What Flavour Is Root Beer

The primary flavor found in any old-fashioned homemade root beer recipe is sassafras, a deciduous tree in North America. The characteristic sweet flavor comes from the tree’s roots, giving us the name root beer. Now, the primary flavor we associate with root beer is wintergreen, not sassafras.

What is the taste of the root beer?

Generally, root beer has a palate-pleasing sweet taste. The individual ingredients added to the drink enhance its taste. Sarsaparilla root and sassafras which is the main ingredient gives it a distinctive slight, mint-like and bitter flavor. The bitter taste is bypassed by adding sweeteners.

Are root beer and sarsaparilla the same?

Both beverages are named after their distinct differences in ingredients when they were first made. Sarsaparilla was made from the Sarsaparilla vine, while Root Beer, roots of the sassafras tree. These days, Root Beer recipes do not include sassafras as the plant has been found to cause serious health issues.