Fresh Mint Tea (Honey Citrus Mint Tea + Flavor Variations)
How to make fresh mint tea with mint leaves, lemon, and honey (vegan optional) in under 10 minutes. It can be served warm or iced for either a soothing or bright and refreshing, healthful caffeine-free herbal tea. This honey citrus mint tea is also super versatile - keep reading for all my favorite variations.
Wash the mint leaves well, especially when freshly picked from an outdoor plant.
Add the leaves and water to a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-low heat, allowing it to boil for 2 minutes before turning off the heat.Alternatively, you can boil the water in a kettle and pour it directly over the leaves in your mug/teapot, leaving it to steep for several minutes. However, I don’t find the flavor infuses as much this way.
Allow it to steep for a further minute or two before transferring to a teapot or mug with a few slices of lemon and a drizzle of honey (best added after the tea cools slightly). Enjoy!The longer you steep the tea, the stronger it will become. I usually enjoy my first cup after the above. The second cup is then more robust, and the third is even more so (and usually requires a little extra drizzle of honey or can be diluted with some ice cubes/ water and turned into an iced version).
For Fresh Mint Iced Tea
After steeping the tea, transfer it to the fridge to chill for 2-3 hours (or overnight). Then serve over ice with a few fresh mint leaves.
Notes
Muddle the mint slightly: I usually roll/twist the leaves in my hands before adding them to the water. However, you could also use some kind of muddler in the saucepan. This will help the mint leaves release their oil into the mint leaf tea for a more intense flavor.
To keep a teapot warm: if you’re making enough fresh mint tea to fit a teapot, I like to first fill it with boiling water and allow that to sit for several minutes before adding the tea. This seems to help keep it warmer for longer (if you don’t own a tea cozy).
Adjust the ingredients: it’s very easy to adjust the amount of mint leaves, lemon, and honey all to taste. So feel free to do so for a personalized fresh mint tea!
The color will vary: practically from batch to batch based on what type of mint you’re using, how much, the steeping time, etc.
To filter out the leaves: if you want to keep the leaves in the tea but not have them "in the way," you can serve the honey citrus mint tea in a cafetiere/French press. The plunger will filter the leaves and muddle them slightly for a more robust minty flavor.
The steeping: this can vary based on how strong you want the homemade mint tea and which type of mint you’re using.
Other Filling Options & Recipe Variations:
Fruit juice: orange, apple, and peach juice (just a few tbsps) are optional additions to the mint tea recipe that will infuse the herbal tea with extra flavor and naturally sweeten the drink.
Moroccan mint tea: (aka Maghrebi mint tea) combines this spearmint fresh mint tea with Gunpowder green tea (use any high-quality loose-leaf green tea in a pinch). Use 1 tsp of the green tea per serving.
Starbucks Medicine Ball Tea: now named "honey citrus mint tea" on their menu; if you want to make this fresh mint tea taste even more similar to the original, you could use the Teavana jade citrus mint and peach tranquility tea bags as your tea base (topped up with a few extra mint leaves).
Black mint tea: add your favorite black tea bag to the fresh mint tea recipe.
Mint green tea: add a teabag of your favorite green tea to the mint leaf tea recipe (comes with even more health benefits and gentler caffeine than coffee, for an energy boost!).
Vanilla: usually something I reserve for fresh mint iced tea, add vanilla extract to taste (usually just a drop).
Ginger mint tea: add a 1-inch piece of ginger root to the tea per serving (increase to taste). Feel free to slice/chop it to better infuse. I recommend adding the ginger to the water first for 5 minutes. Then the mint for a further 5 minutes before serving.
Lavender mint tea: lavender has a robust flavor, so you don’t need much (about 1tbsp fresh lavender leaves (or 1 tsp dried food-grade lavender) per mugful. Adjust to personal taste). A pinch of dried/fresh rosemary would also work in the lavender mint tea.
Chamomile mint tea: similar to the above, you don’t need much. Use a ½-1:1 ratio of chamomile to mint leaves. You can also make a version of this mint leaf tea with both chamomile and lavender!
Basil mint tea: use between half the amount to an equal amount of basil to mint (adjust to personal taste), and gently rub to help release the oils.
Check the blog post for more tips and answers to top FAQs!