Tea Journal · Herbal and caffeine free

How to brew peppermint tea properly

Peppermint is the simplest tea we sell, one ingredient, no caffeine, and still most people make it weak. The flavour lives in the oils in the leaf, and those oils leave with the steam the moment you pour the water on. Here is how to keep them in the cup.

The method

Two heaped teaspoons per 200ml mug. Dried peppermint is light and fluffy, so one spoon is barely any by weight. Freshly boiled water. Cover the mug with a saucer or a lid and brew for five to seven minutes. Lift the cover and the smell will tell you it worked. Use a basket infuser, a fill your own bag or a pot rather than a small ball, because the leaf swells and needs room.

Dried versus fresh

Fresh mint from the garden makes a lovely tea, but it is usually spearmint, which is softer and sweeter. Peppermint is a different plant, a cross between spearmint and water mint, and it is sharper, cooler and stronger, with that clean menthol lift. Dried peppermint leaf is more concentrated than fresh, so a spoon of ours goes further than a handful from the garden. Ours is pure peppermint leaf, nothing else in the pouch.

What it tastes like

Clean, cooling and bright, with a cold finish on the breath. It is the cup I reach for to feel fresh, and it is good after a big meal or late at night, since there is no caffeine. Iced, it is one of the best summer drinks there is.

Mixing it

Peppermint is a great blending leaf. A spoon of peppermint with a spoon of green tea is Chai Nana, our Moroccan style mint tea. Peppermint with a little cocoa is where Chocolate Mint started. Half peppermint and half chamomile is a soft evening cup. A sprig of fresh mint dropped into a mug of dried peppermint makes it even brighter.

Cold brew

Four heaped teaspoons in a litre of cold water, fridge overnight, strain. Add a squeeze of lime. It keeps for three days and costs pennies.