Spearmint Tea

 spearmint in our herb garden

We have a small herb garden in our front yard. I love herb plants, and have enjoyed the scents of herbs since I was a little girl and my dad would sometimes take me to the Point Defiance Park in Tacoma, WA, and we would look at the herb garden there.  I remember rubbing my fingers over the leaves on the various plants and being surprised and delighted by the wonderfully diverse and strong scents.

One of the herbs we have in our garden is spearmint.  My mom bought it for me last year, and of course, as all mints do, it really took off, and I have a lot more last year than I did when I planted that little plant last year.

I'm not very good at making things from my herbs yet, but I've been trying, and this summer we made spearmint tea.

I went outside and picked several stems of spearmint.  Then my younger two children helped take off the leaves and put them in a bowl.

I put water into a pan on the stove and put the leaves into the water and cooked it for awhile.

After choosing a container in which to store the tea and setting it on the counter, I held a strainer over it and poured the water and leaves from the pan into the strainer so the leaves would be strained out.  Here is the tea!

We added ice and stevia to our tea and drank it using straws.  In our family straws make things more fun!  And here is a glass of the iced spearmint tea that is almost all gone!

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I guessed at how many herbs to add to the water, and adding too many won't hurt (you can always dilute it with more water if needed). But recipes can sure be helpful, so here is a link to a recipe: How to Make Spearmint Tea.  The recipe says to use one bunch of spearmint leaves for four cups of water.  It stresses that you should not boil the water, but to cook it on low heat.  Also, the longer you cook it, the stronger the flavor will be.

Tip: We love sweetening our tea with stevia extract. Sweetening tea with Stevia Extract adds no calories, and stevia doesn't cause cavities. Though the initial purchase can be expensive, a bottle of stevia liquid can last a very long time. To sweeten tea, you only need about 3 or 4 drops to make it pleasantly sweet.

This post is linked to Tip Day Thursday. Tip Day Thursday is hosted by Wendy on her blog Around My Family Table. I enjoy followeing her blog. There are a lot of great recipes and tips there!