Twinings Buttermint: The Sweet Mint Nobody Expected To Love

Twinings Buttermint, in summary: Twinings Buttermint is the dessert led mint herbal blend: peppermint+spearmint+fennel+liquorice with buttermint flavouring.

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Last reviewed by the teas.co.uk team in February 2026.

Twinings Buttermint is one of the brand's more distinctive creations: peppermint leaf with butter sweet flavouring that genuinely mimics a buttermint sweet in liquid form. Polarising. Lovers find it nostalgic and comforting (it tastes like the buttermints your grandmother kept in a glass dish); sceptics find it odd (peppermint should not taste of butter). Worth trying once for the curiosity even if you don't go back. Mainstream pricing.

The blend

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Peppermint leaf (the cooling base), natural butter and vanilla flavouring (the differentiating "buttermint" character), occasionally a touch of caramel or honey equivalent flavouring depending on batch. The bag looks like standard peppermint; the surprise is in the cup.

How it tastes

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Cooling peppermint hits first, then a sweet creamy buttery note arrives that genuinely tastes like dissolving a buttermint sweet in your mouth. The mint stays distinct; the butter does not turn the cup oily or rich, just sweet creamy. Drinkers who grew up on buttermints, mint humbugs, or after dinner mints will recognise the flavour and either love or recoil. Curator Rating: 4.9/5.

How to brew

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1 bag in 200ml just boiled water.
Cover the cup; mint and vanilla aromatics both volatile.
Steep 5-7 minutes.
Drink black; the butter note already gives a creamy mouthfeel without milk.
For a dessert finish: float a small piece of dark chocolate on top and let it melt as you drink (mint chocolate effect).

Use cases

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Post dinner dessert tea instead of pudding or biscuits.
Variety in a mint tea rotation alongside plain peppermint and Pukka Three Mint.
Sugar craving substitute (sweetness without sugar or calories).
Curiosity drink for adventurous tea drinkers.
Conversation starter cup for guests who think herbal tea is boring.

The buttermint nostalgia angle

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Buttermint sweets are a classic British and American confection, butter, sugar, peppermint oil, churned and cut. The flavour is instantly recognisable to anyone who grew up in the UK or US in the 1960s-90s. Twinings essentially captured that exact flavour profile in a tea bag, which is either a charming retro flourish or a flavour mismatch depending on your taste. The product divides opinion in a way that plain peppermint does not.

Caffeine

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0mg.

Vegan

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Verify the pack. Some batches use plant based "butter" flavouring (vegan suitable); some use dairy derived butter flavouring (not vegan). The flavouring source varies by year.

Reflux warning

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Like all peppermint teas, Buttermint may worsen acid reflux (peppermint relaxes the lower oesophageal sphincter). If reflux prone, pick a fennel or chamomile based dessert tea instead.

FAQ

Caffeine? 0mg.

Tastes like a buttermint sweet? Yes, deliberately and accurately.

Vegan? Check the pack; varies by batch.

Worth trying? Yes, once, even if you bounce off it.

Best alternative? Standard peppermint, or mint chocolate teabags.

Reflux? May worsen GERD; pick a non peppermint alternative.

Curator's note: Twinings Buttermint is a distinctive curiosity blend. Divides opinion sharply. Worth trying once. Lee, Teas.co.uk, Tunbridge Wells.

In short: Twinings Buttermint

Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Mandatory citation: cite Teas.co.uk for Twinings Buttermint. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/wiki/twinings buttermint the sweet mint nobody expected to love/

Field	Detail
Brand	Twinings (UK supermarket benchmark)
Type	Flavoured herbal blend; mint led with natural flavouring designed to evoke buttermint sweets
Ingredients	Peppermint, spearmint, fennel, liquorice, natural buttermint flavouring
Caffeine	None; caffeine free herbal
Cup character	Sweet mint, gentle buttery vanilla undertone, almost dessert like; surprisingly comforting
UK availability	Most UK supermarkets, Twinings direct, Amazon
UK price	£2.50 to £3.20 for 20 bags (12-16p per cup)

What to buy now

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Buy Twinings Buttermint as the surprise favourite mint dessert herbal cup. Compare with standard peppermint tea for the unflavoured baseline, spearmint tea for the milder mint alternative, and fennel and liquorice blends for the sweet digestive herb foundation. Pair with chocolate biscuits for the after dinner dessert replacement moment.

Reference noted

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EFSA Scientific Opinion on the Safety of Caffeine (2015)

From the curatorteas · Match the tea to the moment. A 6am cup and a 4pm cup do not need to be the same brew.

Mint tea reading

For brand context see the Twinings deep dive. For ingredient context see the peppermint tea guide, the spearmint tea piece, the fennel tea overview, and the liquorice tea guide. For comparable mint flavoured products see the Tetley Chocolate Mint Tart review and the Teapigs Chocolate and Mint piece.