Homegrown Mint Tea - Health Benefits and How to Prepare your own Fresh and Healthy Cuppa!

I bought a collection of 12 different kinds of mint which came as tiny plug plants, they're just at the stage where they need repotting if they're going to last through winter. Outside they would naturally die back as they are perennials.

I was delighted when I spotted one of the plants was called 'Hilary's Sweet Lemon' - I hadn't even noticed that when I ordered the plants as they send you a random selection of 12 different varieties.

I ordered my plants from a shop on Amazon, I was very pleased with them, they arrived looking pretty much exactly like this and included sticky labels so you can repot them and make sure you have a label (so important as some of them look quite similar. (the plastic labels in the pic above were ones I had already, I just stuck the sticky labels on)

Browse Mint Plant Plugs on Amazon

The benefits of growing your own mint to make tea

There are lots of known benefits to drinking mint tea (if you have any long-term conditions / medication it's always best to check if the tea will interfere)

• Mint tea is excellent for any kind of stomach upset and nausea
• It's great for drinking instead of a calorific or caffeine-based drink for an energy kick as it is a mild stimulant
• Drunk before a meal mint tea can help with digestion
• It can help with a sore throat, to calm coughing (add lemon and honey for its antibacterial qualities)
• It can help open up your airways if you are bunged up with cold
• It is an ideal choice to support weight loss as it has zero calories but also lots of flavour (unlike plain water!)
• It's a great choice if you're feeling bloated as the menthol will help stimulate bile flow and ease discomfort
• It will make your breath smell minty fresh!
  

How to make homegrown mint tea

Pick a selection of leaves, tweaking the top tips off a stalk is best to keep the plant bushy and stop it from going to seed. I picked a variety of different flavours, I'm hoping once all my plants are well established that I can start to perfect my favourites and make the perfect blends with them. I'm on the hunt for the perfect pots for them all so I can dedicate an area of the greenhouse just for mints and related herbs like lemon balm.

You could just pour over hot water into a cup and then strain out the leaves but I used my little teapot so I could make enough to have some cold too. You then need to leave it for around 5 minutes, it depends on how strong you like your herbal teas. 

That's all there is to it, some people add honey to make it a little sweeter, or lemon to balance the flavour. I quite like it just plain, it's a lovely feeling making your own tea and I'm sure that factor helps with the enjoyment of drinking it.

I absolutely love this book 'Robinson's New Family Herbal' I got this copy as a birthday present from my brother shortly after my daughter was born around 18 years ago. While alot of the medical advice in there is a little ermmm old fashioned, much of it is the same as the benefits of mint I outlined above. my favourite part from the below section is him sending young ladies out with milking maids, a whipped egg, some rum and some chopped up mint - I wonder if it was the mint the rum, the milk or the fresh air that did wonders?

"Bruised and mixed with salt, mint is said to cure the bite of a mad dog"

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