Mint tea

Mint tea is an interesting beast. It can easily be enjoyed hot on a cold winter night or cold on a warm summer afternoon. It's also remarkably simple and inexpensive to make -- no need to buy teabags or leaves. If you have mint growing nearby, it can even be free to make.

Mint Tea

Cook time: 1 minute
Steep time: 5 minutes
Total time: 6 minutes

Yield: Any amount you wish

Ingredients

• Water
• Fresh mint leaves -- I recommend one leaf (one-inch or larger) per ounce of water, but you can easily add more if you want a strong flavor

Directions

1. Put your leaves in a vessel, such as your mug or a pitcher. I put them in a bowl because my mugs are very dark and the leaves weren't visible in the pictures.
   
2. Heat water. You can place it in your microwave on the "beverage setting," run it through a coffee machine with the filter removed, or heat it in a kettle or on the stove.
3. Pour the water over the leaves. They may blacken in spots from the heat, but don't worry. It won't affect anything.
   
4. Let the leaves steep for five minutes.
5. Use a fork to fish the leaves out of the water. 
6. CAREFULLY, squeeze out the leaves over the water. This is a very important step and you'll notice the water you squeeze out will be significantly darker than the water left in your vessel. This is all the minty goodness you're squeezing out.
7. Mix the water around to distribute the extract.
   
8. Enjoy hot or cover and refrigerate until the tea is your desired level of cold.