How to Make Garden Fresh Mint Iced Tea

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Summer is upon us and with that comes the need for a refreshing beverage without sugar or alcohol to dehydrate you. I present for your consideration Fresh Mint Iced Tea. This is the ultimate cool, refreshing drink!

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I’m married to a gardener. Technically, he’s a landscape designer, but let’s be real… his passion is gardening. We are currently growing berries, peaches, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, onions, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, garlic, basil, rosemary, lavender, echinacea, and two or three different kinds of mint.

Mint is Easy to Grow… Too Easy

If you’ve ever grown herbs, you know to be careful with mint. It tends to take over your garden. However, it’s great for keeping away rabbits, deer, and raccoons. So, to optimize our mint, we got four really pretty 2-gallon pots to house it.

They are placed at each fence post along the back of the yard. This keeps critters from getting curious about the yard, but it also prevents the mint from creeping out into everything else.

Even though our mint is contained, it still grows a lot and quickly. I have joked this whole Stay-At-Home order that if we had some rum and limes, I’d be knee deep in a mojito every day. This week though, I finally figured out a better (less alcoholic) way to enjoy our herbal bounty.

Freshening Up a Glass of Iced Tea

Sweet tea is about as southern as a good biscuit, so why not make some sweet mint tea? It’s so simple, and honestly, way more refreshing on a hot day. The menthol in mint is what gives off that brisk sensation when you eat it. If you wanted to learn more about why mint makes you feel cold, you can check out this piece by Live Science. That cooling sensation is what we’re taking advantage of in our Sweet Iced Mint Tea.

The iced tea method will be very similar to brewing your standard southern refreshment. We’re still looking at a super-simple, two-ingredient brew. All you have to do is get to picking! You want about 1 cup, packed of fresh mint leaves to start.

What Kind of Mint Do You Need?

Mint comes in a number of varieties, and honestly, you can use whichever is your favorite. We are growing a Mojito Mint, which is a variation of spearmint with a little zing. We also have a Julep Mint plant, which is another version of spearmint that is naturally sweet.

Funny enough, I always thought I liked peppermint better. But when we were at the nursery sniffing through the endless rows of different mints, the two that smelled best were both cocktail spearmints. Lemon Mint and Chocolate Mint were in the running, though.

Just remember, that whatever mint you choose to grow, it will spread if you don’t take care of it. Keep it in a container for easier control. Clip the larger leaves for tea to keep it growing, and trim off flowers if you want to see growth. However, you should note that pollinators LOVE the flowers. So, it’s not the worst if you let it go to flower.

Brewing Mint Iced Tea

Brewing mint tea is super easy! Start by giving your fresh-from-the-garden (or supermarket) mint leaves in some cool water to remove any dirt or other debris. I recommend growing or buying organic for this. Any pesticides used on your leaves might be rinsed away, but it still may end up in your tea.

Then in a medium saucepan, bring a quart of water to boil. If you have hard water or if it smells like chlorine when you open the tap, use filtered water. More than likely, your tap water is just fine.

Once it’s at a rolling boil, turn off the heat and stir in your leaves. Let it steep until the liquid turns a lovely lime green color. You want it to get nice and strong because we’re about to ice it down.

Fill a 2-quart pitcher halfway with ice, and set a fine mesh strainer over the mouth. Pour your tea through the strainer. The ice will melt and dilute the tea. From this point, you are ready to drink!

Serve Up Some Ice Cold Mint Tea

Pour a glass over ice with a little simple syrup, limeade, or just by itself. I’m actually a big fan of mixing my mint tea with naturally-sweetened vanilla syrup. I’d originally bought this for lattes, but let me tell you about my favorite new non-alcoholic cocktail.

1 cup mint tea
1/2 cup Simply Limeade
1 tsp sugar-free vanilla syrup
Ice

And… let’s be real, this is also FLIPPING AWESOME if you mix in a shot of rum or a shot of bourbon. But my daughter is going through this phase of asking for “SOME?!” of whatever I’m drinking. That’s brought my day drinking, however minimal it was before, to a total stop.

Can My Toddler Drink Mint Tea?

And that said, she LOVES iced mint tea. She will guzzle this back and yell for “MORE!” So, I mix hers with a little bit of apple juice so she doesn’t get too much water. She’s just about two years old, but if she was any younger, I’d be most hesitant about giving her herbal tea.

There’s no caffeine in this for me to worry about with a kid, but that doesn’t mean it’s totally safe to give her cup after cup of this tea. Mint is good for settling your kiddo’s tummy, but too much can do the opposite and give them a bellyache.

The Benefits of Fresh Mint

There are a couple reasons why I looked for an alternative to standard Southern sweet tea. First off, I can usually opt for unsweet tea instead of sweet, but then it’s just meh. It’s a bitter drink, and while it’s fine and refreshing, it’s just whatever without the sweetness. It’s better mixed with lemonade!

Second, after a couple cups of iced tea, I have the jitters and half to pee like crazy. There’s a time and place for that… I mean, how many times have you gotten swollen fingers because it’s blazing hot out? Well, that’s a good reason for regular tea (unsweetened, of course).

However, I wanted a gentler tea with more flavor that to cool off on a hot day. Mint doesn’t need to be sweetened (although, I’ve shared with you my favorite way to give it a boost) and it has a strong fresh flavor. The menthol cools you down, but it also has other benefits:

• Relieves headaches
• Gives you an energy boost
• Helps with allergies and breathing through your nose
• Freshens your breath

If you want to know more about the ways mint can make your day better, you read more about it here. In any case, it is something a little different to change up your tea routine.

I really hope you’ll give this a shot! Comment below if you have any questions about mint growing, brewing, or whatever. I’d love to hear how your tea turns out and if you mixed it with anything particularly good! And don’t forget to subscribe for a meal planning worksheet and weekly blog updates.

Garden Fresh Mint Iced Tea

It's so easy to grow your own mint and even easier to turn it into a refreshing glass of Fresh Mint Iced Tea. It's the perfect refreshment for a summer day!

5 from 3 votes

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 0 minutes mins

Steep Time 10 minutes mins

Course Drinks

Cuisine American

Servings 8 cups

Equipment

• Medium saucepan
• Mesh Strainer
• 2-quart pitcher

Ingredients

  

• 1 quart filtered water
• 1 cup fresh mint leaves packed
• 1 quart ice

Instructions

 

• Bring water to a boil on the stove, and then turn off the heat.
• Stir the mint leaves into the hot water. Cover and steep for 10 minutes.
• Fill your pitcher halfway with ice.
• Place the strainer over the mouth of the pitcher, and pour the tea through the strainer.
• Keep in the fridge and serve cold over ice! Great with limeade or sweet simple syrup.

Keyword Iced Tea, Mint

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