In the world of brews, there's nothing quite as refreshing as a cup of peppermint tea. Deliciously flavoursome, vibrant, with a purifying feel, peppermint tea is a real favourite for many. As an added bonus, it's caffeine-free – perfect for a pre-bed beverage or quick pick-me-up at work when you've overdone it with the coffee.
Peppermint tea is also known for its health benefits and can help aid digestion, so if you're feeling a bit bloated it can work a treat.
In our quest to find the best peppermint tea available, we put a number of brands to the test including household names such as Twinings, Tea Pigs and Clipper, as well as a few supermarket options. We also tried a couple of lesser-known brands so you may even discover a new favourite to add to your tea collection.
As well as taste, we took packaging, environmental credentials and tea bag construction into consideration. So, have a browse below and find a peppermint tea that works for you.
For more drinks options, read our review of the best Earl Grey tea bags or the best decaf coffee.
Best peppermint tea bags for 2022
Tea Pigs Peppermint Tea Bags
The punchy, vibrant flavour of Tea Pigs' peppermint tea bags really help them stand out. Tea Pigs use big whole leaves in its biodegradable bags, or 'temples' as they're called, and you can really tell. You get the bold flavour of a loose leaf tea, without the faff of using a strainer. The biodegradable tea bags have a lovely silky feel, and we didn't have any issues with bursting bags when tasting, which is always a bonus.
It's no surprise the popular tea brand has a number of Great Taste Awards to its name, for this tea in particular – very well deserved we'd say.
As a further bonus, all of the packaging is 100% plant-based – even the plasticky looking inner bag. It's made for wood pulp and can be placed in your home compost.
Good Earth Moroccan Mint Tea Bags
Technically an imposter, this Good Earth Moroccan Mint tea is a unique mix of green tea and spearmint. It certainly won the flavour award in our taste test – we were huge fans of the clean and intensely minty flavour. If you find green tea can be a tad bitter on its own, the addition of the spearmint is a lovely sweetener.
The bags are also pleasingly filled to the brim, which may explain the bold, lasting taste.
In terms of being an environmentally friendly and ethical brand, Good Earth tick plenty of boxes. Its tea bags are rainforest alliance certified; the packaging is either recyclable or compostable and it donates to environmental non-profits as a '1% for the Planet' member.
Joe's Tea Co. Peppermint Tea
Another option to consider with a long string! Joe's Tea Company was new to us (all of the other tea brands we tried were household names) so we were particularly excited to try this one.
Joe's Tea Company prides itself on its supportive working relationships held with small farmers. The brand's tea is bought directly from the tea farmers in order to cut out the 'middle-man' to ensure those who grow the tea are benefitting more. The company also has plenty of eco credentials to its name – it's a carbon neutral certified company and all of the ingredients and packaging are free of GMOs.
The brand's 'proper peppermint' is made with organic peppermint leaves, directly traded from Egypt, and we were pleased to find that the tea bags held a satisfying amount of loose tea. We found the tea bag needed more than the recommended brew time to achieve a full flavour, so it's not the strongest of peppermint teas on the market, but there was a pleasing, lasting after taste that went down very well.
As a more artisan tea company, with commendable ethics at its core, it's no surprise this box of tea is on the pricier end of the scale, so we'd say it would work well in a birthday hamper or as a special care package for a loved one.
- Buy now from Ocado (£4.10)
Whittard Organic Peppermint Tea
For a more mellow cup of peppermint tea – and a nice soothing option before bed – we'd highly recommend Whittard's peppermint tea bags. The taste of the peppermint tea is far more subtle than the bold smell of the tea bags suggests, but we still enjoyed a flavoursome, well-rounded brew. We'd say this peppermint tea wasn't as tingly as Tea Pigs' peppermint tea, but it was a tasty cup nonetheless.
The tea bags come individually wrapped in a compostable material. Pop them in your bag and enjoy a fresh cup of tea whilst you're staying away in your campervan, or enjoy a brew with a view whilst hiking.
