Licorice Twist

Thank you TeaFairy for this Sample!

TeaFairy made a note on the packet that says “wierd taste but good if you have a sore throat”. Eeks! I don’t have a sore throat so maybe I should be afraid!

My dad loved black licorice candy. He got the worst kind available that tasted like soap and Sen Sen breath little squares that…blech…he must have KNOWN my brother and I would never, never try to steal! Ever! He was right! I was hoping this tea was not going to be a similar experience.
The tea brews up deep gold but not very fragrant. It does not smell like licorice.
Hum.
One sip…warm in the mouth not from the water, but a heat from an ingredient which may be the Ginger or Chili. I can taste Licorice and Anise and a little Fennel…which together is pleasing. There is heat, like I said, and a coolness from Mint. Altogether, not what I thought the tea was going to taste like…and naturally sweet. I don’t think you should be afraid to try this tea unless you want to avoid the Chili. There is a kickin spicy finish.
I think DT could have gone further with the Anise. The Licorice is tame for true Licorice lovers. You could add some more Anise yourself though.

Aha Moment! When you’re sick…adding honey and lemon is soothing…so, what would this taste like?
I tried the tea that way and…WOW! A great improvement on the flavor!!! Is this what was intended in the first place? Licorice Twist, Wildflower Honey, Lemon! Fantastic!

Thanks TeaFairy!

Soft sweetness that blooms into a full licorice sweet twinge that fills the mouth. I’m usually sensitive to cardamom, but in this tisane it seems to be blended in quite well with the other spices.
I can taste the peppermint at the beginning of the sip. The ginger, cardamom and chili seem to give it a bit of a zip factor. I cannot detect any pineapple flavor. Thin mouth-feel. After-taste is licorice-sweet with a bit of spiciness.

I would probably prefer if there weren’t so many ingredients but I feel that they are very well-blended together. I wouldn’t say that all the flavours compliment the licorice but make for a very interesting tasting experience.

As the tea cools, I detect a thicker mouth-feel.

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

Thanks to BoxerMama for this sample.

I love licorice root! There, I said it!

Having said that, this tea is OK. Not something I’d buy, there are way too many other flavors in there with the licorice, but something to sample in the evening when I really don’t need to add any more caffeine to my day. I have another early gig tomorrow, gotta leave the house by 6:15 again. I want to turn on my AX, but ‘you know who’ will start jamming & next thing you know, it will be midnight, or later!

This really does taste a lot like licorice. I bought way too much of this, but it’s not the end of the world as it is enjoyable.

Each sip just creeps up on you: warm water, licorice, this crazy numbing mouthfeel that makes me feel like I’m sucking on licorice candy instead of drinking tea…

It’s definitely a step up from Stash’s licorice tea, which is all the licorice tea experience that I’ve had so far. I may up my rating as I empty my tin, but there is an odd spicy aftertaste I’m not sure about.

WHOA! First sip made me feel like I got punched in the mouth with licorice. It was SUPER sweet and slowly took over my whole mouth. By the end of the cup my throat felt weird and so did my stomach. My husband loves it though.

I love black licorice. When I was little, one of my best friends was from Holland, and she would share her “double salt” black licorice….an acquired taste, but I came to love them! Now, I love also love the sweeter twizzlers, the all sorts mix…..licorice…..I like it.

This tea was one of my first purchases. I dug it out of the cupboard, looking for something decaf on Sunday night. It smells “herb-y”…. This worries me, but the first sip is good…..strong sweet powerful licorice flavor….it’s spicey too, with ginger, cloves…..but the licorice is the predominant taste…..it stays in your mouth like a black hard candy…..not bad……sweet, you don’t need to add a thing…….perfect for late evening sipping, sweet strong and satisfying…….I think it is out of stock at the moment……hope it comes back, I would re-buy…..a good choice for licorice lovers…..

I am not a fan of licorice. I really haven’t figured out why. I think that this tea is OK though, nothing too special.

To me this tea reminds me too much of Bravissimo, I find that there isn’t too much of a difference between the two.

There is a nice sweet after taste that is very cool and soothing. I really enjoy that aspect of the tea, other than that, I can’t really taste anything else in the tea.

I love the many layers of this tea. It starts out warm at the tip of your tongue, gives a little spicy kick, and then transforms into the sweet licorice flavor that lingers at the back of the tongue for a little while.

I’m just reviewing this now because at first I did not really like it. It was very intense initially and spicy, which put me off a bit. I then decided to give it another go with the following changes: reduced the steep time from 7 to 4 minutes, then added 6 or so spearmint leaves to try and level out the spiciness with some in-between sweet (I found it was initially spicy, then the aftertaste was extremely licorice, without any nice in-between flavours to balance.. therefore I tried more mint to fill in the gap!) Then one last change was to add 1tsp of brown sugar in 4 cups of tea. These changes worked wonderfully and now I really enjoy this tea!

