Mint tea

It was open stage night in rec.food.drink.tea, when Ripon stepped up to the microphone and muttered:

That will depend upon what you want. We keep a stock of a mint herbal on hand (not a true tea) for cold and flu season. It's very comforting when seasoned with honey.

But a black tea with mint would only add to the frustrations of trying to sleep when you can't even breathe.

i many times drink just mint tea- fresh is always best- a handfull is an inaccurate measurement but usually works for me- joanne

"Ripon" asked:

One of the best mint teas I ever drank was from one of the vegetable vendors at the Union Square Greenmarket in Manhattan. They sold cups of the stuff iced at a reasonable price and it was great! A mix of peppermint, spearmint, applemint and a bit of lemon if I remember correctly.

I was able to make a reasonable imitation at home by playing around with the ingredients a bit.

Warren

Hi Ripon,

You are talking about a special sort of mint tea ? Usually, mint teas I've drunk were made with green tea.

Here is a recipe of mint as it is served in Morrocco.

Mint tea

First teapot Ingredients :

3/4 liter of boiling water 1 1/2 tbs of good tea (green tea, like gun powder) 1 handful of leaves and stalks of mint [you need a special sort of mint, it's called "nana" in Arabic and French and has a flavor very different from the peppermint and other mints often used fr herb tea and cooking] 150 g of sugar Preparation : Rinse the pot with boiling water, add the tea, pour half a glass of boiling water, turn the pot to make the water rotate and rinse the tea quickly, discard that water that has taken the bitterness and dust from the tea. Add the mint and sugar. Brew during 7-8 minutes and serve.

Second pot : Let tea and mint in the pot, add a ts of tea and a few leaves of mint, 150 g of sugar. Add 3/4 liters of boiled water. Brew until mint leaves go up to the surface, stir and serve.

Third pot : Like the second one.

You can add pine seeds in the glasses before serving.

Link to the post I have translated :

Kuri

Arabic brand green teas are readily available usually from Ceylon. With the ingredients you'll instantly know if you need any dental work. The sickest I've been in my whole life was layed up a week in Marakesh after eating skewered kebobs which was probably roasted camel dung.

Jim

Kuri:

I am used to buy my mint tea bag from a Turkish restaurant and always got with black tea. Never tried with green tea but sounds exotic to me. I will try to use Gunpowder green tea with it. I will let you know the the result soon.

Thank you all for your help.

Ripon (From Bangladesh)

I always make my Mint tea with a not too strong Black tea and about 3 or 4 mint leaves freshly picked from the garden in each cup.

The closest equivalent to nanamint would appear to be spearmint. It may not be exactly the same, but it's close.