Pure peppermint - nothing like polos or toothpaste!! (Twinings Peppermint Tea)

Member Name: lonestarsky

Product:	Twinings Peppermint Tea
Date:	10/11/08 (76 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Aids digestion, refreshing, good for nausea, healthy alternative to tea/coffee

Disadvantages: tea doesn't look very pleasant

I love green teas and herbal teas. I started drinking them over five years ago and now rarely deviate back to black tea or coffee. Peppermint tea is one of my favourites as I sometimes suffer from indigestion, which was the main reason I started drinking it. Its also good if you have an upset stomach. But overall its a lovely refreshing drink, ideal for any time.


PACKAGING/PRODUCT
Twinings teabags come in a rectangular cardboard box, which I love because I prefer products with minimal packaging and this is easily recycled. The box has the ingredients, nutritional information, brewing instructions and benefits of drinking tea. The box is relatively sturdy and has a flip-lid so is robust enough to hold your teabags until they're done. There are 20 bags in the box and the net weight is 40g. There is a best before date but my current box has a BBD of Sep 2009 so they last a while.

Twinings peppermint tea is caffeine free and sugar free.


PRICE
They're available from most supermarkets and price ranges from about £1.00 to £1.30 depending on which one you buy them from.


INGREDIENTS/NUTRITIONAL INFO
The only ingredient is peppermint. Pure and simple, which is another reason I like it. Nutrition wise they have 0.3g carbs but only a trace of everything else. Peppermint is cited as an excellent digestion aid and I do find that it eases indigestion after a heavy meal. Infact I like to drink it after meals even if I don't have indigestion as it seems to have a soothing effect anyway. Due to this effect, its also a good tea to drink if you're feeling sick as it calms your stomach.

It is reputedly helpful for people that have IBS or other bowel problems. I can't vouch for this personally but I could quite believe it as it has solved other digestive complaints for me.


BREWING
Instructions on the box say one bag per person brewed in freshly boiled water. The bag should be left to infuse for 2-3 minutes according to taste. Honey can be added to sweeten and the tea can be drunk hot or cold. It should be drunk without milk.

I tend to fill the mug 3 quarters with boling water then top up with cold as its too hot to drink straight away otherwise. I like the strong taste so i leave the bag in until I've finished the tea. The easiest thing to do is experiment with strengths to find out how you prefer it.

When brewed, the tea is an unattractive brown colour but don't let that put you off!!

I don't add honey as I find it sweet enough, and I've never tried it cold so not sure what it would be like. It doesn't appeal to me to be honest, I like my tea hot!


TASTE
It has a pleasant refreshing minty flavour but not like toothpaste/mint sweets. Its a milder, more natural flavour and if you're like me, you'll grow to prefer the flavour of peppermint tea over mint sweets. Its a nice drink to take in the mornings as it freshens your mouth. If you like peppermint in general, then you'll probably like this tea.



ALTERNATIVES
I don't tend to like cheaper versions of mint tea, although Lidl make quite a good one. If you want to be adventurous you can brew your own tea with just mint leaves and hot water. I've done this a couple of times and can highly recommend it but it takes a while to brew and is more of a hassle. Twinings Pure Peppermint is as close as you can get to the real thing.

Summary: A refreshing and soothing alternative to tea or coffee