Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Den’s Tea
Tea Description:
This is a new formula of our Mint Iced Green Tea. Two all natural mints, peppermint and spearmint, were cut and blended with Sencha tea leaves. The mint has a relaxing and calming effect and is a great thirst quencher.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh, man, I am LOVING these cold-brew iced teas from Den’s Tea. Yeah, yeah, I know that they’re bagged teas, but, I just love how convenient it is to cold-brew these teas. I just plunk five bags into my half-gallon iced tea pitcher along with a half gallon of freshly filtered, cool water and seal the lid, and stash it in my fridge. The next morning, I have a pitcher full of delicious, refreshing iced tea.
And this Mint Iced Tea from Den’s doesn’t really need anything more than that! No sugar or other sweetener, nothing. It’s got a pleasant sweetness to it without anything more added, and it has a cool, crisp minty taste that adds to the overall refreshment of the glass of iced tea.
The green tea is the strongest flavor, and that’s the way it should be. The green tea tastes vibrant and clean with a sweet, vegetative taste. I like that the mint flavor – a combination of both peppermint and spearmint – is also strong, but it doesn’t overpower the green tea. That happens all too often with mint teas … the mint flavor becomes so dominate that all one can taste is the mint. I drink tea because I like tea, not for the added flavors. The added flavors do add a little something extra, but really, when it comes right down to it, it’s all about the tea for me … and I like that it’s all about the tea with Den’s tea, too.
A very refreshing way to cool off during these hot summer days!
Moroccan Mint from The Boston Tea Company
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: The Boston Tea Company
Tea Description:
Keep on rockin’ with Moroccan! Mint, that is! Try this Chinese Gunpowder variety of long-leaf green tea, hand-rolled to form tiny pellets and blended with fragrant Moroccan Mint leaves. When steeped, the tea leaves unfurl, releasing their delicate flavor which, combined with the mint, makes for a uniquely refreshing cup every time! It’s lovely iced, too!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I love many different types of flavored teas, and I wouldn’t even say that Moroccan Mint is my favorite, but I will say this, I’d be hard-pressed to find a tea that is more refreshing than a Moroccan Mint! The fresh, cool taste of mint combined with the delicate, sweet flavor of a high-quality Chinese gunpowder green tea leaves my palate feeling clean and refreshed while invigorating me from within.
This Moroccan Mint from the Boston Tea Company is splendid! It has the flavor I’ve come to expect from a top-notch Moroccan Mint tea. It’s minty, but not overpoweringly so. It’s sweet and tastes fresh and zesty, and it’s cooling even when served hot (which is how I’m sipping it now).
Before steeping, I poured some of the leaves into my palm, just to get a good look at it. I could see the tiny pellets of the gunpowder tea tossed amongst the bits of mint leaves. I liked that while the mint leaves were broken to uniform size, they were not pulverized into dust and the pellets appeared to be pretty uniform in size and shape too. And – no surprise! – it smelled minty fresh.
While this is delicious hot, it is equally as nice served iced and as I said at the start of this review, it’s easily one of the most refreshing teas out there – something that you’ll want to keep stocked up on as these hot summer days seem to go on and on! This is great for cold-brewing too!
Mint Earl Grey from Red Leaf Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Red Leaf Tea
Tea Description:
Ignite your nostrils with the amazing and captivating aroma of organic mint earl grey tea. The mix of Indian inspired black tea with an Asian inspired mint flair will keep you wanting more of this fabulous tea. Made from bergamot oil, earl grey’s fruit-like flavor blends splendidly with the aromatic and tasteful qualities of mint leaves. With a greenish-blue hue, mint earl grey pleases the eyes as well as the taste buds. The mint stimulates your senses and offers not only its naturally grown freshness but an abundance of essential vitamins. Mint’s satisfying aroma will welcome you and your guests and provide an inviting atmosphere fit for new acquaintances and old friends.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is a very interesting blend, I don’t think I’ve seen another mint flavored Earl Grey before. But then, I shouldn’t be surprised that the one place TO find a Mint Earl Grey is Red Leaf Tea, as they have the most splendid collection of Earl Grey teas I’ve ever seen. If you like Earl Grey and enjoy a different twist on bergamot now and again, you really should check out Red Leaf Tea!
