DIRECTIONS on How to Dry Mint Leaves for Mint Tea! These DIY How to Make Mint Tea instructions shows how easy it is to dry mint leaves so you can make your own homemade peppermint tea. I store this dried mint tea for months so I can enjoy the health benefits year round!
How to Make Homemade Mint Tea
If your garden is overflowing with mint (it happens to the best of us!), drying it for tea is the perfect way to make sure none of it goes to waste. This easy method transforms fresh mint leaves into flavorful dried tea leaves you can enjoy all year long. Plus, it’s a great way to preserve that refreshing minty aroma long after summer’s over.
When you have too much mint growing, turning it into homemade mint tea is one of the simplest and most rewarding solutions. You’ll learn how to pick, dry, and store your mint so it keeps its flavor and freshness for months. Enjoy a soothing cup of mint tea whenever you like — it’s delicious hot, iced, or mixed with other herbs for your own custom tea blends.
Looking for more garden blend teas? Try my Cucumber Peppermint Tea and Tomato Tea next!
How to Dry Mint Leaves
It’s as simple as spreading a layer of fresh mint on a cookie sheet. Here’s a before and after of drying mint.
Set the oven on a low enough temp and let it sit for 2-3 hours.
Crumble it up and store it in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
How much dried mint for tea?
To make a single cup of mint tea, use a teaspoon of dried mint. Let steep for 3 minutes in hot water.
And now you know how to make peppermint tea! Enjoy!
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How to Make Mint Tea
PrintIngredients
- Fresh Mint
Instructions
- Pick mint, clean if needed. If cleaning, make sure to dry mint completely, I like to let it sit overnight.
- Preheat oven to 170 degrees F.
- Place mint in one layer on a baking sheet.
- Bake mint for 2-3 hours. Check at the 2 hour mark to see if mint is completely dry. If not, check every 15 minutes.
- Once out of the oven take mint and crumble leaves into a container. Store in jar, preferably in a dry dark cabinet shelf.
- When using for tea, use one teaspoon of dried mint leaves and steep for 3 minutes in hot water.
Margaret Mitchell says
Can you do same with other herbs such as dill, basil, etc ?
Pamela says
You sure can. Just make sure to check your herbs every hour to be safe, time depends on climate/ humidity, but usually 2-4 hours is the golden number.
Shoba Mano says
Do your leaves remain green after drying or do they turn a darker colour? I have found if they need to be slightly darker/brownish before they can be considered well and truly dry. If they are still green then the leaves are not dry and can get moldy when stored.
Also is the colour of your tea brown or green? In the photo it looks brown.
Pamela says
Hi Shoba, the color of tea is going to be a lovely light green/yellow. The leaves are completely dry and can store for months, I have never had a issue with mold. I often dry mint for friends and place in small mason jars as gifts. Enjoy!
Deryl says
Wouldn’t it dry faster if you just did the leaves and not the stems?
Pamela says
It’s still going to take the same amount of time to dry, plus if you do that you’re adding the extra time it’s going to take to remove the individual leaves one by one. For the way I do it, once you take it out of the oven, you’ll be able to remove all the leaves in just one hand swipe.
raf says
does this work with any type of mint?
Pamela says
Sure does!
Terri Murari says
For the mint tea, do you add the dry mint leaves to water or to tea?
Pamela says
For mint tea, I put the dried mint in a tea strainer or a tea bag. Enjoy!
Bee says
Some family just sent us a jar of homemade mint tea leaves as a gift and it is so delicious. I’m going to have to start making my own – thank you for the simple method here!
Amy @ Elephant Eats says
So smart to make your own mint tea! It’s pretty much the only kind I drink and I go thru tons of it. I need to start planting herbs!
Anna says
Pamela, its like you can see my garden or something… Its not normal, but we still have a thriving herb garden and my mint is seriously outta control. I am a mad keen tea drinker, but don’t always like to have a the caffein, so making a mint tea is a fab idea. Thanks, simple and totally achievable. 🙂 What are your thoughts on using fresh mint?
