In the ongoing battle between red and green DS mints, green is clearly the better choice. I am now in my third year of eating in DS an average of twice a day, so I have had my fair share of experience with the mints. I also conducted a poll on Facebook to find out the mint preferences of some of my Concordia Facebook friends. I found that the overwhelming majority of the participants prefer green mints over red. Now I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with eating the red mints, but to all you red lovers out there, here’s why everyone should prefer green mints.
First of all, before you can even taste the mint, is the wrapper. The red mints are wrapped in pieces of cellophane that are twisted at the ends. This is cute and everything, but when you want to take the wrapper off, it’s usually stuck to the mint. In fact, during my freshman orientation week, the weather was so hot and humid that you couldn’t get a wrapper off of a red mint in one piece. This resulted in the endless picking of tiny pieces of plastic off of your tongue. On the other hand, the green mints are wrapped in neat, rectangular packets. You can just squeeze the mint out of the wrapper and right into your mouth. You don’t even have to touch the mint if you’re worried about the spread of germs.
After you finally get the mint in your mouth, there’s the flavor. According to my poll, some green mint lovers don’t like the peppermint flavor of the red mints. It’s far too strong for some. For me, it’s not a battle of one flavor or the other—I really enjoy both peppermint and spearmint flavors, but since the red mints are served more often than the green mints (and since peppermint seems to be more popular in other things, like candy canes), I appreciate the novelty of the green mints when they are served.
To clarify, I’m not saying that red mints are bad or that green mints should be served more often. All I’m saying is that you should appreciate green mints when they’re available. Appreciate the fact that the wrappers are easier to take off and the fact that they’re a cooler, spearmint flavor.
This letter was submitted by Erin Bjerke.
