Not My Cup of Tea... (Good Earth Organic Cool Mint Herbal Tea)

Member Name: carcraig

Product:	Good Earth Organic Cool Mint Herbal Tea
Date:	05/11/08 (419 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Organic. Caffeine Free.

Disadvantages: Bitter smell. Expensive.

Background

I hold my hands up on this one. I only bought this product because of the 100 extra Tesco Clubcard points I earned by doing so. As that equated to £4 towards our next weekend away at a Marriott Hotel, I reckoned I was quids in.

I'm such a tight-wad, ahem, I mean careful with money, that I would never spend £1.89 on 18 teabags ordinarily.


So What Are They?

Individually wrapped, organic, caffeine-free herbal teabags.

Ingredients: Organic peppermint (44%), organic spearmint (35%), organic green rooibos, chicory root, organic nutmeg, organic elderberry, natural organic flavour, natural organic mint flavour.

The packaging promises "A Breath of Fresh Air for Mind, Body and Soul"


The Science

* Peppermint - Believed to help upset stomachs and ease stomach pains associated with IBS. It also helps promote belching (nice!)
* Spearmint - Also believed to help with stomach aches when used in tea
* Rooibos - (More commonly known as red tea and very popular in South Africa.) Believed to relieve digestive difficulties, allergies and nervous tension.
* Chicory Root - Used as a natural sweetener
* Nutmeg - Used in traditional medicine to treat illnesses related to the nervous and digestive systems.
* Elderberry - I couldn't find any medicinal references for the elderberry, however the Elder Tree is supposed give protection from witches and ward off evil....

(Some of these facts have been gleaned courtesy of Wikipedia)


Stick the Kettle On

Nothing complicated in preparation, stick on teabag in a mug with boiling water for three minutes. Sweeten to taste.

The teabags come with a string so it is easy to hoick the bag out of your mug after the prescribed brewing time.

Instructions are also given on the packaging to make iced tea. (Make tea, let it go cold...)


Sup Up

The smell of these teabags is the over-riding memory. There is a bitter smell which I suspect is the chicory. This, for me, was too strong and detracted from the freshness of the mint.

The taste is pleasant enough, the mint just about cuts through the bitterness. I couldn't detect the presence of the nutmeg or the elderberry.

I didn't find this tea as refreshing as my usual brand of peppermint tea. I didn't detest it, but it was not as enjoyable as ordinary (cheaper) peppermint tea.

I still used all the teabags (because I just can't abide waste) so they really weren't all that bad. I can happily report that I did not detect any increased belching after drinking the tea either.


Organic v Environmental

The organic credentials for this product are quite impressive, the teabags themselves are unbleached and the packaging itself is a 100% recycled carton, 60% post-consumer material.

However, the product is also imported from the United States of America so I guess that is not so good as far as the carbon footprint is concerned.


Other Information

www.goodearth.com (where you can learn everything you could ever want to know about the company, tea, teabags and their extensive range of teas)
Imported by Tetley GB Limited
My box (bought a couple of months ago) has a Best Before Date of 24 November 2009
Price £1.89 for 18 teabags in Tesco (Spotted on special for £1 recently though)
Can also be bought direct from the Good Earth website but considerably more expensive


(This review has been previously published on Ciao by me under the same username carcraig)

Summary: Organic & caffeine free - but expensive and not as palatable as bog-standard peppermint tea