Loose-leaf mint tea blends
Mint tea has a fresh, cool flavour with a light sweetness under the sharp peppermint. Pure mint tea is naturally caffeine-free, so a cup works at any time of day; a blend with green or black tea does contain caffeine, so check the ingredients on the product page. Pour freshly boiled water over the leaves, let them steep for a few minutes and add a drop of honey if you like.
What is in mint tea?
Mint tea is made from the dried leaves of the mint plant, usually peppermint or spearmint. Our loose mint tea is freshly packaged, so the leaves keep their aroma until you open the pack. Besides pure mint you will also come across blends, where mint is mixed with other herbs or with green tea. The product page of each tea lists what is in the pack, so you can see at a glance whether it is pure mint or a blend. You can make mint tea from a few sprigs of fresh mint too, but dried leaves give a stronger, more even flavour and keep far longer.
Pure mint or a blend?
Pick pure mint if you want a caffeine-free cup in the evening or after dinner: the taste is clean and cool. A blend with green tea has more body and a little caffeine, so it is closer to a regular cup of tea. Blends with other herbs are softer and rounder, which helps if pure peppermint is too sharp for you.
What does mint tea taste like?
Mint tastes fresh and cool, with a light, sweet undertone and a sharp peppermint edge. How strong it is depends on the type of mint, how fresh the leaves are and how much you use. Peppermint is the sharpest and coolest of the two; spearmint is softer and a little sweeter. In a blend with green tea the mint sits on a lightly grassy base, which gives a rounder cup.
How to brew loose mint tea
For pure mint, use freshly boiled water. Put a heaped teaspoon of leaves per cup in an infuser or a teapot, pour over the water and let it steep for a few minutes. Mint does not turn bitter as quickly as black tea, so a longer steep simply gives a stronger, cooler cup. Loose leaves need room to move, so use a roomy infuser or put them straight in the pot and pour through a strainer. Add a drop of honey or a slice of lemon if you like it sweeter or brighter.
A blend with green tea needs a gentler hand: let the kettle stand for a few minutes after it boils and keep the steep shorter, otherwise the green tea turns bitter. For a cold drink, brew the tea a little stronger than usual, let it cool and pour it over ice.
Keeping mint tea fresh
The aroma of mint fades once a pack has been open for a while. Keep the leaves in a tin or a sealed jar, away from light and heat, and apart from your other teas: mint passes its scent on to anything stored next to it.
Buy mint tea at Café du Jour
Choose a mint tea from this category, or look further in our herbal tea and green tea ranges. For infusers, teapots and strainers, see our tea equipment, and for everything else the full tea range.