The dry leaves had a faint wintergreen aroma, and I was so eager to get into this brew! I used a mere 1.5g in an 8-oz cup of boiling water for 2 min. Got a lovely gold-brown liquor, but with a very off-putting aroma! Only after I kept reminding myself that this was a wintergreen smell did it become more pleasant. And that same flavor dominated the entire session. The leaves were fairly well spent, and a second steeping of seven minutes produced a week tea with cardboard box flavor. I dumped it. Ultimately, I have decided the tea tastes more mediciney—think BenGay—and not something I care to drink for a while. On the upside, it might be perfect for times when sitting at home recovering from a cold. I would try adding some lemon, honey, and milk. Totally changing the flavor profile! We shall see… . For now, not well-appreciated. (But still much better than Rooibos.) At least it was an inexpensive experiment!
Postscript I’ve updated the Harney description by adding their “details” section, which is more comprehensive. Especially in that they’ve don’t say just “mint” but now explain it as a wintergreen flavor, which is technically more accurate. Some of the older reviews note not tasting the claimed mint, and this may be why.
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Wintergreen is not in the mint family. It’s an aromatic shrub. You were spot on with the BenGay reference, as wintergreen oil is one of the components of that smelly analgesic. Wintergreen oil contains methyl salicylate. The primary metabolite of that is salicylic acid, used in aspirin, making this, as TEGH said, a good sipper for colds.
Wintergreen is not in the mint family. It’s an aromatic shrub. You were spot on with the BenGay reference, as wintergreen oil is one of the components of that smelly analgesic. Wintergreen oil contains methyl salicylate. The primary metabolite of that is salicylic acid, used in aspirin, making this, as TEGH said, a good sipper for colds.