To make peppermint tea from dried leaves, use 2–3g of whole dried leaf per 250ml cup, pour on water just off the boil, cover the cup, and steep for 5–8 minutes before straining. Covering matters more than anything else: the menthol that gives peppermint its cool, clean taste escapes with the steam, so an uncovered cup smells wonderful and tastes flat.
How much dried peppermint do you need per cup?
About 2–3g of dried peppermint leaf per 250ml cup. Cut peppermint is light and fluffy, so without scales that is a heaped teaspoon to a scant tablespoon. The easiest way to get it right is to weigh a cup’s worth once, look at it in the spoon, and use that as your measure from then on.
Whole leaf is worth seeking out. Peppermint’s aroma is volatile, and leaf that has been crushed to dust loses its punch fastest.
How long should dried peppermint leaves steep?
Steep dried peppermint for 5–8 minutes, covered, in water just off the boil. Unlike lemongrass, peppermint does not turn bitter if you forget it for a few extra minutes; a longer steep simply tastes stronger. If your cup tastes thin, though, add more leaf next time rather than stretching the steep much further.
Why should you cover peppermint tea while it steeps?
Because the flavour you want is in the steam. Peppermint oil is roughly 40% menthol, the compound that makes peppermint taste cold even in a hot cup, and menthol is volatile. Leave the cup open and much of it drifts off into the kitchen. A saucer, a lid or a small plate over the cup keeps it in the tea.
How do you make iced peppermint tea?
There are two good ways. For a quick glass, brew it hot as above, then pour it over plenty of ice with a slice of lemon. For a jug, cold brew it: 5g of dried peppermint to 500ml of cold water, covered in the fridge for 8–12 hours, then strained. Cold brewing keeps the menthol bright rather than steamy, and the jug keeps for 3–4 days in the fridge.
Add lemon or lime to the glass at serving rather than to the jug, where it dulls over a day. A few peppermint leaves added to green tea or to roselle also make an excellent summer jug.
Is dried peppermint tea the same as spearmint tea?
No. They are two different mint plants. Peppermint is sharp and cooling because of its high menthol content; spearmint has under 1% menthol and tastes softer, sweeter and rounder. If a packet just says “mint”, it is more often spearmint or a blend. There is a full side-by-side comparison in peppermint vs spearmint.
Storing dried peppermint
Keep it in a sealed container, away from heat and direct sunlight. Whole leaf holds its aroma much longer than crushed leaf, and a quick sniff tells you how it is doing: good dried peppermint smells sharply of menthol as soon as the container opens. Peppermint tea has no caffeine, since it is a mint leaf rather than the tea plant, so it suits any time of day.