Objectively speaking however, the flavors are very nicely balanced. White tea is, after all, very delicate and if you like anise or are at least indifferent to it, I could see the flavors complementing each other quite well. Still, (obviously I’m biased, but) I think the melon + white tea combo works better, simply because melon is a pretty delicate flavor to begin with, whereas you have to be careful with anise. Although apparently not THAT careful given how huge the pieces in my sample were.
Also this tea cooled really fast. I have GOT to get that tea cozy made.
I have a sample of this in my cupboard and I actually do like licorice. Your review made me quite eager to try it!