This is a July tea of the month on the classic plan.
This is my fourth peppermint (in my official tasting memory) though I’m sure I must have had others along the way. I’ve lived too long for that not to be the case.
I’ve had Bigelow Peppermint, Upton and Adagio. The Bigelow was pre-Steepster, but I’ve written notes on the others. (By the way, does anyone know why Bigelow sells almost no loose leaf tea? Seems like an odd choice. They have 10 or so kinds in tins on their web site, but mostly they seem just to have bags. Hmm.)
I’m trying this one straight up tonight, and it’s quite nice. Very minty, but not in that mouth full of dirt way I got from the Upton. There’s a turn to the sip that makes it seem it’s heading into bitterness, but it bounces back up before ever dipping that far, buoyed by a very refreshing, intense and volatile peppermint.
One thing it doesn’t seem to have that I’d like it to: a natural sweetness. The Adagio had that and I quite liked it. Instead, this one has a tiny bit of plantiness and a very long lasting mint echo, rather like the aftermath of an Altoid or a mouthwash or something very strongly minty. Not to be confused with fake. I don’t get fake at all.
On balance I’d probably seek out the Adagio were I to choose, because I really did like the sweetness of that one. But this is much nicer than the Upton. Which I’m now wondering more than ever whether I got a bad batch of.
