My home-made mint tea always sucks. The beautiful people who professionally produce mint tea perform a kind of magic that I completely lack.
I assume they’re standing around a cauldron. But a dry cauldron, not a wet one. Maybe it’s a giant Sunbeam Food Dehydrator, but they’re wearing robes and chanting to evoke the fresh minty essence we all associate with anything mint flavoured.
As opposed to my herby, distinctly organic-tasting infusion of garden-variety dried mint.
This isn’t a single failed foray, it’s something I’ve been working at for years. I’ve tried different strains of mint, even a spearmint bush I found growing beside the dank Forbidden Path around the back of my in-laws’ earthquake-damaged 1970s Christchurch house. That herb was storied AF.
I’ve tried sun-drying, low-and-slow-drying and hot-and-fast-drying. The result is universally mid. Some of my taste-testers have described it as “mildly off-putting” and “a bit strange”.
Buying mint tea seems like a waste given the stuff is a ubiquitous uncontrollable weed. So what do to with my box of crushed off-putting leaves?
A revelation! I brewed my morning pot of gumboot, adding the normal 3 heaped teaspoons of Dilmah, along with a bonus teaspoon of dried mint.
Refreshing, caffeinated, a hint of wilderness, and a strong dollop of “my time has not been wasted”. What a way to start the day.
