Spearmint Green Tea (Thé Vert à la Menthe)

Had a pot of this tea after rotation today. Tomorrow is my last day of my rotation! Woo! I had a bad day today so the spearmint really perked me up :)

What a fantastic tea mint…not astringent, not bitter with a very present flavour of mint.

The dry leaf perfume is delivering all its promises after steeping.

With a low caffeine level,this is a perfect evening tea.

I should recognize I am very mint tea…and generally very good public for…what is your favourite tea mint ?

The dry leaf smells like the green pack Extra gum. Which is kind of awesome because I love the green pack of Extra gum. The liquid has a few notes of that Extra gum sweetness but there’s a more natural, heavier note in there that kind of settles it down. Surprisingly, I’m looking forward to trying this.

The taste isn’t as sweet as the smell of the dry leaf. The heavier smell in the liquid shows up in the taste more than the sweetness does. The mint is nice – not raw or edgy – and it has a nice sweetness and a good menthol whoosh at the end that balances well with the tea.

Normally, Chinese greens are iffy for me but this one seems to be working well. There is some astringency at the tail end but it isn’t salty/mineral-y and so the astringency is just a stab of fresh-feeling at the end. The green tea’s got a bit of a woodsy flavor that balances the sweet mint nicely. I’m not sure if it’s from the mint or the green tea but there’s also a little spicy flavor to this.

Honestly, not what I was expecting from the Extra gum smell of the dry leaf and that’s a little disappointing. But at the same time, this is a nice, winter-y, cuddly green/mint blend. I was a little concerned about how Kusmi’s green teas would go, especially since a lot of the ones in the sampler are flavored and I have difficulties with flavored greens at times. Not that this is “flavored” (it’s more of a blend, I’d say) but still. This is pretty tasty so I’m a bit less concerned about the other greens I have to sample (well, except the Green Bouquet which I am fearing will be like Bouquet of Flowers No. 108 which was… not good.)

Anyway, I’m not sure if I would make a Kusmi order to get this tea specifically but since I do like having a mint tea around (nice for those allergy-induced stuffy days) I could see selecting this one to be the one I choose if I’m going to be ordering from Kusmi (and face it, with Caramel, St. Petersburg and Troika, I will be ordering from them decently often) and I am out of something minty.

Some of the dry loose leaf looks like a gunpowder-type. The pre-steep/dry leaf scent is fairly mild. As it’s infusing it smells like moss and mint.

I’m typing this as it steeps…dum-dee-dum…dah-dee-dah…

It’s COLD here today…about 16 degrees. We got like 2 feet of snow yesterday/last night…ICE and windy. At the office the pressure flow to the heater isn’t up to par so it’s cold in here too!!! ZOINKS!

Anyhow…I think this tea will be good for multiple infusions based on the leaves after the first infusion. If I like this tea…I will put it to the test shortly!

As I look into the cup – the liquid is a little murky but it’s a tannish-light brown with orange hue. Doesn’t really smell like much tho.

The taste is evenly spearmint AND Green Tea…it’s refreshing and not over the top minty so if you are afraid of a lot of mint – try this…

I gave my private stash of this to one of my friends.
Mostly to keep the 1 kg tea law about taking tea into Greenland. Yeah there is a law.
If I take to much tea and get discovered – I get a ticket, the pay-you-stupid-criminal-kind, a warning and people thinking that I smuggle things across the border. And since I travel quite a bit, I don’t ever cross the 1 kg tea law. The security itself is quite tiring!

So, my friend got this.
but I love it, and I have to buy it sometime… It’s one of the better Kusmi-blend.
Green tea and mint. Fresh.

This is probably the only mint tea I’ve ever had that’s had any of the freshness you’d expect from a product containing mint. The spearmint must make all the difference here, and instead of that usual weedy, bitter, dull flavour, there’s a fresh, clean mint taste with a backdrop of grassy, non-bitter green tea. The mint flavour is a very pure one, a “straight from the leaf” taste. I’m taken aback by some of the average reviews Kusmi has had. I’ve found the brand pretty reliably good so far, and that’s relying on the tea bag set I got, so the quality I’m tasting probably isn’t even the best they have to offer. Surprisingly (given that in Be Cool it’s peppermint and here it’s spearmint) the mint flavor is kind of reminiscent of that in Be Cool, but the green tea makes it less in-your-face minty. Since I’ve found a number of minty teas average at best in the past, I’m shocked that I’ve found this one so well carried out. If you’ve disliked mint teas in the past, I’d recommend sampling this one. It has the downside of not being caffeine free like pure mint teas are, but I’ve found the combination of the mint and green here really works.

This tea’s flavour was really set off with just a little sweetener, but I had the first two cups of it with none, and that worked, too. I also tried it iced, and that surprisingly clean, refreshing flavour it has is much more conducive to serving cold than the usual (and frankly off putting) taste of mint teas. It was very refreshing. It wold go especially well with some fresh mint and lemon or lime juice/zest. Vodka could also work if it’s that kind of moment for you. Like all of the Kusmi products I’ve used, I’ve successfully re-steeped this. I don’t know how well it’d work if you were more anal about the correct steeping time than I am (and by “more anal,” I pretty much mean at all concerned about taking the tea bags out before it cools), you might not have as much luck getting this much flavour out again.

Overall, I don’t really know why some people have had negative things to say about Kusmi. Maybe it’s because it’s more of a “trendy,” image-conscious kind of brand than others, and tea purists might frown on the flavours. It may also be expensive compared to what one would pay for other brands (honestly, I don’t think much about this. If it looks/smells/sounds good, I’ll buy it), but to me, it’s a tolerable 75 euro cents per cup (at the more expensive rate that comes with using bags) and I haven’t been truly disappointed by a single flavour yet. I’m no tea expert, but to me, that’s a win. Admittedly, I might change my mind when I’ve tried some more premium-type teas, since I’ve mostly used supermarket brands up until now, but I’m pretty satisfied.

Got a single teabag of this as a sample with my Kusmi order. Wouldn’t mind one more to try it again in more controlled circumstance. Making it at work didn’t result in a likeable cup.

Was very grassy, and the mint had the “wet washrag” taste I’ve referred to before, that I get with some herbs.

I love spearmint, so I was very much looking forward to trying it out of my Kusmi Tea Essentials box. I was blown away by the smell when I opened the bag — it smells sweet and spearminty and, just like another person commented, it really does smell like spearmint gum. It’s a sweet and delicate mint smell.

It tastes more like green tea than spearmint, although the mint flavor is present. The taste is different from what I was expecting — it’s very mild. I like this tea, but I have not made up my mind about whether I will order more. I’m enjoying my Essentials box so much that I may just buy another one of that…

EDIT: I steeped it longer the second time I used the bag and the mint flavor really came out. It didn’t get bitter even though I left the bag in!

je vais dire quelque chose sur ce the en un seul mot : simple.
ce the est simplement a la menthe est c’ est ca que j’ aime sur ce the

Hum, spearminty!
Not the best green tea I’ve ever had, but I like spearmint, and this is a very refreshing blend. Also, it works great in the kitchen: my regular chicken stew became a somewhat lovely exotic chicken stew with the help of a few tea leaves.