Liquorice Earl Grey

With the triple whammy of licorice root/anise/and fennel I was expecting this tea to be more strongly licorice-flavoured than it was. Instead, however, the citrusy bergamot is still the most prominent flavour in this tea and the licorice is a more a slightly spicy afterthought, making this blend more interesting than your typical earl grey. I’m glad that they didn’t overdo it with the licorice root as its sweetness can completely take over a tea. Instead the licorice flavour is more spicy than sweet, characteristic of fennel seeds.

An interesting take on a classic tea.

As I have mentioned earlier, I bought 4 mini packs of spicy tea from Løv Organic by mistake. :( What should I do with them??? I guess I have no choice but to consume them one by one… this Liquorice Earl Grey seems to be the most likeable among the packs. It’s spicy but at least it doesn’t dry my mouth… and the familiar taste of Earl Grey does give me some comfort as my gustatory sensation is being attacked by various kind of spices.

GCTTB (round 6) tea!

Oddly enough, there was lots of licorice root, no bergamot (earl grey).

Very, vey woody. I like it though, it was an unexpected surprise! Notes of uncrushed fennel seeds, Earthy licorice roots (not sweet though), dirt and minerals, unground anise seed hulls, citrus, and tree dark. it is very interesting and enjoyable, but maybe not well named.

90/100 for flavour, but I was expecting some bergamot. If they renamed it something vaugue, I would rate it much higher.

GCTTB V1

Picked this one as my commute to work tea this morning; I was expecting a whammy of liquorice flavour and actually I was really excited for that because the three “licorice” related ingredients in this blend are all ones I love instead of overly sweet/cloying licorice root. So, you know, more in like with that awesome black licorice flavour I love. The idea of pairing that with bergamot/Earl Grey seemed genius to me! I mean, I love Tiger Tiger ice cream and that’s a pairing of black licorice and orange so it seemed like it’d translate well to tea.

Actually, though, the whole cup is much lighter on all flavours than expected. It was still good, but the licorice was light and definitely a little more on that kind of herbaceous fennel flavour than sweet, candy-like black licorice. As well, I definitely tasted the lemon in the blend but NOT the actual bergamot, which is a pretty key flavour for an Earl Grey. Also, I think the choice of green tea for the base was an interesting one. Honestly this probably would have worked better with black tea but the green tea was pleasant enough – definitely on the buttery/vegetal side with just a touch of smoke flavour to it. Since this is already an unconventional Earl Grey I think that a black base with the licorice related ingredients probably would have conveyed a better flavour while still having some resemblance to common place Earl Grey, however.

So yes, some criticisms. However, it was still a pretty pleasant cuppa and a nice enough first tea of the day. One cup is good enough for me, though.