Peppermint leaves can be used to make an herbal tea by brewing it in water — hot or iced. See how easy it is to make this tea perfectly with Tea Sommelier’s tips.
Peppermint Tea
- Peppermint tea is an herbal tea (also called an infusion or tisane) made by steeping peppermint leaves in water.
- It’s caffeine-free.
- It’s the most popular mint and it’s grown everywhere around the world, but it originated in Europe and Asia.
- Peppermint is a mix of two plants in the mint family: watermint and spearmint.
- Naturally contains a lot of menthol so it’s cooling and energizing.
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Brewing Guide
TO MAKE HOT PEPPERMINT TEA
TEA: 2 teaspoons loose peppermint tea or 1 tea sachet
WATER: 1 cup (8 fl. oz.)
WATER TEMPERATURE: 208°F
STEEP TIME: 5 minutes
TO MAKE COLD BREW PEPPERMINT TEA
TEA: 2 teaspoons loose peppermint tea or 1 tea sachet
WATER: 1 cup (8 fl. oz.)
WATER TEMPERATURE: Cold water
STEEP TIME: 12 hours
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What You’ll Need
TO MAKE HOT PEPPERMINT TEA
- Loose or sachet peppermint tea
- Filtered water
- Teapot with strainer
My go-to teapot for making herbal tea. - Electric kettle with temperature setting
A must have! Set the water temperature to brew tea properly each and every time.
TO MAKE COLD BREW PEPPERMINT TEA
My Peppermint Tea Pick:
Photo Credit: Harney.com
How to Make Hot Peppermint Tea Properly
STEP 1: Boil water.
Don’t just boil tap water but instead, go for filtered water. The better the water tastes, the better the tea tastes.
I like to boil water using an electric kettle with a temperature setting. I set the water to 208°F, which is a bit under a full boil.
Make sure you boil extra water so that you can use it to warm up the teapot, which is the next step.
STEP 2: Warm up teapot.
Pour some of the freshly boiled hot water into a teapot and swirl the water around. Throw out the water.
Warming up the teapot keeps the boiled water hot so that there isn’t a big temperature drop when brewing the tea.
STEP 3: Put peppermint tea into teapot and add hot water.
Tea Sommelier’s Tip: I’ve found that using 1.5 teaspoons to be too weak. This is another reason why I love using loose tea — I can make my own adjustments on the amount of tea.
STEP 4: Cover teapot and steep for 5 minutes.
Peppermint tea is pretty forgiving when it comes to steep time. You can steep it longer than 5 minutes and it’ll still taste great and won’t get overly bitter.
Tea Sommelier’s Tip: Because herbal teas don’t usually contain caffeine, you can brew it for longer without worrying about it getting bitter.
Make sure to keep the teapot covered so the water stays nice and hot.
STEP 5: Strain peppermint leaves and pour hot tea into a teacup.
If you want to sweeten your peppermint tea, try sugar, honey, or date syrup.
How to Make Iced Peppermint Tea
The best iced tea is cold brewed iced tea! It tastes so good and way better than iced tea made any other way.
RELATED: 30 Refreshing Iced Tea Recipes
STEP 1: Put peppermint tea and water in a pitcher or glass container.
Put peppermint tea into a pitcher (a teapot with strainer or a cold brew maker would work well) and pour in cold or room temperature water.
Use filtered water if possible for the best-tasting cold brewed tea.
STEP 2: Cover pitcher and put in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours.
Herbal tea, like peppermint, can be left to steep for up to 24 hours.
STEP 3: Strain peppermint tea leaves and pour tea into a cup.
Ice is optional when it comes to cold brewed tea since it’s already chilled.
If you like your iced tea sweetened, use simple syrup since it’s the easiest to incorporate into your cold tea since it’s a liquid.
Simple syrup is super easy to make at home. Just mix equal parts sugar and hot water until the sugar dissolves.
PEPPERMINT TEA TIPS
- Use loose peppermint tea instead of tea bags to adjust the tea to your liking.
- Use a glass teapot to make herbal tea so you can see the pretty herbals in water.
- You can make variations on simple syrup by dissolving honey, brown sugar, or date syrup instead of regular sugar in hot water.
QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE
Menthol in peppermint makes the tea taste minty and mildly sweet, leaving a cooling sensation in the mouth. It’s light and refreshing.
There’s absolutely no caffeine in peppermint tea.
No, peppermint isn’t a real tea. For a tea to be a real or pure tea, it has to come from the camellia sinensis plant, like black or green tea. The peppermint tea comes from the mint plant, not camellia sinensis.
Related
- Iced Green Tea with Fresh Mint
- Chocolate Mint Tea Latte
- Quick & Easy Moroccan Tea
- Mint Lemonade Iced Tea
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Peppermint Tea
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup water + more to warm teapot for hot tea
- 2 teaspoons peppermint loose tea
INSTRUCTIONS
- Boil water. If using an electric kettle with temperature setting, set it to 208°F. Boil a little more water than needed so that it can be used to warm up the teapot. Filtered water is best.
- Warm up teapot.Pour some hot water into a teapot and swirl it around a bit. Discard the water.
- Put peppermint tea into teapot and add hot water.
- Cover teapot and steep for 5 minutes.
- Strain peppermint leaves and pour hot tea into a teacup.
EQUIPMENT
NOTES
