Liquorice and Peppermint

The first time I tried this tea, I actually didn’t like it. I wasn’t, in fact, sure that I could even finish the cup. Since then, I tried it again this summer, iced, and found it palatable. This morning, struck down by a cold at the beginning of the busiest week of the year for me at work, I found another bag of this in my desk drawer. Since I’d neglected to buy milk this morning, and a hot drink – any hot drink – sounded like a good idea to me, I gave this another try.

Actually, it’s not that bad. It’s very sweet, which is what took me by surprise the first time I tried it. I was expecting the liquorice to taste dark and sort of bitter (in my head, liquorice is black and sticky), but it absolutely doesn’t. Strangely enough, when I tried a tea with a dark, sticky, bitter liquiorce flavour (hello, Twinings Liquorice Allsorts Earl Grey), I didn’t like it at all. Clearly, when it comes to liquorice, I’m really hard to please. Anyway – on second acquaintance, I’m finding that the liquorice in the tea adds a pleasing sweetness which works really well with the peppermint. I still don’t like it steeped for an overly long time, but a couple of minutes provides a drink that’s both refreshing and comforting all at once. It’s cosy, and warm, and summery, and, as such, perfect for a dark, cold day when I’m feeling terrible.

It’s probably best if I don’t comment on the nuances of this while I’m feeling so awful. I have a whole box of this in my stash, so I’m going to save the reflection for future tastings. All I know at the moment is that this made me feel better, and that I was surprised to actually like it after all.

Instant Color when steeping!
It’s a slightly murky light brown.

Smells like Liquorice and Peppermint prior to steep. Smells more like a typical medicinal tea once steeped.

The sip…

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!

It made me cough it’s so strong!

It’s REALLY Liquorice!!! And slightly Peppermint! WOW!

This is really intense…distracting.

BUT…it almost makes you want to see if you have the ‘hair on your head to handle it’.
If Steepsters would chant “Chug! Chug!” it would be the FRAT of Tea around here!

WOWZA! I’m going to try to finish it but I’m not sure…I think I will stay neutral for the time being…will try and play with this to see if understeeping would help.

My boyfriend and I both enjoyed Yogi Tea’s Licorice Mint herbal tea and since we recently ran out I wanted to try this out to see if it would make a good replacement.

I could actually see the contents of the bag – it’s one of those pyramid-style sachets – and there seems to be quite a large amount of shreded licorice root in the blend. The taste bore that out as it was quite sweet, certainly sweeter than the Yogi version. It’s on the edge of being too sweet and probably would be if I steeped it any longer – thankfully I looked at the steeping directions on the box rather than just giving it the standard 5 min steep I usually use for herbals tisanes.

I placed a massive order with Teapigs a couple weeks ago, and just got it in the mail a few days ago. Since I’ve been feeling under the weather I decided to try out this tea, as a sweet treat to make myself feel better. Teapigs recommends steeping this tea for only three minutes, but I like my tea on the stronger side, and I usually don’t steep for less then five minutes. I decided to go with four minutes, since I don’t always enjoy licorice root.

Smelling this tea you can definitely smell the peppermint, it is quite strong. However with my first sip I was disappointed because the actual peppermint taste was extremely mild. On the other hand I found the licorice to be perfect, it was nice and flavorful without being too overbearingly strong. This tea did have a bit of a cough syrup sickly sweet undertone, but it wasn’t too bad. I think if I steep it for the recommended three minutes next time that it will fix that problem. I do still wish that the peppermint flavor was stronger though.

A friend of mine said she wasn’t excited about this tea but wound up enjoying it a lot, so I was eager to try it despite not enjoying black licorice. The peppermint was the dominant smell. The mint is also evident while drinking, though the flavor certainly takes a back seat to the licorice. It felt like a lump of black licorice stuck in the back of my throat – and I mean stuck, because it lingered there for hours after I gave up on the cup.

teapigs advent, day 13

Oh, gosh. The sachet doesn’t smell like anything much. While steeping, all I could smell was peppermint. While drinking, all I could taste was liquorice. This amused me greatly but my tastebuds were in vehement disagreement.

I don’t know if it does this to you, but liquorice has a tendency to coat my tongue and throat. This is a quality I appreciate in a cough syrup, but not in a tea. And then there’s the odd, fleeting, zap of sweetness. Which feels kind of sweet, but kind of completely different from sweet.

It is true to what it is, but what it is is not for me.

The main flavor here is licorice. The mint is there subtly as well. I feel like 30 seconds after I’ve swallowed I can really taste the mint along with that classic lingering licorice flavor. I drink a lot of bagged licorice teas at work, and I have to say that this is right up there with the best of them. The sachet was also very full, so the flavor is stronger than other teas in my 14 oz travel cup. Anyway Teapigs is way more expensive than other bagged teas, so unfortunately I probably wouldn’t purchase this over other not quite as good brands. But this is super good.

I received a sample satchel via Taste the World and decided to give it a try today.

I’m not a fan of liquorice but curiosity got the best of me today and I gave it a whirl. The tea is rather sweet, and the peppermint was a nice touch, but I couldn’t finish the cup.

I got this with a big Teapigs order I received the other day. Was very excited to try it since I heard it was sweet, and since I recently cut my sugar consumption way back,I thought this could work as a treat. I did not like it hot at all. I just sort of felt like I was drinking hot toothpaste water with a funky aftertaste. I added some ice to it and it was not as horrible, but it still reminded me of diluted mouthwash. I tried some Stash liquorice tea the other day and hated it also. I’m guessing I’m not a liquorice tea person, but if you are and you like mint, then you will probably love this stuff.

Bought this the other day at Whole Foods. Thought I would try it tonight because it is caffeine free. Turns out to be a bit of a strange combination. There are two main notes, the liquorice and the peppermint. They don’t blend well. This isn’t really a terrible tea it is just not that great.

I brewed two tea bags in a 16oz mug for 5 minutes.