Stash Licorice Spice Tea

I haven't bought any Stash tea in a while, but I'd been thinking about it since their attractive new packaging has been catching my eye at the grocery store lately. And because Stash tea was on sale at Kroger over the weekend, that's the brand I tried.

The Licorice Spice herbal tea appealed to me. I like licorice in small doses. If we're together at Easter, I will gladly eat the black jelly beans for you. But I was a little nervous about trying this tea. If it suggested licorice, it would be great. But if it was purely liquid licorice, well … I wasn't so sure about that.

Now I'd be willing to bet at least half of my tea friends are firmly in the just-say-no-to-licorice camp, but for those who like the flavor of licorice, I have to tell you, this herbal tea was awesome! It's really just a spicy, peppery tea, and the warm flavor was exactly the pick-me-up treat I was looking for. It's also naturally sweet enough that it satisfied the sweets craving I was having, and with no sugar added. When I looked at the ingredients, I found that this tea contains licorice root*, cinnamon, orange peel, star anise, vanilla extract, sarsaparilla, orange oil, natural cinnamon flavor, clove bud oil, and cardamom oil. No wonder I found this tea so sweet! (And just as a caution, I should mention that the website notes, "Licorice root is not intended for use during pregnancy and while nursing, or if you have heart disease or high blood pressure.")

So satisfy my curiosity, friends. Licorice—yes or no?