04/30/2024
Peppermint v. Spearmint🍃
Peppermint (Mentha piperita) is a hybrid between spearmint and water mint. It is well known for its strong taste and aroma as well as its medicinal properties. These properties - along with its notable cooling effects - are due to its relatively-high menthol content: 40%. is often described as having a spicy, punchy flavor and super-distinctive aromas that come in handy for aromatherapeutic uses. It’s a common ingredient for holiday baking and sweet dishes and as a complement to chocolate-based desserts.
On the contrary, Spearmint (Mentha spicata) has less menthol and a milder aroma by comparison, and is a naturally occurring species of mint. It is often described as sweet. With only .05% menthol content, gets its notable smell and flavor from a different compound: carvone. Its flavor is sweeter and grassier, and that makes it a complementary ingredient with meats, seafood, and more savory cooking and dishes.
Adornleaf Tea Co. has three organic handmade tea blends that feature one or both of these types of mint. If you’re unsure about which you’d like to try in a tea, you can try them both together in ATC’s signature mint tea - Mint, Meet Mint, a mullein-based organic blend that features peppermint, spearmint, and aromatic lavender flowers.
Like many tea ingredients, is common but can be considered an acquired taste. I often tell the story of a man that told me that mint was a flavor for toothpaste only at a vending market and personally, I believe he couldn't be more wrong!
Do you like mint in your tea?
