Perfectly Mint (Formerly Plantation Mint)

I found this at work, so I thought I would give it a try. A mild spearmint flavor, but not nearly as good as Numi Moroccan Mint. Rather bland. I tried steeping longer, and while I could feel the menthol numbing my tongue a little, the tea was not flavorful.

This is a nice, smooth tea with a sweet minty flavor. I usually like to mix my own black teas with spearmint or peppermint, but sometimes a bag is just easier. This is comparable to what I would blend myself – the mint is strong, but not overpowering.

It was getting close to bedtime when I decided I wanted a hot cup of tea to settle down on. I wanted something light on caffeine, like this one good can of green tea from Andrew&Dunham that I drink. The problem lies in how I feel pressured to re-steep and get as much out of it as I can(I bought it out of a set of three cans for twenty-five dollars, and this college student has not much to spend on tea with). Since I was going to bed soon, it seemed inefficient to make only one cup of it. In the back of my tea caddy sat an ignored box of Bigelow’s Plantation Mint. It was given to me by my sister sometime late last year, and it would be easy enough to put together. So I gave it a shot.

While most bagged teas yield a high amount of particles in the water, the liquor was exceptionally clear. I attribute this to the deliberate shredding techniques that Bigelow uses in preparing their tea. Whereas a tea company like Lipton uses the dust, or fannings, sifted from regular tea leaves, Bigelow simply shreds it all and sends that to the stores. As expected, the aroma was strong with spearmint.

A few initial sips allowed me to get a hint of the tea flavor. No bitterness or astringency to be found, but the mint coated my tongue with a slightly metallic flavor, probably as a result of the high temperature of the tea. I had to wait for the tea to cool off before I began the evaluation in earnest. A full sip yielded a rather weak flavored black tea with a powerful mint taste. It was almost as if I wasn’t drinking a tea, but more of a herbal mint tisane. The metallic sensation did go away though. The minty-ness was strong, and almost sweet at times, but it was far from unpleasant.

Ultimately I found the tea to be particularly lacking. It is… sufficient, for those lazy moments when setting up a cup of loose tea is too much effort to be worth it. The mint was soothing and honestly, the cup was enjoyable. I just wish there was a stronger tea flavor to it is all. I should note that this is my first taste of American-grown tea, and it was underwhelming. I reckon that there may be a stronger or more distinct flavor that would better define it though. Bigelow has a huge selection of black and green teas, and on account of the strong mint presence, this one was more of a tisane than a proper tea itself.

My son actually gave me a cup of this mint tea when I was coughing and miserable with a cold. It is soothing and stopped my coughing about as effectively as a cough drop plus it adds fluids to help the cold move on out!

blend. I was a bit skeptical; I am not a big fan of Stash’s Peppermint, and thought that I would just not like mint teas period.

Well, apparently, I just don’t like pure mint teas. This tea actually is not pure Spearmint – which is, by the way, just delicious – but accented by yummy, subtle black tea to make a tea that even cold doesn’t fall into the category of toothpaste backwash. As others have stated, this tea tastes best cold, which differentiates it from Stash’s mint tea.

Spearmint + black tea = delicious dessert tea that pairs perfectly with cheesecake or chocolate anything.

I feel a little bad for trying all of these teas and not liking many by Bigelow. It doesn’t matter what flavors I try either. Almost all of them seem to be too weak for me.

Then again, almost every mint tea I have tried has been like that. This tea isn’t bad. It tastes mostly like an even-flavored black tea with a hint of mint flavor. I am rating this lower because I have been looking for a tea that screams MINT! to me. This one mumbles.

Simple. Sophisticated. Soft. I don’t care what anybody says, there is nothing better than resorting to a calm kiss of mint between your more flavorful blends…or just because. Ok, there may be a few things better.

If you don’t like mint tea, you shouldn’t be here – but if you do, you’ll probably like Bigelow’s Plantation Mint. Big minty scent (you can smell the mint even before you open the box that the individually-wrapped tea bags come in), but the minty flavour doesn’t overwhelm. A characteristically well-done Bigelow blend.

I don’t remember where this bag came from. But I was in the mood for something mild tonight, and it’s been a few days since I’ve reviewed anything.

It brewed up way darker than I expected, as for some reason I assumed this was a green tea. It is not. The smell is very pleasant, obviously spearmint and sweetly scented. The flavor is on the weak side, but that might have been my fault. I might have needed to brew it a little longer. The mint taste lingers in my mouth, leaving it feeling cleaner, so it isn’t an unpleasant experience.

This tea is a disappointment. It smells like it should be very minty. I’ve tried brewing this several ways. Decreased heat, increased heat, decreased time, increased time – nothing works. It’s taste is oily, and muddy. There is a minty flavor to it, but its not the good taste of fresh mint leaves. It’s more like the old colgate that’s dried out on your toothbrush.

If you want an easy bagged “mint and tea” tea, just get a bag of a real mint infusion (you know, the box will say mint herbal tea – but won’t have any tea in it) and brew it with a bag of your favorite bagged black in a double sized mug.