Chocolate Mint LIVE Starter Plant [Tea Herb]

Mentha piperita 'Chocolate Mint'

Chocolate mint is a fast growing, easy plant to have in the garden. Its cool peppermint scent, layered with that warm, salivation-inducing, sweet undertone. The minty flavor is at its peak just before blooming and early in the morning, but it will maintain its distinctive smell and taste throughout the growing season.

This cultivar has a dark look compared to the bright leaves of peppermint. It grows deep green leaves with purple undersides and dark stems, and is hardy in Zones 3 to 9. It grows best with at least five to six hours of sun a day, preferably up to 14 if it’s available. More sun results in the best taste and color. 

This plant has two growth phases: the first is in the spring when the plant grows upright stems that will produce flowers. The second is post-flowering, when it starts spreading horizontally via runners and rhizome offshoots.

If you want your chocolate mint to grow in your herb garden without taking over, try sinking a bottomless bucket into the ground and place your transplant inside to contain it.

The small lavender flowers attract all sorts of bees and butterflies. Chocolate mint is a sterile hybrid, peppermint and its cultivars cannot be propagated by seed.