- Buy now from Whittard of Chelsea (£4.50)
Looking for a sweet treat to go with your tea? Try out these tasty recipes:
- Dandelion flower and rum cake by Rachel Lambert
- Little cherry and almond cakes
- Bilberry and almond streusel cake
- Wild Blackberry and Rosewater Cake
Hampstead Peppermint and Spearmint Tea
Hampstead's tea bags are made from plant-based wood pulp, and are 100% recyclable, biodegradable and home compostable. While many tea brands offer biodegradable tea bags, the fact Hampstead's tea bags are home compositable means they should break down much quicker.
We enjoyed the lack of sticky label on the tea bags. Many brands favour the sticky label however they can often cause tea bags to tear and burst, so if you want to avoid dregs, Hampstead tea is a solid choice.
The flavour was lovely – the spearmint isn't overbearing, more of a pleasantly refreshing aftertaste that surprises you post-sip.
The decorative box featuring tigers is particularly eye-catching, so if you're a fan of funky tea boxes, this is your winner.
Marks & Spencer Peppermint Tea
We enjoyed the refreshingly sweet flavour of Marks and Spencer's peppermint infusion tea bags and were even more impressed with the price. At £1.20 for a box of 20 tea bags from Ocado, these M&S peppermint tea bags are fantastic value – a great option if you're a daily peppermint tea drinker, and looking to stock up.
From a practical point of view, we found the box to be much slimmer than a lot of the other brands, which makes for easy storage. A small thing to consider, perhaps, but if you're buying one more than box, it's nice to be able to stack with ease!
If you're not a string fan, you're in luck as these teabags are tagless.
- Buy now from Ocado (£1.20)
Clipper Peppermint Tea Bags
As a tea company, Clipper offers plenty of qualities we look for when choosing ethical and environmentally friendly brands. The brand not only claims to be the first tea company to make the swap to plant-based, non-GM, unbleached and biodegradable tea bags, but also the UK's first Fairtrade tea company.
The tea bag's long string was a huge perk, particularly if you're fed up of fishing out a soggy tag every time you make a cuppa. It was long enough for us to place the mug on top of the tag, so you can be extra sure that your tag won't go overboard.
This peppermint tea was dark in colour, and wasn't overly sweet, with a pleasantly light and refreshing taste. There's no glue on the tag, so no risk of a burst bag.
Find more Fairtrade teas in our run-down of the best ethically produced food, toiletries and accessories.
Twinings Pure Peppermint
As a post-dinner, pre-bed cuppa, Twinings' Pure peppermint worked a treat. This easy-to-drink blend offered a cooling taste, and we enjoyed its no-frills, straightforward taste if you're after a classic peppermint tea to slot into your daily routine.
The tea bags are free of tags and sticky labels, which makes for easy storage and transportation – cram loads into your favourite glass jar at home, or stuff them into a small Tupperware or bag and take them on your next camping trip.
You get four boxes in this deal, so if you're looking to fuel a household of peppermint tea enthusiasts, this is super value.
Unfortunately, such great value comes at an environmental cost. The tea bags come in a sealed silver bag for freshness, however, we were disappointed to discover the film material is non-recyclable, which naturally marks this tea down.
Tesco Finest Peppermint Tea
Tesco's Finest peppermint tea bags are fairly large in size, so there's plenty of room for the loose tea to move around for sufficient infusing. Saying that, we weren't bowled over by the flavour and as this is the supermarket's top-of-the-range brand (and for a fairly hefty price) we were expecting more of a 'wow' factor.
Nonetheless, this was a smooth brew with no surprises, so if you're not into fussy flavours and prefer a peppermint tea that's neither too minty nor too weak, this could be the right balance for you.
The bags are silky smooth and strong (we had no tearing disasters), and biodegradable, however the inner packaging used is a plasticky film that's not yet recyclable, which again is a massive drawback.
- Buy now from Tesco (£3.15)
Looking for a mug to take on your next adventure? Browse our round-up of the best camping mugs.
