Tea Review: Mighty Leaf: Marrakesh Mint Green

Mighty Leaf’s Marakesh Mint Green Tea doesn’t taste like the traditional tea that they make in Morrocco. Only a particular brewing technique and fresh mint leaves can accomplish that, but it does taste like something nice and flavorful, especially if it’s cold. And cold, it also tastes like a drink you might relish if you were actually riding a camel across the Morrocan desert.

Mintiness is a logical flavor to go with hot weather and cold drinks, so I cold-brewed this tea. I put the bag into a Mason jar of spring water with the tag hanging out, stuck it in the refrigerator and ignored it for about fifteen hours. Then I took it out, removed the bag and tasted it. It was quite good and quite refreshing. This method produces a calmly flavored brew, particularly with just one tea bag for a whole jar, and in this case the result was just right. It might have gotten a little stronger if I had left it in longer, but it didn’t really need to be. I can’t imagine putting sugar in it, and it certainly doesn’t need anything added to make it interesting, but I don’t put sugar in anything, so take that with a grain of salt (or sugar?). I would recommend going light if you really must sweeten it, though. The delicate mint could get overwhelmed.

This is Mighty Leaf’s description:

“Marrakesh Mint green tea is made from China Gunpowder green tea blended with refreshing Moroccan peppermint. Packaged in a silken tea pouch, our gourmet teabag, this blend will whisk you away to cascading waterfalls deep in the mountains of Morocco. Host friends and family with this lively green tea brightened with peppermint cultivated on a mountain in Tiznit.”

Cold brewing is the best use I can think of for tea in bags like this and it is terribly convenient. You just pull out the bag or bags when you’re done steeping the tea and you have a nice refreshing jar or pitcher of tea. I wrote about the evil microbes that can invade your sun tea on The Taste of English Tea Blog, in case you want to be convinced that cold-brewing tea is a good idea.

One thing that I usually forget about mint tea, since I don’t drink it very often, is that it can help alleviate certain symptoms of some respiratory problems. It can help clear the lungs and other air passages, enabling you to feel like you’re taking in more air as you breathe. In my case I don’t know if this has something to do with asthma or allergies, but I always notice the difference that drinking mint tea makes in improving my breathing, and it usually comes as a surprise since I’m usually not drinking it for that purpose.

As I sat down to write this, with a glass of Marrakesh Mint for inspiration, I thought about how funny it was to be writing about a hot weather, summery cool, mint tea when it had been overcast and rainy all day today. But as I sat there, taking nice sips of the cold tea the sun came out, so apparently this tea has a magical ability to summon the sunlight, which is kind of a nice side benefit if you’re into that sort of thing.