Mint Tea Recipe

My favourite mint tea recipe is very simply made with fresh mint leaves.

Mint tea goes well with green tea, and I have a delicious green and mint tea recipe which is very tasty. This is how people traditionally drink mint tea in Morrocco.

I love to use fresh mint leaves when I make mint tea. The difference in flavour to teabags is huge.

Most teabags taste as though they have mint oil added, and once they have dried out, they don't really taste of much at all.

Some high-end loose mint tea leaves are pretty good, and they are a good fall-back if you can't get hold of any fresh mint.

Mint is easy to grow and having a pot of mint outside the back door, or even growing on a windowsill, is a brilliant idea.

In winter, try growing mint in a pot on your sunniest window sill. It's a great treat to have those lovely fresh herbs during the winter as well as the summer.

I love mint tea and so I keep several pots on my windowsill during the winter. Don't take more than half the foliage over the winter season.

There are many different kinds of mint. Personally, I prefer spearmint and peppermint.

Plant mint in the largest pots you can manage, or they quickly become potbound and they will die.

Water once a week, but check the soil first to see if it really needs it during winter. Also, make sure the pot does not sit in water.

When summer (finally, in my part of the world) arrives, you can plant them out in larger containers in the garden.

At the end of the summer, you can harvest mint leaves and freeze them. They do make an acceptable substitute for fresh leaves in tea. The leaves become limp when you de-frost them, but this doesn't matter in tea.

Pick the healthiest leaves. Wash and pat dry only if necessary. Spread out on a tray, cover with clingfilm, and freeze. Once they are frozen, you can keep them in a box with a lid and they won't stick together.

I find it is best to freeze the leaves gradually over the summer. Otherwise, suddenly you find that everything needs to be gathered at once and you might not have room to lay them out individually.

Apart from the delicious flavour, mint tea is said to be good for you. Mint tea is good for the digestion and so is great for drinking alongside rich food. In addition, it is considered to be uplifting.

Now to business. The mint tea recipes.

Simple Fresh Mint Tea Recipe

Makes 4 cups

Roughly 20 Mint leaves (I prefer either spearmint or peppermint)
4 cups freshly boiled water

  • Warm the pot with the boiled water.

  • Put the mint leaves into the pot, and pour the boiling water over the leaves.

  • Leave the tea to steep for at least five minutes. It does not matter if the tea steeps for longer. In fact, I often make a pot and then drink this tea cold through the day instead of water.

My friend has some beautiful green glass tea cups and saucers, and in this case, I like to put a sprig of mint into the bottom of the cup, and pour water directly over the leaves.

I then make a pot of mint tea so that people can top up if they wish.

I think this mint tea is lovely on its own, but it's also tasty served with a wedge of lemon.

Green and Mint Tea Recipe, or Moroccan Mint Tea Recipe

This recipe is a more robust tea than the simple mint tea recipe.

It is sweet and delicious.

Serve Moroccan Mint Tea in Moroccan tea glasses for the best look. I also love the Moroccan style teapots and silver trays. They're so beautiful.

10 fresh mint sprigs
3 teaspoons green tea (sencha is best)
3 tablespoons white sugar
4 cups water

  • Boil the water in your kettle.

  • Warm the pot by pouring a little water into the teapot and swishing it round. Put the lid on the teapot and leave until needed.

  • Put the green tea into the pot.

  • Leave the water in the kettle to cool down for about 10 minutes to get the temperature down to about 80C.

  • Pour the boiled water over the top.

  • Leave the tea to steep for 3 minutes only.

  • Strain the tea into another container. Discard the leaves.

  • Put the strained green tea back into the pot straight away and add the sugar and mint. Stir and leave to steep for five minutes before pouring.

Serve with

I love to have mint tea with afternoon tea generally. It's a great all-round tea that goes well with most things.

In particular, I think mint tea goes beautifully with chocolate cupcakes or lemon poppyseed cake. These cakes are fairly light sponges.

Or mint tea is lovely with cucumber and mint sandwiches.

In the winter, I like mint tea with pikelets.

If you were Made-up with this Mint Tea Recipe, perhaps you'd think Hibiscus Tea was Heavenly!