Dry: Beautiful, fine bright red pieces mixed with pretty tan. Very spicy smell. Burns a little actually.. (Don’t smell too hard. It might make you sneeze)
Liquor (with the changes): Delicious and mild in the initial tastes, but builds in deep complexity towards the end of the mouthful. Licorice really appears in the end as a great aftertaste (though too strong when steeped too long for me). It’s a great late night sipping tea.
Overall, this is a nice tea that I enjoy. I may stock up eventually if I run out. Probably as it really does taste like licorice and would be fabulous for a wicked cold (though I don’t get those often..)
Oh! Also… you can potentially get many steeps out of this tea if you keep the times low. I am onto my second steep and it’s just as strong, though more delicious, then before.

I love a good licorice tea so I bought this one, despite it’s rather bland scent. The first sip was kind of a disappointment, it was kind of like watered down licorice, but not too bad. Then the fennel kicked me in the taste buds and there was a swirl of delicious flavors!! It was so good I enjoyed two 16oz mugs in a row!!

I don’t like black licorice candy, but I love licorice root in my herbal teas so I was very eager to try this new tea from David’s Tea.

The overall flavour profile reminds me of the original Vata Ayurvedic tea David’s used to carry 3 years ago (not the current one with the rose petals and chamomile in it), which in my opinion was the Vata Organic from Tea Gschwendner. The licorice flavour is actually quite subtle in this tea, but the anise and fennel compliment it quite nicely. The chili pepper is an interesting addition and adds a gentle kick to this. The mint is very subtle and I certainly can’t detect any pineapple. I prefer a stronger licorice flavour so I use 2 heaping teaspoons when I brew this.

If you believe in traditional Chinese medicine, this is a “hot” beverage, and too much of this would definitely through your “balance” off.

I am a big fan of Licorice Tea so I was super excited to try a licorice tea by my favorite tea company.
I sneezed when I first opened the pouch which for me is a good sign because it was just so overwhelmingly licorice-y.
The taste is incredible like an average licorice tea but with a very appealing edges of anise and fennel.
Has a very spicy smell that just wakes up all your senses.
it definitely could cure a cold with its spicy heated taste.
Perfect for cold days and late nights.
Not for the faint of heart.

I don’t know what it is, but I love this tea. It has this great lingering aftertaste that’s not too light, but not harsh either. Definitely don’t steep it too long, because the spices come out too much, but properly steeped, this tea is a delight to behold.
Do, however, keep in mind that I love licorice teas :-)

This was definitely not the tea for me. The first time I tried it I was sick with a horrid cold, and I didn’t mind it. I love black licorice and there was enough of the flavour in the tea for me to be content.

Now that I’m healthy I revisited the tea and was overpowered by the combination of the flavours. If you’re a fan of licorice or anise teas, you’re going to love this one. But if you’re like me and only like the candy, I’d give this one a pass.

Interesting.

I have a sore throat, so I opted to try and treat it with this tea. It was a suggestion after all.

I love black licorice candy and was really excited to receive this one. When I opened the package and smelled it dry, I was underwhelmed. I hastily dumped it into a tea tin and shoved it to the back of my tea cupboard to be drunk at a later date.

I brewed this tea by boiling the water and then steeping for five minutes. Since I have an uber-sweet tooth, I was tempted to add sugar straightaway. Thank goodness I didn’t. I opted instead to taste it on it’s own first and was pleasantly surprised. The initial taste wasn’t sweet, but all of a sudden the anise struck me on the back of my tongue and throat—SWEETNESS! I was so happy I even interrupted my husband from doing yardwork to tell him about it.

The initial smell was a little like freshly mown grass, after letting it sit a little I smelled a little bit of chamomile. Also, after letting it sit a bit I also tasted a bit more of the spiciness.

Overall, this is a really nice tea and I’m glad I have it. The lower marks are due to its lackluster dry smell.

It’s a funny thing. I can’t stand black licorice, but I love licorice and anise teas. Add mint, and I’m sold. This was a winner for me, and I’ll enjoy it throughout the winter months. The additional spices help to give it a unique taste, and the smell is great.

I don’t worry about over-steeping this, as it tastes good to me no matter how long it’s steeped for.

Only for licorice tea lovers.

In my opinion this tea tastes much better than it smells. The smell of the leaves before they are steeped was so overpoweringly spicey that I was a bit hesitant at first, but it steeps much softer and sweeter. What’s most interesting about this tea is the strange sweet aftertaste that lingers in the back of your throat after you swallow. I just love it. The fennel and ginger really come through after the first few sips, once you’ve gotten used to the sweetness of the licorice. I find fennel to be very comforting. This is a lovely “snowed in” and “getting a cold” tea. Very relaxing and warming. A lovely and tasty alternative to the traditional gingery “sick tea”.

This tea is so strongly flavored that it’s almost undrinkable. I like licorice, but this is far far too sweet. I gave the rest of it to my friend, hopefully she likes it!

This is a lovely tea. It’s got a nice sweet aftertaste. Perfect for a post-dinner cuppa.