Peppermint does wonders to cool the body – by consuming it, bathing in it – even the smell alone is enough to awaken the senses. When prepared as an iced tea, it’s all the more refreshing.

Typically, Moroccan Mint is brewed using peppermint and green tea – particularly gunpowder or hyson, and importantly, lots of sugar. The traditional Moroccan Mint brew is oh, so sweet. They actually use about 5 teaspoons of sugar for every teaspoon of tea brewed!

One can find varieties of Moroccan Mint tea by several tea companies – Stash, Taylors of Harrogate, even some retail tea stores offer their own blend. Traditionally, the tea is consumed hot, but it is not unheard of to drink it over ice.

If you have loose leaf gunpowder or a Ceylon blend on hand, and dried peppermint, you pretty much have everything you need to mix up your own Moroccan Mint. My personal favorite recipe is simply a mixture of gunpowder or something strong and black, (depending on my mood) and peppermint, in a 3 to 7 ratio. Yeah, maybe that ratio sounds crazy, but that’s the way it goes.

Personally, I prefer to measure using 1 tablespoon (not the 3 tsp = 1 tbsp tablespoon, an actual eating tablespoon) of tea to 1 cup of water. Using this recipe, you would need 10 cups of water, 3 tablespoons of peppermint, and 7 tablespoons of the base tea – be it green or black. And of course, a mass quantity of sugar.

A more traditional recipe for home blended Moroccan Mint might be as follows:

• 1 teaspoon of Chinese gunpowder tea
• 1 large bunch of fresh mint
• 4 – 6 sugar cubes
• 1 small teapot (11 fl oz)

Bring fresh water to a boil and pour over tea leaves in the teapot. Give the liquid a good rinse around in the teapot, and then pour the water away. Add the mint and sugar, and fill with boiling water once more. Allow to steep for 2-3 minutes.

Of course, if you’re not up for mixing your own brew, pick up one of the pre-blended kinds. Taylors of Harrogate and Stash make theirs with green tea, while the English Tea Store Moroccan Mint blend is mixed with black.

Green or black, give it a try over ice this summer on a sweltering day – you’ll be pleasantly surprised!