Fresh Peppermint Tea

Tanya Eisenwasser

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A low histamine peppermint tea with fresh peppermint or spearmint leaves gently steeped in hot water.

Prep 3 min

Cook 9 min

Serves 2

Gluten-freeDairy-freeVegan

Ingredients

• 1 loosely packed cup fresh peppermint or spearmint leaves (about 20 leaves)
• 2 cups water
• Ice cubes (optional, for the iced version)

Instructions

1. Rinse the mint under cool running water and pat the leaves dry.
2. Press the leaves between your palms, or bruise them with the back of a spoon, until you can smell them. Do not tear or chop them.
3. Put the leaves in a small teapot or a heatproof jar.
4. Bring the water to a boil, take it off the heat, and let it stand about 30 seconds.
5. Pour the water over the leaves, cover, and steep for 5 minutes. Go up to 7 for a stronger cup.
6. Strain into two mugs and drink hot.
7. For iced tea, use 1 1/2 cups of leaves instead of 1, steep the same way, then cool the pot for 15 minutes and divide it between two glasses of ice.

Tips & Substitutions

• Bruise the leaves, do not shred them. A light press opens up the oils that carry the flavor. Chopping releases the same oils onto your cutting board and leaves green flecks floating in the cup.
• Dried leaves work too. Use 1 teaspoon of dried peppermint per cup of water and steep for the same 5 minutes. Fresh gives a lighter, greener cup, and dried gives a stronger one.
• Spearmint is the milder of the two. Peppermint is sharper and colder on the tongue, spearmint is sweeter and rounder. Both are commonly kept on a low histamine diet, so use whichever you can get fresh.
• Do not over-steep. Past about 8 minutes mint turns bitter and grassy. If the cup is weak, add more leaves rather than more time.
• Grow it in a pot on the sill. Mint takes over a garden bed but does well in a container, and a plant on the counter means the leaves are minutes old when they hit the water. It costs less than a box of tea after the first month.
• Add ginger for an iced pitcher. Simmer sliced ginger in the water first, then steep the mint off the heat, as in the iced ginger mint tea.
• Nettle is the other leaf people ask about. Nettle tea steeps the same way from dried leaves, needs a longer steep, and tastes green and grassy rather than cool.

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Why This Works

Fresh mint leaves. Both peppermint and spearmint are generally considered low histamine and are among the herbs most often kept when the rest of the list gets short. Tolerance varies, so start with one cup and see how it sits.

Water just off the boil. Mint leaves are delicate, and water poured at a full rolling boil makes for a more bitter cup. Letting the kettle stand about 30 seconds before you pour keeps the flavor clean.

Nothing else in the pot. No sweetener, no blend, no flavoring. Mint carries a cup on its own, and a two-ingredient tea is easy to read when you are tracking what agrees with you.

Caffeine-free by nature. Mint is an herb, not a tea leaf, so there is no caffeine in it at any strength or any time of day.

Storage

Fresh mint tea is best in the first hour. Make what you will drink now. If a pot is left, cover it, refrigerate it, and finish it within the day, poured over ice rather than rewarmed, since reheated mint goes flat and bitter. Store the unused leaves stems-down in a glass with an inch of water, loosely covered, in the refrigerator, where they stay crisp for about a week.