Pamela says
You can totally make tea with fresh mint too Anna! I’ll have a post coming about that soon! 🙂
Annette says
I have only used fresh mint for tea! I just crumple up 2 or 3 branches, throw boiling water over them and let sit for 3 min. Learned this from a cousin in Slovenia! It’s the only reason I grow mint!
Arpita@ The Gastronomic Bong says
Wow!! I had no idea it is so easy to dry mint at home!! Mint tea is one of my favourites.. thanks for sharing!! 🙂
Mary Frances says
This couldn’t be any simpler! What a great gift a home-grown mint tea blend would make.
Jocelyn (Grandbaby Cakes) says
Oh this is a fantastic tutorial! I would love some of this for my tea!
Emma | Fork and Good says
Tea? Yes, I’m a bit of a fan 😉
Thanks for this, great post! Mint tea is one of my faves cause it just makes me happy.
Judit + Corina | Glamorous Bite says
Beautiful photos Pamela, would love a coup ( or two) of your aromatic mint tea! Great way to save all the vibrant summer herbs 🙂
Cheers,
J+C
Jamie | Jamie's Recipes says
Holy moly is this every easy! I have lots of mint too. I can’t wait to give it a go. Thanks Pamela!
Kristi @ Inspiration Kitchen says
This tea looks absolutely amazing – and I love the way you welcome the day! Having a nice cup of tea in the morning sounds like a perfect way to start a day.
Kelly @ Inspired Edibles says
This is such a clever (and well explained) idea for a post. Mint tea is delightfully soothing and lucky for those of us with a black thumb (that would be me) mint is impossible to kill 😉 so I have plenty of it growing and waiting to be dried for this dedicated purpose. Yay! Your photos are lovely… thank you for the great how-to!
Sophie says
Thanks for explaining it, nice & easy! 🙂 Yummm!
The Café Sucre Farine says
What a great trick to know Pamela. I have a TON of mint. I won’t ever have to buy mint tea again, yeh
Sues says
SUCH an awesome idea!! My husband and I were just talking about drying out some basil, but now I want to make fresh mint tea, too!
raf says
basil is a type of mint so you can use the same instructions i think.
Joanne says
I love infusing my tea with a bit of mint, so I will definitely be trying this!
Denise@magnoliaverandah says
I am huge tea drinker and have a lovely plant ready for a prune- perfect thankyou!
Katie says
I have more mint in my yard than I could ever drink. Come over and take it all!! I keep finding it in unexpected places too. It just….grows and grows and it has a life of it’s own!
PSA to those with gardens – keep mint in containers!!
Still, I’ve never dried it even though I’ve dried every other kind of herb. But, hey….stems and all, huh?
Suzanne says
I have a ton of mint, will try this. Thanks for the tips!
Mary Frances says
That is so cool! Who knew it was so easy to do it at home? I do enjoy a good cup of tea and making it all completely at home would make it even better!
Chris @ Shared Appetite says
Cool! Now I know!! Haha, I thought you needed a dehyradator or something fancy like that!
Koko says
This is so easy! I love it! I love drinking tea…and I’m sure this could be used with so many different herbs. Great idea, pamela! PS your orange nails are so cute!
PassTheKnife says
Such a great idea to do! My mother is always giving away bunches of her herbs, I’ll send this right along to her! What a great gift this would be too!
Emma @ Bake Then Eat says
What a great way to quickly dry out your mint leaves, I love mint tea and love making my own I shall definitely give this a go with all the mint I have in the garden at the moment.
Shashi @ runninsrilankan says
Pamela – I had no clue – NEVER thought to use the oven to dry out any herbs – oh my – thank YOU!!! I am not a huge tea drinker (though I did enjoy that Peach tea you sent me) but the possibilites for dried herb usage are limitless!
Kelly @ Trial and Eater says
I had no idea it was this easy! I want to dry a bunch of herbs that I’ve grown this year. I am a coffee drinker in the morning, but I’m trying to become an herbal tea drinker at night to prepare myself for sleep 🙂
vinod pandey says
you take in morning breakfast good for health.