I’ve never tried guarana before so I was a bit hesitant in trying this tea at first but after the first few sips it started to grow on me.
Dry this tea has a definite spicy scent, with lots of cinnamon and ginger. Add in the small hit of sweet licorice as an undertone from the anise seeds, and it becomes a compelling scent that begged me to smell it just one more time.
Brewed it gives a mildly cloudy medium-dark liquor, that has a pronounced black licorice and cinnamon scent to it. The flavor of this reflects it’s smell as the licorice flavor comes through quite strongly with just enough cinnamon and ginger to give it more than that one note. It’s mouth feel is in the middle range for me, lighter than I was expecting given the dark liquor, but not overly rich, with a pleasant tingle left over from the spice. Unfortunately there is one detriment for me, a rather bitter aftertaste that leaves my mouth feeling quite dry. A splash of milk and a touch of raw sugar helps to even this out but it’s still not as nice of a finish as I would like.
Overall a good tea for those days when you need a bit of a “pick-me-up” and are in the mood for something with a bit of cream and sugar but not a must have for me. Well, at least not yet… ;)
