Mint Fields (Organic)

First of all, I want to mention how pretty the sachet is! It’s round, super-fine mesh with white thread stitching all the way around, hemmed by a sewing machine the way you’d sew the bottom of a shirt. Also, there is a very generous amount of dried herbs in it. Maybe around three teaspoons.

The aroma is lovely and clean as it steeps. Minty with a bit of lemon. It’s oddly soothing just from the smell, which is dominated by spearmint. Originally, I planned to steep it for four minutes, but the tea grew dark quicker than I expected, so I stopped it at three. This turned out to be a good decision.

The flavor leaves my mouth tingling and cool. Again, spearmint is the main thing I taste, but the peppermint gives it depth and an almost savory aftertaste. The lemon balm is in the finish, adding a note of freshness that reminds me of my mom’s garden when I was a child. It makes me want to grow all three of these in my balcony garden this spring… maybe I will!

Backlogging. I had some of this at Spirit Rock Meditation Center on Saturday, where I spent Earth Day with my charming guy. I don’t often go for straight up peppermint as it can be too strong for me and can give me heartburn. I appreciated the mint blend here along with the lemon balm, it made for a nice refreshing after lunch tisane. Republic of Tea often disappoints me but I rather liked this. I also appreciate the fact that it’s organic. May need to pick some of this up at the grocery store…

There was a brief period, several years ago, when I obsessively drank peppermint tea (Celestial Seasonings, I believe) out of the mistaken belief that I could not get the tea I really wanted (RoT’s Ginseng Peppermint, which for some reason I thought they’d quit making). I soon bored of this and went back to the old tried-and-true gallons of soda.

Drinking this tea brought me back to that. It’s a really nice tea, with solid, delicious mint flavor and full body. Alas, it also reminds me of why I dropped my previous short-lived tea obsession—mint tea alone gets pretty boring, at least for me. I think I like slightly more varied blends. That said, however, this is a really nice, smooth tea. I could see myself buying a tin, but it would probably take me a while to go through it. If you like plain mint tea, you’ll probably like this one.

This is a nice mellow cup of mint tea. It’s not a blast of peppermint, which I actually prefer sometimes, it also has spearmint and lemon balm to give it a rounded almost grassy base. If I’m not in the mood for a pure peppermint hit but I still want something minty this is a good alternative, it is minty in a much gentler fashion.

I am a big believer in mint teas, since I have long-suffered from digestive problems. Mint tea is one of the best, all-natural cures for upset stomach, and this mint tea is my favorite because there is no caffeine to irritate the stomach lining (which I have found problematic with other mint teas). This tea also brews a great summer iced tea, and I often pair it with Celestial Seasonings’ Tension Tamer Herb Tea for a soothing iced tea.

The only negative I would note about this tea is that it comes in a 36-teabag tin, as opposed to the Republic of Tea’s standard 50-teabag tin.

I ordered a set of Christmas teas from the Republic of Tea, and they sent a sample of this. Since I enjoy peppermint tea in the evenings I decided to brew it last night. It was a nice cup. Mild, with just a hint of astringency at the end of the sip. It doesn’t stand out from other peppermint teas I’ve enjoyed. I won’t add this to a future order, but I would gladly drink it again. So I am giving it a decent rating of 73.

Predominantly spearmint. Can’t really taste anything else. As spearmint teas go, this one’s pretty good.

This one is another cupboard staple for me. Relatively inexpensive and available most of the time at my grocery store make it a standby. We’ve called it “tummy tea” for years, and it’s perfect for when there’s a little indigestion or sour stomach. That having been said, it’s also nice on its own. It’s mild but distinctly minty, with just a little softening from the lemon balm. A little sweetener brings out the flavors immensely. It’s one of the few teas my kids will drink, as well. This one is very comforting to us – it’s mild but still has plenty of flavor, without that in-your-face mint jolt many mint teas have.

This one wasn’t minty enough. Or spearminty. (I love spearmint more than mint.) And there was an odd grassy flavor which I’m guessing was the lemon balm. There wasn’t anything too lemony about it either.

This was a free sample that came with my Republic of Tea catalog. I’m not a big fan of mint tea on its own, but I decided to try it last night in the hope of easing a sour stomach. I sweetened it with honey instead of my usual sugar. It wasn’t too bad. In fact, it was tolerable. Most of the mint teas I’ve ever tried were always too strong when they weren’t mingled with a black tea, but this was nice and mild. When I say this, I mean it didn’t smell as though it would peel paint from the wall.