Moroccan Mint Tea

Hi all! I am undoubtedly back from Alaska. Our first flight left yesterday evening, and our final flight was due to land in Chicago around 5am this morning . . . and somewhere in my squirrely little brain I decided that in order to maximize my vacation days, it made sense to go straight to work this very same morning.

This isn’t the first time I’ve done this. I know from experience that 5 gallons of coffee will be needed.

And until the 5 gallons of coffee actually take effect in my system, I figured I’d just share a little post that I wrote right before leaving. Because I’m probably in no shape to write at this exact moment. At this exact moment, I’m probably trying to prop my eyes open with toothpicks and apply my eyeliner in a straight-ish line to prepare for a lovely day at the office. During which I will need to remain coherent enough to catch up with everything and do a check run without bungling the entire bookeeping process.

But enough about that! Let’s get happy here–I now own a mint plant!

The story goes like this: we visited my aunt Jacquie while my cousin Will and his wife Kristen were there. Aunt Jacquie said “Do you want mint?” I cried “Yes!” So she went out to her garden and sent me home with a freshly dug-up plant and a small black and yellow spider that I spotted just before consuming the leaf he was on. That very night, I brewed up some Moroccan Mint Tea, and I rejoiced. Two days later, I realized that I had probably killed the plant. “I guess plants need water to survive,” I mused. I watered it. The plant kind of came back to life . . . on one side.

The jury’s still out on the livelihood of the other side.

I don’t know why it’s not thriving under my particular care–this other plant is doing great!

Oh yeah–that’s a plastic plant from Ikea.

Anyway, if you have a bunch of mint on hand, make some tea! Moroccan Mint Tea (at least the way I’ve had it) is very sweet–and of course very minty. It’s great served hot or cold, and it takes all of 5 minutes to brew up. We used to get big silver pots of it at a restaurant in Bloomington, Indiana called Casablanca. Sadly, Casablanca has since gone out of business, so this is my homage to their fabulous fare.

Ingredients

(Serves 5)

5 cups water
handful fresh mint (6-8 large sprigs)
5 tsp or 3 bags green tea
3 TBS sugar, to taste

For this batch I used decaf green tea, because tea is such a great calming drink to have before bedtime. However, in terms of taste, I much prefer this awesome loose leaf tea:

My friend Vessie gave it to me a long time ago, and I’m so glad I resurrected it for this purpose, because it’s absolutely delicious.

Add the mint and green tea to the pot . . .

. . . and the sugar, too.

If you are concerned about the level of sweetness (though this is meant to be a very sweet tea), err on the the side of caution and only use 1-2 TBS. You can add more sugar later as it steeps, when you can taste it.

Submerge everything with a spoon, and bring it to a boil.

Turn off the heat and let the tea steep for 3 minutes. Taste and add more sugar if needed.

Strain out the tea bags/leaves and mint, and toss ’em. We strain our tea through a funnel directly into a bottle for storage in the fridge:

As you can see, it’s kind of a two-person operation. But you can also just scoop out the solids if you don’t have an extra pair of mittened hands to help out.

The remains kind of look like a witches’ brew.

Serve hot, or store in the fridge to serve hot or cold at a later date. The tea is delicious both ways, but I like it best hot.

Mmmm. I also like drinking this tea with dinner.

It’s so fresh and heady.

Can’t wait to catch up on all your blogs!

Click here for printer-friendly version: Moroccan Mint Tea

26 thoughts on “Moroccan Mint Tea”

  1. Barbara

    not feeling that good today. will rush to get some fresh mint after work and make myself this wonderfully looking tea. thank you SOOO much for sharing!

  4. Veronica

    Welcome home! I try to take an extra day off after arriving home from vaca b/c I usually need that time to recuperate from travelling/being away. You so crazy! My sister’s friend married a guy from Morocco and she taught me all about how they prepare they’re tea: with sugar and more sugar! She seriously uses at LEAST a tablespoon of sugar for each cup of coffee or tea she makes now. Ridonkulous, but hey, I like it! My husband is convinced the devil introduced sugar to tea so he probably thinks Satan lives in Morocco. Hahahaha!

