The best peppermint tea is a soothing cup of fresh herbaceousness. It’s cozy and warming, but it also clears your nasal passages with its naturally occurring menthol. It should taste like you wandered into a perfectly manicured garden, plucked a bunch of mint, and simply steeped the leaves in boiling water. I sat down with 14 different top-selling mint teas to find the best mint tea bags to stock your tea drawer.
When was the last time you had a memorable cup of mint tea? Unless you recently traveled to Morocco, my guess is never. Well, I just had seven memorable cups of mint tea. (I lead a very glamorous, enviable life.) And I’m ready to share them with you.
To conduct this test, I sought out the most highly rated peppermint tea brands available nationwide. I brewed up each individual mint tea bag in boiling water, steeping until each cup was fragrant. Then I sipped, carefully making sure I didn’t burn off my taste buds and compromise the entire taste test. All of the teas I tried were at least fine. There were no offensive brands out there. But seven stood out above the rest with their fresh peppermint flavors and vibrancy. If you’re looking for good peppermint tea, go ahead and buy whatever is available. But if you want the best peppermint tea, these are the best mint tea bags to buy.
- Traditional Medicinals Organic Peppermint
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The best mint tea isn’t some shmancy brand. It’s good old, easy-to-find Traditional Medicinals. It’s extremely pepperminty on the nose—it instantly clears your nasal passages. And with flu season upon us, that’s important. The flavor is bright and fresh. It tastes like just-picked mint with no bitterness at all. I couldn’t stop sipping; it kept me coming back for more. I never thought I would love a mint tea, but I truly adored this peppermint tea.
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- Republic of Tea SUPERHERB Peppermint
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In my tasting notes, I wrote that this tea smelled like “a wonderful kitchen in the British countryside.” It’s complex, it’s floral, it’s earthy. It’s different. The first sip is a touch savory, but then it finishes with that crispy, minty, cooling note. Made with certified organic mint from Washington state (over the course of this taste test I learned that the Pacific Northwest is the place to grow your mint), it’s a mint tea that makes you stop and consider the flavors you’re tasting. If you want to sit and contemplate a misty day, this is the best peppermint tea for you.
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- Stash Peppermint Tea
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This peppermint tea has a grassy aroma with a touch of honey, but it’s all cooling, soothing mint when you take a sip. If your throat is ailing you, this peppermint tea will help ease the pain with its rounded flavor and icy quality. It’s easy to drink without any lingering tannins or bitterness. But the flavor of the mint lingers on your tongue. I’m not a doctor (shocking, I know), but I would recommend this as the best peppermint tea for anyone with a cold.
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- Tazo Refresh Mint
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Made with a mix of peppermint, spearmint, and tarragon, this is the perfect peppermint tea for a refreshing iced tea on a hot summer day (or hot October day if you live in Southern California). The hint of tarragon adds a touch of anise flavor to the mix and a suggestion of citrus. Make a pitcher of this as iced tea, throw in some chunks of peach, and you have yourself a real porch sipper.
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- Celestial Peppermint
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This mint tea is mild (much more mild than Traditional Medicinals) but has a touch of tannic edge, which helps balance out the tea’s natural sweetness and makes it the perfect pairing with honey. It’s also the best peppermint tea I tried that did not have a string. This was polarizing amongst the Sporked staff. Writer Jordan Myrick is enthusiastically pro stringless tea bags. “I hate extra trash and I don’t like when the string gets wet, it creeps me out,” they said. Managing editor Gwynedd Stuart sympathizes with the effort to produce less waste but also has this to say: “C’maaan.” I see the argument for both sides.
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- Harney & Sons Peppermint
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If you don’t just make tea—you take tea—then this is the best peppermint tea for you. It has a toasty nose and strong, tea flavor with a touch of anise on the very end along with some lemon oil notes. It’s a great replacement for Earl Grey if that’s not your bag and would be lovely with tiny, crustless cucumber sandwiches.
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- Benner Peppermint Herbal Tea
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While other mint teas taste like freshly-picked mint on a summer’s day, this one tastes like mint harvested from the side of a craggy mountain during a rainstorm. It’s a moody peppermint tea. It’s earthy, almost savory, and light on that icy mint sensation. Stay warm in a thatched-roof cabin with a cup of this powerful mint tea.
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Best of the Best
Best Splurge
Best for a Sore Throat
Best for Iced Mint Tea
Best with Honey
Best for Tea Time
Best Strong
Other peppermint teas we tried: Trader Joe’s Peppermint, Bigelow, Twinings Pure Peppermint, Taylors, Twinings Buttermint, 365 Peppermint, Allegro Northwest Peppermint, Yogi Purely Peppermint
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