How to Make Mint Tea from Fresh Mint Leaves

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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.

homemade mint tea in a gallon glass jar with two glasses filled with mint tea

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! 

fresh mint leaves growing in a barrel

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!

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Supplies Needed to Make Mint Tea

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)
woman's hand holding a bunch of fresh mint sprigs and scissors

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.

freshly picked mint sprigs on a marble counter with a pair of black scissors

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.

fresh mint leaves in a glass bowl

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.

steeping mint leaves in a glass bowl

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.

homemade mint tea in a gallon glass jar with a spigot and two glass drinking jars filled with mint tea

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.

fresh mint tea in a glass drinking jar with a metal straw and a sprig of fresh mint

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

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

How to Make Mint Tea with Fresh Mint

Learn how to make mint tea with fresh mint from your garden! This is a delicious and refreshing summer drink that is easy to make!
5 from 1 vote
Print Pin Rate
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: American
Keyword: fresh mint tea, how to make mint tea, mint tea recipe
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 1 gallon
Calories: 3kcal
Author: Joy Kincaid

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!

Nutrition

Calories: 3kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 0.1g | Fat: 0.04g | Saturated Fat: 0.01g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.02g | Sodium: 167mg | Potassium: 23mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Vitamin A: 170IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 109mg | Iron: 0.2mg

5 from 1 vote

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28 Comments

  1. I made this every single week over the summer. Every single person who tried it loved it. So incredibly delicious and refreshing

    1. 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!