Spearmint Leaf

Traditional uses, not medical claims. Spearmint has grown in kitchen gardens for about as long as there have been kitchen gardens, and most of what people use it for is simple, daily and domestic.

• The gentle mint — herbalists reach for spearmint when peppermint's menthol is too much for someone.
• Traditionally taken after meals — a mild warm cup at the end of dinner is an old habit across the Mediterranean and North Africa.
• Naturally sweet — it needs no sugar, which makes it an easy caffeine-free drink for a whole household.
• The best mint for iced tea — it keeps its flavor through ice and dilution instead of going thin and watery.
• A real kitchen herb — tabbouleh, mint sauce, peas, yogurt sauces, lamb and cold summer drinks.
• Easy in blends — mild enough to make up a third of the jar without taking the whole thing over.

• Botanical name: Mentha spicata
• Plant part: Leaf
• Cut: Cut & sifted
• Sizes: 0.5 oz and 1 oz
• Origin: Packed at our Virginia farm-based apothecary
• Contains: 100% spearmint leaf. Nothing else.

• Use 1-2 teaspoons of dried spearmint leaves per 8 oz cup.
• Cover and steep 5-7 minutes in water just off the boil.
• Strain and drink it hot, or chill it down for iced tea.
• For a pitcher, use a heaping tablespoon per quart and steep 10 minutes covered.
• Crush a pinch in your palm before brewing to wake the aroma up.

Spearmint keeps its sweetness rather longer than peppermint keeps its bite, but both fade. Seal it in glass, out of the light, away from the stove and away from strong spices — mint trades aroma with whatever sits next to it. A year is a fair working life. If the bag smells like dry grass instead of mint, replace it.

Spearmint is one of the gentlest herbs we carry, which is exactly why people hand it to everyone. A few notes are still worth having. Talk with your provider if you are pregnant, nursing or taking medication.

• Mint-family allergy: spearmint is Lamiaceae, alongside peppermint, oregano, thyme and basil. Avoid it if you react to those.
• Hormone-sensitive conditions: spearmint tea has been looked at in connection with hormone levels. If that applies to you, or you take hormonal medication, ask your provider before drinking it daily.
• Gentler than peppermint for reflux, but not free of it. If any mint sets off heartburn for you, stop drinking it.
• For children, keep it weak and occasional and check with a pediatric provider first. Herbal teas are not for infants.
• In pregnancy, culinary amounts are food; ask your provider before drinking strong spearmint tea every day.
• If you take prescription medication or manage a chronic condition, check with your healthcare provider first.

Serene Tree Apothecary is a small Virginia farm-based apothecary. We buy our botanicals in small lots, taste and smell every batch before it goes on the shelf, and pack to order so what arrives is fragrant rather than dusty. Nothing here is a filler blend, a flavoring, or a mystery powder — it is one plant, cut and sifted, exactly as it appears on the label.

Most dried spearmint on the shelf is stem-heavy and dull, because sweetness is the first thing spearmint loses. We buy in small lots, sift the stem out, and keep the cut coarse — a coarse cut holds the oil in, and a fine one lets it go. Every lot gets rubbed and smelled before it is listed. If it smells like hay instead of mint, it does not go on the shelf.

We are a small Virginia farm-based apothecary, and this is one plant, cut and sifted, nothing added. Spearmint is the mint most people actually want and almost nobody compares, so we sell it small: a 0.5 oz to brew alongside our Peppermint Leaf and settle the question, a 1 oz once you know. Both are packed to order, which is why they still smell sweet when the bag opens.