How to Make your own Organic Mint Tea

Mint tea is one of my favorite hot drinks to enjoy on cold rainy days or in the depths of winter. Today I thought I would show you how I grow, make and enjoy my own Organic Mint Tea.
Mint is a relatively easy plant to grow. So easy in fact it can become invasive in a hurry! I grow my mint in containers to help keep the plants from taking over my garden.
I have my mint planted in a mixture of soil predominantly made of compost. The compost will provide more than enough nutrients for the mint to grow for years to come. This compost is made with nothing more than free and local resources that were generated on my property.
I grow a number of different varieties including spearmint, chocolate mint and pepper mint. Each of them brings a unique flavour that when combine provides a beautiful mint flavour in the tea.
When the plants are 20 cm or 9 inches tall I cut them half way. Leaving half of the stem will allow the mint to regrow often at a more intense pace.
After harvest you can make tea right away simply by pouring boiling water over the leaves and letting it steep. I however like to save my tea for the winter when I am really missing the warmth of the garden.
In order to do this I dry the leaves using a dehydrator. If you have a dry enough climate you can hang dry the leaves. I usually run the dehydrator overnight.
I know when the leaves are done drying when they are brittle when picked up and easily break apart.
Once the batch is done I use a dry container that seals. I place the leaves in the container pressing down to compact and break apart the tea as I go. I store these containers on top of my refrigerator as it is dry, warm and directly adjacent to my kettle.
If you are worried you did not get all of the moisture out of the tea you can also store it in a freezer however I recommend using a vacuumed sealed container to prevent any additional humidity from entering the tea leaves.
When your done make sure to recycle the used tea leaves in your garden mulch. To find out why check out the testing garden assumptions series video where we take a look at used tea leaves.

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