Facts about Licorice Tea

Licorice tea has two ingredients - white tea and licorice flavoring. There are many variations of these ingredients. Let me explain. First the licorice flavoring for licorice tea comes from two sources star anise or licorice root. Extracts from the licorice root have a stronger licorice flavor and is cheaper to use. The milder star anise is used whole and produces a milder licorice tea. Secondly, white tea is mainly grown in four areas Sri Lanka (Ceylon), India, Japan and China. The flavor varies slightly from each area. To further compound this there are three types of white tea.

White tea Is categorized by which leaves are plucked and utilized for each tea type. They are Silver Needle, White Pony and Longevity Eyebrow. Silver Needle is the most cherished of the three only the young bud is harvested for this rare brew. White Pony includes one additional leaf with the bud. Longevity Eyebrow includes two leaves. The leaves included are very young not completely opened and still covered with fine silvery white hairs. The tea is named "white tea" because of the presence of these hairs. What we have so far is four growing areas, each with three tea types or twelve individual unique teas. Then we have the two licorice flavoring options which gives us 24 combinations of licorice tea.

So how does one choose a licorice tea? The answer comes from personal taste preferences. I will share mine and maybe you will gain some insight to help guide you. I have two favorites. I drink Darjeeling tea with licorice root extract for my hot tea in winter. Darjeeling tea comes from India and has a slightly more robust muscatel flavor. I also choose the stronger licorice root extract because I like my winter tea to have power and really enliven my senses. This blend opens my sinuses, awakens my taste buds and warms my insides. For me this is an ideal beverage for those gray days of winter. My other licorice tea is quite the opposite.

I love iced licorice tea to quench my thirst all summer long. For this I prefer Ceylon white tea and star anise. Ceylon white is very light with a hint of honey flavor to it. Blended with the sweet milder licorice flavor of star anise, I have a tea that is both invigorating and refreshing. I enjoy this iced tea very much and love the fact that it is sweet enough on its own, without added sugar. Another wonderful fact is caffeine builds up as tea leaves mature. Since the leaves used for white tea are so young there caffeine content is less than that of green tea and about 1/3 that of black tea.

One quick note, before I close, white tea has wonderful health benefits associated with it. Antioxidants are highest in white tea, they break down some in green and significantly more in black tea. These antioxidants aid the body in many ways, increasing its production of interferon, which fights viruses. They have positive effects on the circulatory system. There has been much research on how beneficial tea consumption is. So, if you are not partial to licorice tea, like me, I still suggest that you ad white tea to your diet. There are many other flavors to choose from since white tea is so ideal for flavoring.