Peppermint Punch in the Mouth (Tetley Peppermint Punch)

Member Name: nereesa85

Product:	Tetley Peppermint Punch
Date:	03/02/06 (458 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Stronger flavour than other brands of Peppermint tea

Disadvantages: Gives you the Furry Tongue Syndrome

A couple of months ago at my local Tesco store I saw a new addition to the range of flavoured teas. Now my local Tesco store is tiny, so tiny that I bet it's the smallest Tesco in Britain! As a result there's not much room on the shelves for new brands or products. When one does come along it HAS to be worth trying.

Tetley's Fruit and Herbal are a range of 12 different fruit flavoured teas. You can buy:

Assam
Earl Grey
Earl Grey and Vanilla
English Breakfast
Camomile Smile
Orange and Peach
Peppermint Punch
Summer Berry Merry
Sweet Cranberry
Green Tea Decaf

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The Company
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As with many companies Tetley recognises that its consumers are becoming increasingly concerned with the environment, fair trade and public rights. These beliefs obviously affect their spending habits. I myself feel more inclined to buy a certain brand of product if I know that it has been produced in a responsible manner, by a company that supports these beliefs.

Now as I mentioned in my last review, Tetley helped to found and are proud members of the ETP (Ethical Tea Partnership). This ensures that the tea which they sell is produced in a socially responsible and fair manner.
Tetley are also concerned about their impact on the environment. As a result, in recent years Tetley have taken steps to reduce waste, reduce the negative impact of their waste, reducing the energy they use (not just in the factories but in their nice cosy offices too!) and they are also looking at packaging, production machines and shipping methods.

I know they're only doing what other big businesses are doing and that they're concerned about sales. BUT who cares??? If at the end of the day all companies adopt these attitudes in order to remain in business, the world will be a better place!

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The Product
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The tea bags come in a cardboard tube. It's is not unlike the small sized Pringles tubes. It's the same shape and size. The lid is made of a well fitting blue plastic which gives you the air tightness to keep the tea fresh. This means that you won't have to transfer the tea bags into a tea caddy and the tubes stack on top of one another nicely in a cupboard to save space. You get 20 bags in a tube for the small price of 79p

The colour and pictures on the packaging depends entirely on the flavour of tea. It's worth pointing out that most of the different flavour's packaging is in contrasting colours. This way if you do buy more than one flavour, you won't pick up the wrong tub by accident!

The Peppermint Punch is mainly pale blue with a darker blue rectangle on the front. The rectangle contains the Tetley logo at the top. Underneath this is a gold strip with Fruit & Herbal printed in blue and then, in larger text, "Peppermint Punch. Just in case you hadn't already guessed by looking at the pics of fresh mint leaves stuck all over! The rest of the tube is a nice relaxing pale blue colour with the usual contact details, nutritional info etc printed in small blue print.

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The Taste Test
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So far I have only tried the Peppermint Punch and Summer Berry Merry flavours. I usually buy Twinings Flavoured teas but Tetley's versions are cheaper. I found that I enjoyed the Summer Berry Merry more than Twinings Raspberry Strawberry Loganberry. The flavours were similar to each other but Tetley's version tasted less bitter. Therefore I was keen to compare my usual Pure Peppermint (Twinings) to Peppermint Punch (Tetley).

You make them in the same way you would normal tea. Boil the kettle, put the bag in your mug and add the boiled water. Leave the bag to stew for a while and squeeze it out before chucking it in the bin. That's it. If you want to cool it down add cold water, not milk. If you want to sweeten it then it's better to add honey rather than sugar. I think sugar spoils the flavour. To improve the flavour

I still had some of the Twinings version left so I did a little taste test yesterday. I'm sorry Tetley but Twinings beats you guys hands down on the Peppermint front!
They both taste Peppermint flavoured; there's no doubt about that. However Tetley's leaved a film coating all over my mouth. I have to go and brush my teeth or at least have a drink of water afterwards. It's not refreshing or relaxing at all and the bad aftertaste is very off putting.

Tetley's version looks darker, blacker than dark green. Whereas Twining's is a murky green colour. So I figured that Tetley's version must be stronger. So I tried again, this time without squeezing the Tetley's bag as much. Still no improvement. I did notice that it tasted nicer but the whole feeling as if I have "morning mouth syndrome" is still there! (You know, when you wake up and your mouth feels dry and grimy and yucky!)
If you don't squeeze the bag properly then the peppermint flavour becomes more like hot water with a hint of peppermint! So it's not worth buying. If you like Peppermint flavoured teas, I wouldn't bother trying these. They cost less than some other brands but they're no where near as nice as my usual brand.
Adding honey to sweeten it does not improve the filminess at all. I've given the rest to my mum to enjoy. I would have tried them as another "weesow tea" drink for my brother but even with honey I know he'll spit it out. Knowing my luck I'll be in the firing line when he does!!!

The only thing they contain is Peppermint. There are no other herbs or fruits added to try which is what they did with the Summer Berry Merry. As with all flavoured teas they are good for somebody who wants to live a caffeine and additive free diet. My mum loves them but I think that they would be better suited to people who actually don't mind dry mouth syndrome. "It's obviously one of those ACQUIRED tastes", she says! Well I'm not acquiring that one thanks!

Summary: In short I hate these things. The flavour is fine, it's the film in the mouth that's the problem.