Peppermint Tea

The Story

Peppermint is one of the most important herbs in folk medicine, and Ava always keeps it on hand for her family. In today's world where herbs are often seen as something that we "take," as a capsule or tablet from a bottle that resembles a prescription medication, what a joy and comfort to brew fragrant restorative herbs into a tea and know that it is at once safe and health-giving, in line with the healthiest organic produce. (Our whole tea collection was designed with this idea in mind: we only offer teas with a proven track record in folk medicine in terms of safety and straightforward effectiveness for many constitutions.)

We grew the peppermint for this tea ourselves in an organic garden. We harvest our peppermint a few times per growing season, when the stems are strong and substantial, but the plant is not yet in flower. We dry whole stems in a moderately warm, dark drying room to ensure that the plant's aromatic and highly medicinal components are not injured by excessive heat or strong light exposure. We trim the dried stems into small, attractive pieces, leaving the leaves fully intact. 

Properties

Strong peppermint tea is used in folk medicine as needed for a wide range of digestive concerns, especially stomach cramps, gas pain, colic, sluggish digestion, fullness or heaviness after a meal, hiccups, nausea, and low appetite. Many Western herbalists consider peppermint an indispensable tea for cleansing and strengthening the entire body and all its systems. The herbalist Alma R. Hutchens recommends several minutes of relaxation with a cup of strong peppermint tea instead of coffee and a painkiller. She calls peppermint "a wise and beneficial herbal tea to replace coffee, as it will strengthen the heart muscles instead of having the digestive hindrance and weakening effect of the so widely accepted coffee habit." (Indian Herbalogy of North America by Alma R. Hutchens, 1991)

Flavor

Strongly minty and refreshing.

Ingredients

Leaves of Mentha piperita L. (peppermint). Gluten free. Caffeine free.

Origin

Washington, United States.

Directions

Take a few leaves or more and place inside a teapot, tea mug, or French press. Brew using filtered, freshly boiled water. Steep, covered, for 10 minutes, then strain. Add honey or agave nectar if desired. Drink hot or chilled. The same leaves may be brewed a second time. 

Sustainable Packaging

Our teas are packaged in eco-friendly clear bags made from cellulose, which is a naturally abundant organic material, then in cardboard boxes for shipping. The cellulose used in the bags is derived from renewable wood pulp that is sustainably harvested from FSC-managed plantations. The bags are certified 100% compostable, meaning they can be composted both by individuals at home and in industrial composting facilities, and are marine degradable, which means that, unlike many other "biodegradable" products, these bags can break down not only in landfills, but also in marine environments.

And perhaps even more important than the materials we have chosen are the materials that we have opted not to use. Our teas are never packaged in individual tea bags or pouches, which produce an enormous quantity of waste that typically ends up in landfill sites. Most tea bags are made from wood pulp or vegetable fiber that is bleached using potentially toxic chemicals, and contain noncompostable metal staples, and many are lined with heat-resistant polypropylene plastic in order to prevent them from bursting open when in transit or in the cup. This means that even tea bags labeled “biodegradable” or “compostable” will, for the most part, not completely break down in a compost heap. We also avoid aluminum tea pouches, which are not compostable, and metal tea tins, which in many cases are not accepted for recycling.

Full size 28 g (1 oz).

Due to the very high cost of our ingredients and the labor-intensive (highly time consuming) small-batch production process, we are unable to accept returns of opened or unopened products at this time.