5 Reasons Hierba Buena Is a Staple in Peruvian Kitchens

July 31, 2026

Ask someone which mint Peruvians drink and most will say Muña. Fair enough, Muña (Minthostachys mollis) gets most of the attention because it's the one served free at Andean restaurants after a heavy meal. But walk into an actual Peruvian kitchen and you'll usually find a second mint sitting right next to it: Hierba Buena, which is just spearmint (Mentha spicata) by another name. It's a different plant, a different flavor, and it earns its spot for different reasons.

Here are five, based on how the leaf actually gets used, not how it's marketed.

1. The everyday after-meal tea

Where Muña has a slightly stronger, almost camphor-like bite, Hierba Buena is softer and sweeter, closer to the spearmint gum flavor most Americans already know. That makes it the mint a lot of households reach for daily, not just after a big lunch. Steep a teaspoon or two of loose leaves for 3-5 minutes and you've got a mild, caffeine-free tea that goes down easy after almost any meal.

2. It shows up in the kitchen, not just the teapot

Fresh or dried Hierba Buena gets chopped into salsas, worked into marinades, and used to brighten up heavier stews. It's a cooking herb as much as a tea herb in a lot of homes, closer in role to how Italian kitchens treat basil than how most people think of "medicinal tea."

3. A gentle stomach settler for kids

Because the flavor is mild and not medicinal-tasting the way some herbal teas are, Hierba Buena tea is often the first thing Peruvian mothers offer a child with an upset stomach, well before reaching for anything stronger. It's not a cure for anything serious, and a child with ongoing stomach pain should see a pediatrician, but as an everyday comfort drink it's an easy sell to a picky 6-year-old in a way Boldo tea usually isn't.

4. It's the base for one of Peru's best iced drinks

Steeped strong, cooled, and poured over ice with a little lemon, Hierba Buena becomes one of the more refreshing drinks in the Peruvian herbal tea lineup, the kind of thing you'll see in a pitcher on a hot Lima afternoon. We covered the full method in an earlier post on iced Hierba Buena if you want the exact ratios.

5. There's actual research behind it, and it's not about digestion

This is the one most people don't expect. A pair of clinical trials out of Turkey and the UK, one in 2007 and a larger 30-day randomized controlled trial in 2010, found that women with hirsutism (excess facial and body hair linked to elevated androgens) who drank two cups of spearmint tea a day saw a measurable drop in free testosterone compared to a placebo tea. It's not a cure, the studies were small, and nobody's claiming spearmint tea replaces a dermatologist or an endocrinologist. But it's a genuinely interesting, peer-reviewed finding for a plant most people only think of as a gum flavor.

A quick caution

Hierba Buena is about as gentle as herbal teas get, but a couple of notes: mint in general can relax the esophageal sphincter, which may worsen symptoms for people with acid reflux or GERD, so if that's you, pay attention to how your body responds. And because of the research above, women who are pregnant, trying to conceive, or managing a hormonal condition should mention regular spearmint tea drinking to their doctor, just to be safe. This is a food-based herbal tea, not a medical treatment, and we're not a doctor.

Curious about the other mint in the room? Our guide to Muña breaks down how it differs from Hierba Buena. Both live in our herbal teas collection alongside Andean Mint Muña Tea.