Pieday Friday Recipe – Moroccan mint tea infusion

_{Some items have been gifted}

Today’s blog post is all about fresh herbal tea, and I’ve shared a recipe for my all-time favourite tea below. I’ve been inspired to create this blog post for two reasons. Firstly I got a brand new teapot this week and I’ve been dying to try it out. It’s a fabulous retro design and I love the clashing colours – just right for my mid-century modern style home! And, secondly, because practically the only things that are still growing in my veggie patch are herbs. Yes, my herb garden is looking as bushy as ever and I’ve been thinking about different ways to use up these delicious leaves. Mint is my favourite tea of choice. It’s so simple to grow mint and I have a huge pot in my herb garden, ready to steep in hot water at a moment’s notice. Even after a very harsh trimming back last month, the sturdy little mint plant is growing strong again so you can easily harvest plenty of mint for your tea, safe in the knowledge that it will always grow back soon!

Of course, mint tea alone is delicious, and you can experiment with different flavours of mint leaves, such as spearmint, peppermint, ginger mint and even chocolate mint – how great does that sound?! I always like it with one sweetener to really bring out the fresh mintiness but it’s fine to just brew the leaves and drink it as it is. And leaving it to cool in th fridge makes a perfect refreshing drink on a hot day, like a mojito without the booze, mmm! What do you think of my new teapot then? It was kindly gifted to me by BlueSunTree.co.uk. I’d been using my large spotty teapot until recently, when I realised that it was too big for those occasions when it was just me having a tea – the water always went tepid before I’d finished drinking it, even with a tea cosy! So I wanted something a little smaller, that would still be big enough for two people, but not so big that I couldn’t drink it all on my own. The retro design stood out to me straight away and I knew that the bright colours would look great on my mid-century living room coffee table. I also got some super-cute little fox espresso cups in matching bright colours and graphic design. Mint goes really well with other herbs, such as any lemon-based herbs (lemon basil, lemon balm etc) or even rosemary to create a really punchy herby flavour. However, I prefer to make my normal mint into a Moroccan mint tea by using ginger, cinnamon, honey and lemon thyme and letting it infuse for a good 5 minutes before tasting. Here’s how I make it:

• Add a small piece of peeled fresh ginger into the teapot (or about 5-6 cubes of crystallised ginger, like I do!) before adding a good handful of mint, a sprig of lemon thyme and about a teaspoon of ground cinnamon.
• Pour over boiled water that has cooled for a minute or two to prevent it from scorching the leaves
• Keep teapot lids firmly on while brewing the tea to keep the steam and herb oils in the pot and allow it to infuse for at least 5 minutes.
• Strain into cups or glasses, add a small sprig of fresh mint and stir in a teaspoon of runny honey to taste. If you like your tea to be a little more zesty, you can add a slice of lemon to your cup or straight into the pot while infusing.
  

  

What do you think of this recipe? Would you have a go at making your own herbal tea from fresh herbs? Leave me a comment below and let me know. Please check with your doctor if you’re pregnant or taking any medication before trying a fresh herbal tea – chamomile, borage and bergamot, for example, is harmful to pregnant women.

Some items in this blog post have been gifted to me and the pink links indicate a gifted product, affiliate link or information source. All thoughts and opinions in this post are based on my own experience and I am not responsible for your experience 🙂