The black tea base is very pleasant and smooth. It has a richness to it and it’s very flavorful, but as black tea bases go, I find it to be pretty mellow. It isn’t trying to overpower the flavors – which in this case is a really good thing because both mint and bergamot tend to be very aggressive flavors – this tea blend is content to sit back in the background and provide a nice base of flavor while the flavors get all the time in the spotlight.
What I’m finding most interesting about this blend is how well the mint and the bergamot play together. They can both be very strong and sometimes selfish flavors – as I eluded to before – but, here they were flavored with an expert hand and neither ingredient seems to be attempting to overthrow the other. It’s a very harmonious combination of flavors.
The mint is not overly minty. The bergamot is not overdone either – this doesn’t taste soapy or perfume-y. The two ingredients seem to soften the sharper tones of each other to create a softer minty tone and a smooth bergamot taste. The result is a very pleasing taste that is just a little bit different. In this case, different is definitely good!
Mojito Mint from Jeeves & Jericho
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Jeeves & Jericho
Tisane Description:
Our Mojito Mint is a bespoke herbal blend. It combines the assertive zing of peppermint with the calming freshness of lemon grass and subtle sweetness of the blossoms.
This delicious, soothing and refreshing brew adds an interesting slant to the more traditionally known peppermint tea. The herbs combined add wonderful digestive and cleansing properties to this fantastically invigorating all day drink.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
Wow! This is a zesty, refreshing cuppa!
The peppermint is strong, and it dominates this cup. However, I like that even though the peppermint is the strongest flavor, it still allows some room for the creamy citrus notes from the lemon grass to shine through.
It is crisp, cool and minty, while at the same time, it has a certain smoothness to it. The lemon grass brightens the cup. Together, these two ingredients offer a taste that is at once invigorating and yet calming, helping to soothe my stomach after eating a spicy chicken salad about an hour ago.
Very refreshing – and tastes great hot or cold! Would make a very nice ice cold beverage at your next picnic!
Wintergreen Woods from David’s Tea
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: David’s Tea
Tisane Description:
Looking to get in touch with nature? Try this outdoorsy blend of wild herbs and plants handpicked in the Canadian wilderness. We swear it’s like drinking a fresh forest breeze. It has wintergreen leaves for a lightly minty taste, cedar and pine for a bright, evergreen aroma, and sumac berries to add tartness and a pretty pink colour. Overall, it’s delicately sweet and totally refreshing. Now that’s a breath of fresh air.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
This is one of the most unusual looking tisanes I’ve yet to come across. It looks a bit more like something that might be blanketing the woods in the summertime: large, whole leaves, pine needles, and berries all tossed together. It smells a bit like the woods too: leafy, evergreen-ish, hints of mint. The aroma is very fresh and lively.
The brewed tisane has a stronger minty kind of fragrance, with mere hints of the woodsy/leafy kind of notes I was experiencing with the dry leaf. The above description suggests a “pretty pink colour” but, my cup has a golden hue, no pink-ish tones to be seen. It’s still quite beautiful though.
The flavor is almost as interesting as the presentation. It is very crisp and exhilarating with its wintergreen minty tones. I like that the wintergreen is not overwhelming here, the way mint can sometimes be. It doesn’t overpower the cup, and if I were to compare it to other minty tisanes, this is actually quite light. Distinctly mint, but, light.
However, the overall cup is on the light side. With no hibiscus to thicken the cup, the leaves, needles and berries create a somewhat softer tasting tisane … but that is NOT a bad thing! In fact, I think David’s Tea should be commended for not jumping on the “hibiscus in every tisane” wagon here, and letting these more delicate herbs speak for themselves rather than being bullied by the often aggressive hibiscus.
The sumac berries are said to offer some tartness to the cup, and they do, but again, the berry-ish flavor is soft … but its soft in keeping with the overall profile of the cup, where it is pretty evenly matched with the other ingredients. The same is true for the cedar and pine, they offer a slight woodsy tone to the overall cup but these flavors marry well with the others, and help to provide a pleasantly balanced tisane that is both refreshing and soothing.
Quite unusual, yes, but also quite enjoyable!