This is another tea I got my mom for Christmas, as she’s a licorice fiend, myself..not so much. So it was with a bit of apprehension that I tried this tea. She actually snuck a cup before I had a chance to try it with her, and she said it was good. So I brewed us both a cup tonight.
The dry smell is predominantly minty, with a twinge of licorice. Steeped, hmm, it’s a lighter mint smell with some sweetness, to be honest, I didn’t smell it too much as it was brewing! I steeped for 5 minutes, about 2.5 tsps for 2 cups of tea. Also, the liquor was a rich sunny yellow, must be from the safflower and marigold. It was very pretty while infusing, the little flowers were floating all over the place :)
The taste is actually not what I was expecting! First you get a hit of the mint, then I get some of the nettle (I only know it’s nettle because of my other nettle tea I have), some ginger, a hint of heat from the chillies, and then…the licorice! It hits..it’s a cloying sweet aftertaste most definitely like licorice candies. This is my least favorite part of the cup, but that was to be expected as I’m not a huge fan of licorice. I imagine that some of the sweetness also comes from the pineapple. There’s also a nice swirling of spices throughout this, and yes, the warmth of the chili is still present a bit after the sip.
Overall, this tea surprised me (yay!). It wasn’t as licorice-y as I thought it would be, and I’m very happy the mint is at the start of the sip as I love mint! This tea is actually quite complex to me, but the flavors mesh pretty well together. I don’t think this would be a repurchase for me, just due to personal taste. But I must admit, this would be darn soothing if I get a cold, so I might get a little bit to have on hand, and it might be nice to have something different. Oh, and mom likes it, and that was the main goal, so hurray!! 3 for 3 for the teas, although she hasn’t cracked into her new tin of Pumpkin Chai yet :P
