Got fresh mint leaves?
There is a beekeeper and a gardener who works near us. He and his wife planted vegetables this past summer. I yearned for what was inside their garden–– chives, Italian parsley, voluptuous tomatoes, arugula. He and his wife gave me good ideas on how to grow my garden outside. I did well with his instructions growing tomatoes. I also grew cilantro and basil. Once in a while, my friend and I like to hang out at his “garden center.” He and his wife had mint growing around their small beautiful garden.
I love the smell of fresh mint leaves. His wife told me that they love to make mint tea with the fresh leaves, especially in the winter.
That sounded good to me when she said that. Since then, I have been wanting to grow my own mint.
The gardener told me to wait till fall and he would give us some of his off shots from his garden. Yesterday he plucked tons of mint from the ground and left it on our front chair.
When I woke up this morning, I was wondering what was that pile of roots with green ends doing sitting on my outside chair?
“The gardener left it for us to plant.”
I heard mint is an easy plant to grow in the Pacific Northwest except don’t plant it on the ground unless you want mint sprouting all over your yard. That gave me the urge to plant this in my outdoor pot garden.
After sorting through the hardy roots of the plants, I grabbed a pot and planted a few mints outside. However, I thought about all those cold and rainy winter days when I might not want to go outside in the darkness of 4 pm on a rainy Saturday to pull off leaves from the mint plant. That scenario––I repeat for that darky and nonstop rainy days in the Pacific Northwest made me wanted to grow indoor herbs where I can just pull off the leaves from my kitchen area.
I placed the single stems in a clear glass and pulled off the unneeded leaves so that the roots can grow. When the roots emerge, I will place next to my basil. The leaves I pulled off got dropped into cups to make mint tea. There are few ways to make mint tea. Here is the easiest way for me.
Steps to make mint tea:
- Get fresh mint leaves.
- Wash them a couple of times or more to remove any dirt and debris.
Washed mint leaves, waiting to be plucked
- Place the washed leaves in a cup.
Pluck those washed leaves and drop them in your favorite cup
- Boil water.
- Pour hot water into the cup, but not boiling water. Boiling water will scorch leaves. (I like my mint leaves greens, but I don’t mind my green beans a little charred when served as a side dish).
- You can see the color of water changing to a pale yellow in about two to three minutes, and you should smell the aroma of the mint about that time.
- Brew for five minutes.
How to make mint tea from fresh leaves?
- Enjoy, when cool enough to sip. After a couple of sips, my mouth feels refreshed as in minty good.
Like a lot of the other teas, mint tea is especially good after you had something sweet or by itself. The fresh leaves in the cup make me feel close to the plants that grew from the dirt. I am sipping on my warm tea as I am writing.
Mint stems on the window sill enjoying the Pacific Northwest sun
Did you know that you can also make cold mint tea? The cold version of mint I have had was Mojito, the spirit tea. When summer comes, my mint leaves would be in warm and cool drinks.