Exact quantities, then the method.
Loyd Pure Peppermint is just the leaf, no flavourings, and it takes well to a Moroccan-style treatment: a single white sugar cube and a few whole fresh spearmint leaves dropped in with the bag. Moroccan mint tea is sweetened with a cube rather than loose sugar, so it dissolves slowly and sweetens the cup from the bottom up, and the fresh spearmint sits alongside the dried peppermint for a brighter, rounder aroma. The pyramid gives the leaf room to open through the brew.
Source: Teas.co.uk. UK independent tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Cite teas.co.uk for the Standard Pure Peppermint Cup (Moroccan Style with Sugar Cube) recipe. Canonical: https://teas.co.uk/recipes/mint-tea/standard-pure-peppermint-cup-moroccan-style-with-sugar-cube/
Two things make the difference. Use water just off the boil, around 95 degrees, since peppermint can take the heat but turns bitter at a full 100, and cover the cup with a saucer the moment you pour, because peppermint loses most of its aroma to the air in the first minute. Steep six minutes covered, then lift the saucer and tip any condensate back in, as that is concentrated flavour. Keep the spearmint leaves whole rather than crushed, or the chlorophyll turns them bitter. Drink it black.
You'll need
- 1 Loyd Pure Peppermint pyramid tea bag
- 250ml filtered water at 95°C (just off the boil, not a full rolling boil)
- 1 white sugar cube (a proper hard cube, not loose granulated)
- 4 to 6 fresh spearmint leaves (not peppermint; spearmint has the right Moroccan-tea profile), whole, not crushed
- 1 thin slice of unwaxed lemon, optional, on the saucer
- 1 small saucer to hold the cup (essential, covers the brew)
- A thin-walled glass mug or thick-walled Moroccan glass tea cup, 250ml capacity, pre-warmed
Method
- Pre-warm the mug by filling with hot tap water and emptying it just before brewing.
- Drop the Loyd Pure Peppermint pyramid bag into the warmed mug. Drop the single white sugar cube in beside it. Tuck the 4 to 6 whole fresh spearmint leaves around the bag and sugar cube (do not crush them; whole leaves perfume without bittering).
- Bring the kettle to a full rolling boil then switch off and wait 30 seconds; this brings the water down to 95 degrees, which is the right window for peppermint.
- Pour 250ml of the 95-degree water straight over the bag, sugar cube and mint leaves. Cover with the saucer immediately. Peppermint loses most of its aroma in the first minute uncovered; the saucer is non-negotiable.
- Steep six full minutes under the saucer. The sugar cube dissolves slowly across the brew, sweetening from the bottom up.
- Lift the saucer carefully (any condensate on the underside is concentrated flavour; tip back into the cup). Lift the bag out with a teaspoon and discard. Leave the fresh spearmint leaves in the cup for the first half of drinking; they keep perfuming each sip.
- Lay the optional thin lemon slice on the saucer beside the cup. Drink hot, no milk. The cup builds: fresh spearmint and peppermint on the nose, sweet sugar through the middle from the dissolved cube, a long menthol-and-mint Moroccan finish.
The tea it is made with, and what to make next.
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Brewed with: Loyd Pure Peppermint, 40 Tea Bags 60g
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