How to Make Mint Tea from Fresh Mint Leaves
Learn how to make mint tea with fresh mint from your garden! This is such a refreshing summer tea to make using only all-natural ingredients.
Every summer I make gallons of fresh mint tea. As soon as the mint starts blooming in spring, my youngest son begs me to make homemade mint tea.
My mom was the one who introduced me to the wonderful experience of growing your own mint. It’s one of the easiest herbs to grow.
If you’re familiar with growing mint, you know that mint plants grow and spread like crazy. They’re so prolific that you have to be careful where you plant them, because they can take over the whole garden. And then you get to decide what to do with all that mint!
I used to have my mint growing around a tree. But then I switched to this barrel planter. It works out really well because it stops the mint from spreading all over the place and getting out of hand.
I have three different kinds of mint in this planter—peppermint, chocolate mint, and I can’t remember what the third one was. I think it was apple mint. There are so many different varieties of mint to choose from.
But every summer we have an abundance of fresh mint to make lots of fresh mint tea!
Why You’ll Love This Mint Tea Recipe
On a hot summer day, there’s nothing like walking out to your garden, picking some fresh herbs, and making your own herbal tea. This mint tea recipe is the easiest way to enjoy the mint growing in your garden.
One of the best things about this recipe is how simple it is. You literally just have to grab some handfuls of mint, boil some water, and with just a few additional steps, you’re on your way to a cup of fresh mint tea!
I like to make up a large batch, sweeten it, and then store it in the refrigerator so that we can enjoy it for days. My family loves it!
This post contains affiliate links, which means I may make a small commission at no cost to you. Read my full disclosure here.
Supplies Needed to Make Mint Tea
- fresh mint
- measuring bowl or other large bowl
- fine mesh strainer
- gallon jar drink dispenser
- kettle (I use an electric kettle like this to boil water)
- scissors (optional—these black ones are my favorite!)
Ingredients
The full list of ingredients and amounts are in the recipe card below.
- Fresh mint leaves
- Water
- Sweetener (you can use honey, stevia, granulated sugar, or whatever you prefer to sweeten your tea)
How to Make Mint Tea
Making your own fresh peppermint tea from fresh leaves is easy and fun. It’s something my children have always loved to help with.
I think they like the idea that we’re making this from scratch from something we grew ourselves. Here are the easy steps to making mint tea at home.
Step 1: Get a Handful of Mint
First, go out to your garden and cut off some sprigs of mint. I don’t just use the leaves, I use the stem too. I just cut off the top part of the plant, and that way the mint will continue to replenish itself.
Somehow cutting it seems to make it grow even more!
For a gallon of mint tea, use a handful or two of mint, depending on how strong you want it. I just grabbed a handful of fresh mint leaves to take inside.
Step 2: Rinse the Leaves
Rinse the leaves under running water to remove any bugs, spiders, or other debris.
I like to gently swish mine in a bowl of clean water first, then I rinse them under some running water.
Step 3: Crush the Leaves
Next, put the clean leaves in a bowl of water and squeeze and crush them with your clean hands. This releases the delicious scent of mint from the plants.
Continue massaging and crushing the leaves in the water until the water turns a brownish color. It will look like tea.
Strain the liquid through a fine mesh strainer or a cloth into a gallon jar or pitcher.
Step 4: Steep the Leaves
Next, I boil about 8 cups of water in my electric kettle (or use whatever you have to boil the water—you can put the water in a saucepan and heat over medium-high heat until it starts to boil).
Pour the boiling water over the leaves left in the bowl.
Let the mint leaves steep in the water for about 10-15 minutes, until you see the water turning a light brown.
Step 5: Combine and Sweeten
After the water in the bowl has cooled a little bit (but is still hot), pour through the fine mesh strainer into the gallon jar.
Combine with the rest of the mint tea and stir. Add the sweetener of your choice and stir again.
Serve Your Fresh Mint Tea Over Ice
Finally, after your tea has been sweetened, serve it over ice (for the iced version) and enjoy your homemade tea! You can also add lemon slices if you like.
I hope you enjoyed learning how to make your own mint tea from your garden! It’s one of our favorite summer drinks ever.
More Summer Drink Recipes
- Sugar-Free Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade
- How to Make Water Kefir Soda
- Water Kefir Cream Soda Recipe
- How to Make Sumac Tea
If you make this recipe and enjoy it, please leave a comment with a 5-star recipe rating and let me know! Thank you!
How to Make Mint Tea with Fresh Mint
Ingredients
- 1 large handful of fresh mint sprigs (include leaves and stems)
- 6 cups room temperature water
- 8 cups boiling water
- 1/2 tsp pure stevia extract (or sweetener of choice—honey works well too)
Instructions
- Gather a very large handful of fresh mint leaves. If you want your tea stronger, use two handfuls of leaves.
- Rinse the freshly picked mint with clean water.
- Put rinsed mint in a large bowl and add 6 cups of clean, room temperature water.
- Crush the mint with your clean hands until the water turns a brownish color.
- Strain through a fine mesh strainer or a cloth into a gallon jar.
- Boil 8 cups of water (I use my electric kettle for this) and pour over the crushed mint leaves that are still in the bowl (that you just strained). Let the mint leaves steep in the boiled water for 10-15 minutes (I just cover the bowl with a plate to let it steep).
- Add steeped mint tea to the gallon jar with the rest of the tea. Add your sweetener of choice (I use stevia or honey), and stir well to combine. Add clean water to the jar until you have about a gallon of tea.
- Add ice cubes to the tea to help it cool down faster. Serve over ice, and enjoy!
I made this every single week over the summer. Every single person who tried it loved it. So incredibly delicious and refreshing
I’m so glad to hear that! It’s such a great way to enjoy fresh mint. Thank you so much for the positive review, Sam!
you can add a bit of lemon balm too for a nice gentle lemony twist
Great idea!
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
It stays good for a few days in the fridge.
This looks so good! What a refreshing drink to make for friends in the summer!
It is very good and refreshing!