best moroccan mint for iced tea?

The recipes I see all call for spearmint, I'm not sure why that is. I just get mine at the local natural foods store, seems to work ok for me, and I planted some so maybe I'll get fresh too. As far as amount...depends on taste, but for me I tend to steep the mint first and longer since it takes a little longer and gunpowder is green tea, so I like a little cooler temp there. If I do a hot steep for two quarts finished, I boil the water (say 1 quart or a little less) pour it in the steeping vessel (glass pot), throw in two heaping tablespoons of dry mint, let it steep for a few minutes, then throw in the tea (maybe two heaping tablespoons...I like my iced tea a little weaker though) let it steep for a few more minutes (maybe five for the mint five for the tea) and then pour it into a pitcher and add cold water (you could pour it over ice). Then in my case I add Splenda and voila! Very tasty. But adjust all measurements to taste of course.

Melinda

Upton's Moroccan Mint is quite good...

Be careful with spearmint - it'll take over the whole lawn if you let it. It spreads via underground runners. I grew up in a house that had a big patch of it, we basically just had to mow it down with the grass when it spread outside the flower bed.

As for fresh, it doesn't infuse well until it's dried. Try thinly slicing the fresh leaves and tossing them with strawberries, tho. You can't imagine what it tastes like.

(Furthermore, my 4-years-old back yard spearmint from my parents house is still pretty overpowering if i add more than about one leaf to a cup of green tea)

Sliced strawberries, of course. and a little sugar.

You can also muddle the leaves (and stems, for that matter) with powdered sugar, mix with a teaspoon of water, and shake all of that with bourbon and ice.

I grow my mint in a container; I have, at times, had a large container set in the ground for this purpose.

dmh

Take cheap green gunpowder... the Temple of Heaven brand available at your local Chinese market will do well enough. Now, take a few handfuls of spearmint out of the yard.... macerate, mix and brew. Be sure to add huge amounts of sugar and serve in cordial glasses!

--scott

The best mint tea, Moroccan or otherwise, that I've tried, is from Gray & Seddon:

- their Moroccan Mint is, unlike others I've tried, a nice balance between the relatively high-quality green and the mint - the mint does *not* overwhelm the green, unlike the few others I know of.

Of course, if you *like* overwhelming mintyness, this one isn't for you.

These comments apply to the MM I got from them last year - their blend may have changed this year.

Doug