How do you make spearmint tea?

Straight from the plant what do I do with the leaves? Do you pluck them and wait for them to dry, or do it with fresh ones? I have no idea can someone please tell me how to make spearmint tea right from the plant?

How do you make spearmint tea?
Man, that was wayyy too long.


Take a handful of fresh spearmint, crush and roll it in your palms so the flavor and smell is released


Put a small pot of cold water on high on the stovetop.


When water boils, turn it off and add the spearmint.


Let it steep about 15 minutes.


Strain and serve.


Its good with honey for a sweetener or it can be a little loud.
Reply:Look at the ingredients on commercial herbal tea labels and you'll find plants like lemongrass, spearmint, peppermint, rose hips and hibiscus. Can these be assembled in the garden? Absolutely. Most of these plants are ridiculously easy to grow. And along with being a wellspring of continuing product that invites itself to being plucked regularly, a tea garden also attracts butterflies and bees.














Both the leaves and flowers of bee balm can be used to make an herbal tea.


Bee balm. Besides splashing the summer garden with shades of red, pink, violet or white, the flowers of bee balm (Monarda didyma) lend a citrus-mint flavor to tea. Flowering lasts from midsummer until early fall. Also called bergamot or Oswego tea, bee balm puts up with a wide range of soil and light conditions but prefers full sun and moist, rich soil. The plant grows two to three feet tall and two feet wide (it tends to grow taller in shade and need staking) and can spread via rhizomes. Bees and hummingbirds will also like that you've included this perennial in the garden. Avoid overhead watering to help ward off powdery mildew; 'Elsie's Lavender' (lavender) and 'Cherokee' (rose-pink) are among the most resistant. Most cultivars are hardy to Zone 4.











When broken, lemongrass leaves have a sharply lemon fragrance.





Lemongrass. A favorite ingredient in Thai cooking, lemongrass (Cymbopogon citrantus) also shows up in many herbal tea blends. The plant is a stately clump of fairly fine-bladed grass, two to five feet tall, that grows in full sun or light shade. Gardeners north of Zone 8b (Zone 9, to be sure) will need to overwinter this tender annual as a container plant.














Pineapple mint


Mint. This family of perennials alone offers a lot of tea options, namely peppermint (Mentha x piperita), spearmint (Mentha spicata), and a host of special flavors—apple, orange, lemon, pineapple, even chocolate. Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) also offers a lemon-mint flavor. The newest leaves have the most flavor; use them fresh for hot tea as well as flavoring lemonade and iced tea.





Most mints are notoriously invasive. If you're adding mint to the garden, either grow it in containers or, if you want it in the ground, put a tall (12 inches plus), bottomless plastic container in the planting hole and plant the mint inside. Leave about two inches of rim exposed above ground, then keep an eye out for runners. Most mints are hardy to Zone 4.











Chamomile tea is brewed from the dried flowers. Caution: If you suffer from ragweed allergies, you may be allergic to chamomile.





Chamomile. A sweet miniature-daisy-like plant with feathery foliage, German chamomile (Matricaria recutita) is a trouble-free annual that's easily grown from seed and self-sows readily, and it's the type of chamomile that's usually used in making tea. Roman chamomile (Chamaemelum nobilis) is a perennial, hardy to Zone 6, but it lends a somewhat bitter flavor to tea. Give chamomile a sunny site and moist, well-drained soil. This time of year you may still find potted plants in some garden centers and specialty nurseries. Don't mistake this chamomile for the common roadside plants, scentless chamomile (Anthemis arvensis) or mayweed chamomile (Anthemis cotula), both noxious weeds in many areas.





Rose hips. Hips are the round fruits that develop from spent flowers. If you want your roses to concentrate on flower production, deadhead each bloom after its prime so the plant doesn't spend all its energy producing seed. If you want tea, however, leave the roses to wither on the bush and in time, hips will develop. A good compromise is to let the roses have their big heyday in spring and early summer, and then let them work on producing hips.














Sometimes called sweet herb, stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) is said to be a natural accompaniment to a tea garden; its leaves are considered natural sweeteners.


Making Herbal Tea





To make tea, use one tablespoon fresh leaves or flowers (as appropriate, depending on the species). If the plant material is dried, use one teaspoon.


Add the herb--or a blend of herbs--to a tea ball or a steeping cup that's resting in a mug. If desired, you can include some clippings of stevia, a natural sweetener, with the tea herbs.


Pour hot--but not boiling--water in the mug and let steep for five minutes or less.


Add honey, lemon or sugar as desired.


Caution: If you're not used to drinking fresh herbal teas, start slowly. Make sure you know the identity of the plant you're using to make tea, and be watchful for adverse reactions. Finally, don't use any leaves or flowers that have been treated with pesticides.