[Hanah.k]

Hi all,
I live in Belgium. I've been looking for spearmint here, but it seems you can only buy normal mint in the shops.
Is there a big difference between the two?
Does anyone know of the common dutch name for spearmint?
Thanks!

[MistressGeorge]

Is mint referring to peppermint?

Peppermint is a hybrid of spearmint and watermint. So while there is spearmint in it, it is not pure spearmint tea and may not have the same effect you desire. Here, peppermint is said to more estrogenic and spearmint anti androgen. Sorry if I went overboard.

[AbiDrew85]

Is mint referring to peppermint?

Peppermint is a hybrid of spearmint and watermint. So while there is spearmint in it, it is not pure spearmint tea and may not have the same effect you desire. Here, peppermint is said to more estrogenic and spearmint anti androgen. Sorry if I went overboard.

This exactly. In my experience when something just says "mint" it's referring to peppermint.

Of course, this is my experience, from shopping in American stores, so it might not be the same in Belgium.

Anyways. According to internet translators, the Dutch name is kruizemunt. I'm assuming from our language family based similarities that "munt" means mint, and "kruize" comes from "kruis", though exactly why they'd call what we call spear mint kruis mint makes no sense to me. Maybe a native speaker could figure it out, lol.

Oh. And the scientific name is mentha spicata, so if you see something with that listed somewhere on the packaging, you'll know that's what you're after.

[Hanah.k]

Is mint referring to peppermint?

Peppermint is a hybrid of spearmint and watermint. So while there is spearmint in it, it is not pure spearmint tea and may not have the same effect you desire. Here, peppermint is said to more estrogenic and spearmint anti androgen. Sorry if I went overboard.

Hi MistressGeorge,
thanks for the insight. I've been searching all over here. But all the teas sold here are pepermint teas.
I'll have to widen my search.

[Hanah.k]

Is mint referring to peppermint?

Peppermint is a hybrid of spearmint and watermint. So while there is spearmint in it, it is not pure spearmint tea and may not have the same effect you desire. Here, peppermint is said to more estrogenic and spearmint anti androgen. Sorry if I went overboard.

This exactly. In my experience when something just says "mint" it's referring to peppermint.

Of course, this is my experience, from shopping in American stores, so it might not be the same in Belgium.

Anyways. According to internet translators, the Dutch name is kruizemunt. I'm assuming from our language family based similarities that "munt" means mint, and "kruize" comes from "kruis", though exactly why they'd call what we call spear mint kruis mint makes no sense to me. Maybe a native speaker could figure it out, lol.

Oh. And the scientific name is mentha spicata, so if you see something with that listed somewhere on the packaging, you'll know that's what you're after.

Hi Abidrew,

Thank you for the reply!
Overhere all the teas are made with pepermint. It seems to be quite hard to find the spreamint tea...

[AbiDrew85]

Hi Abidrew,

Thank you for the reply!
Overhere all the teas are made with pepermint. It seems to be quite hard to find the spreamint tea...

I find this a lot over here too. Or it's a mix of multiple mints and you really can't know how much of which mint you're getting.

I ended up just going with this, makes it much easier to know what I'm getting:

https://www.swansonvitamins.com/swanson-...mg-60-caps

I don't know if Swanson's ships to Belgium, or how much such shipping would cost, or if maybe you can find something like that made over there...

You might try looking for some place that specializes in herbal teas, if you want a tea definitely. You might need to get whole dried leaves and break them and bag them yourself.

[Outofstyle]

Hi Hannah,

Perhaps in spring time you could look for a spearmint plant in a greenhouse store?

I used to work in a greenhouse and they had everything from spearmint to citrus mint to chocolate mint! (Minty-chocolatey leaves, smelt nice ). Like 6 or 7 different types of mints. You could use the fresh leaves to brew tea (iced tea also) or make yourself a nice refreshing mojito

Good luck on your search!

[MistressGeorge]

Your welcome
Also Hanah, have you checked online? I love tea, I dont have to get this one online because it is available at my local herb shop, however, you could try mountainroseherbs. They are amazing. I suggest from wherever you do purchase them, to get loose crushed leaves. It makes wonderful tea and is rather inexpensive in large amounts Also, if you could just invest a few extra dollars in a special teapot that holds loose leaves and strains them ( I dont know the name, though Ive got one) or a tea strainer also known as a tea ball or tea infuser. I hope this helps. If you are unfamiliar with all those tea items, I am sure you can simply do a few minutes of research that would make their purposes apparent to you.

[Kaitlyn Kitten]

For online sources: Ive found good quality spearmint leaves on amazon and nut.com, for very good prices too. You've gotta steep it for about 10 minutes on a slight simmer. Good luck!

[SarahSchilling]

I used to drink bigelow brand plantation spearmint tea all the time... awesome and cheap.

Here's a link to their site...although they sell it pretty much anywhere in the states....so maybe you can find it in a brick and mortar over there as well.
I'm gonna grab some at the grocery store tommorrow, thanks for reminding me.

http://www.bigelowtea.com/Catalog/Produc...E+Tea.aspx

Ingredients:black tea, spearmint