Do you know the joy that is a mint tea on a hot summer day? Hot, cold or sitting on the counter warm, Mint tea is a refreshing, cooling drink that is bound to make your whole day better.
This summer I thought I would experiment and tried to make “sun warmed mint tea”. Suggestion.. DON”T. Mint tea works best if you do the following.
One pick your tea. I have a patch in my garden that has chocolate mint, orange mint, apple mint and I think spearmint tea.
Pick fresh leaves out of the garden. Give them a good wash as one doesn’t need little bug bits or dirt in your tea. Some folks like to include the flower in their tea, I don’t. I just pull off the leaves, placing them in my tea strainer. I fill it full up to the top, as I do so I have the kettle heating to 195.
Once your hot water has boiled, pour it over the tea leaves and then walk away. I have a cover for my tea strainer which keeps the fruit flies and what not out. I generally let it sit for four hours.
At the end of the four hours the water will be slightly warm yet. Perfect for the first drink for me, the lad prefers his much cooler.
Add the sweetener of your choice to your glass, and pour in the tea. And voila! Mint tea.
Occasionally the lad will ask me to heat it up again with some honey in it, but mostly we use Splenda. Once you have used up the water, pour more hot water over and repeat. I find the leaves are good for two doses of hot water and then they are done.
Enjoy… homemade mint is one of favourite summer.
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