  6. Twinky

    Lovely to see the MK – BJ tea set put to good use. I think BJ came home with it when I was in late grade school or early Jr. High, when in his travels he would buy outlandishly exotic food items. For a while he was on a tea jag and hence the tea set. I have a LOT of mint… have to give this a try. I like the idea of decaf green tea since the jasmine green tea we had yesterday afternoon was probably what kept me awake for some time last night!
    Welcome home, and we are all waiting a full pictorial report on James, and Alaska, and James, and Heidi and James, and James, and James!!

  8. June

    Why do I read this post hours after pulling up and tossing all of my garden mint? There’s no justice in this world. Sigh. I’ll have to wait until it grows back from the tiny bits of root I missed. And your pot in the window will likely be fine – mint is quite hard to kill, and likes to take over everything around it in the garden!

    1. Jenna

      That’s why I love the spider plant we have, also courtesy of your Mom–that thing is impossible to kill. When we came back yesterday, it was looking livelier than ever after 2 weeks with no watering.

  9. Kimby

    Welcome home, Jenna! Hope you made it through your first day back at work. Funny how those ideas always sound good at the beginning of a trip… 🙂

    1. Jenna

      Thanks Kim! I still think my little plan was the best thing to do in order to maximize our time in Alaska–one day of semi-misery upon my return is, after all, only one day. =)

  10. oneofthelovebugs

    That looks so good! I’ve never tried to make fancy tea like this, but I def want to try now!!! My tea usually is just made w a single bag of Lipton, lol. Glad to see you’re home, I’ve missed your blog while you’ve been away – I had just gotten hooked!! Have fun settling back in!

    JB @ oneofthelovebugs.wordpress.com

  12. alongtheohio

    I do much better with the plastic plants too 😉 I have a black thumb….when I walk thru the isles at greenhouses, plants hide from me…they beg me Not to take them home. Sigh…I keep trying…but it just rarely pans out.

  15. sweetridgesisters

    Lovely post, of course, and welcome home. Hope you are refreshed and ready to return to the blogosphere. I always do the same traveling work thing, so good luck. Hope your 27th cup of coffee tastes good. Thanks for the mint idea,though I am slightly frightened at your level of organization and preparation. I am intruiged by the idea of mint as an indoor plant, though. Maybe I should dig up a bit of mine and try it indoors?

    1. Jenna

      Thanks Kate! I’ve so enjoyed catching up on your blog–it’s so much fun to read. And I really mean that!! You guys have a way of writing that’s so refreshing and makes me feel like I’m really getting an insider’s view of your lives and family.
      And I’m not sure if the mint plant survived our Alaska trip . . . it didn’t get watered for two weeks, and now it’s looking even deader than before. I’m afraid to approach it in case I have to confirm I in fact destroyed it completely.

      1. sweetridgesisters

        Thank YOU for enjoying the writing, and saying so, and reading it in the first place. Yesterday I shook myself out of my utter lassitude regarding gardening, and transplanted a hunk of mint into a pot. It looks pretty, I am happy. It wouldn’t have happened except for youuuuuuuu. Oh by the way I put up a kagazillion photos from the summer on facebook and one of them is, I am convinced, an abstract sculpture of your Grandmother Mama Kitty. So you should look for it, because I would like to know if you agree with me.

  16. Erica

    Casablanca went out of business?!?!?!??? What????

    Also…. for some reason on my computer, every single picture of this post is the same. The opening photo times a zillion. Hilarious!!

    Glad you’re back, Kiddo! Call me! I love you!

    1. Jenna

      Weird! On my computer is shows all different photos . . . another mystery of the blogiverse, I suppose. And I thought Casablanca went out of business . . . but now I’m doubting myself. Where did I even hear that??

  17. Pingback: Refreshing Moroccan Mint Tea | hunting for bliss

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