How to Harvest Mint for Tea

Learn how to harvest mint for tea the easy way! With this simple tutorial, you’ll have freshly harvested mint for drying, freezing, and enjoying fresh. Keep your plants healthy and productive by harvesting from them the right way!

Of all the vibrant smells of summer, three are my favorite: the smell of tomato plants, freshly harvested basil, and fresh garden mint. 

Fresh mint is one of the best parts of gardening season! This time of year,  I add it to drinks, make fresh tea, garnish dishes, and even add it to flower bouquets. 

Of course, I also have to preserve some for later in the year when my herb garden is covered in snow. Freezing and drying mint are excellent ways to ensure you have access to this lovely garden herb year-round. 

So how do you harvest mint? What’s the best way to trim the mint plant so it stays healthy and grows back even fuller?

Keep reading for a simple, step-by-step tutorial on how to harvest mint for tea and more.

Why Grow Mint?

• Save money. Store-bought herbs are so expensive. I can’t bear adding to my grocery bill that way! Growing your own mint can save so much money and you’ll have fresher, more delicious mint than anything you can find at the store.
• Keep pests away. I’m all about keeping pests away with natural methods such as companion planting (no pesticides over here!). Mint helps deter cabbage moths, flea beetles, and other common garden pests. It can even help deter chipmunks and other rodents!
• It smells amazing. Even if you don’t consume a ton of mint, I think it is well worth adding to your garden. The mint plants are absolutely lovely and anytime you walk past and get a whiff of fresh mint you will feel energized and uplifted!
• It’s versatile. There are so many wonderful uses for fresh mint! Make sauces, dressings, beverages, and more with this tasty herb. Keep reading for more suggestions!
• It’s low maintenance. One of my top tips for keeping gardening simple and fun is to grow lots of perennials. As a perennial herb, mint will come back year after year. That means less time spent planting! 

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What You’ll Need

• Garden scissors: I really like metal cottage garden scissors or garden snips, but any sharp scissors will work!
• Harvest basket: A bag or bowl will also work.

How to Harvest Mint

Mint can be bulk-trimmed with some scissors, like giving it a haircut. This may be the most practical way to harvest it if you have a ton of mint.

The best way to harvest mint, however, is stem by stem. 

Harvesting mint this way encourages those two shoots to grow into full-size stems, essentially doubling your mint!

Keep in mind that it’s best to harvest no more than ⅔ of the mint plant at a time, so as not to shock it. 

How Often To Harvest Mint

It’s best to harvest mint continuously throughout the gardening season. Regularly harvesting your mint will encourage it to produce more and grow bushier. 

This is because plants in the mint variety grow through side shoots. As you can see in the photo below, each set of leaves has two shoots coming out of the stem above them. When you harvest your mint, the shoots right below the cut will grow into two new stems. This means that each time you harvest a stem of mint, two new stems come up in its place!

You can harvest mint on an as-needed basis, taking a few sprigs when you’re making a recipe with some. It’s also a good idea to do a big harvest every few weeks when you notice your mint is getting rather large and overgrown. 

Helpful Tips for Growing Mint

• Mint usually grows in creek beds out in the wild, so it thrives with plenty of water and fertile soil. Give your mint consistent water and don’t let the soil dry out for long between waterings. 
• It’s also a great idea to add a thick layer of mulch to the soil around your mint plants. This can be grass clippings, leaves, pine shavings, or straw. The mulch will help the soil stay evenly moist and reduce the amount of water needed.
• Mint grows best in full sun or partial shade. The more sun it gets, the faster it will grow.
• Mint can be very aggressive and completely take over a garden bed. It spreads both through seeds and underground runners, so don’t think you can keep the flowers trimmed to prevent it from spreading! I recommend growing mint in a small raised bed, planter, or pot so you don’t have to worry about it spreading to areas where you don’t want it.
• It’s best to keep your mint plants from flowering by regularly harvesting the tops. Once a mint plant flowers, it will put the energy into growing those blooms rather than growing more foliage. If your plants start to flower, you can quickly clip the flowers off.

What to Do With Homegrown Mint

There are so many wonderful uses for homegrown mint! I love having it fresh from the garden all summer long and keeping some dried and frozen throughout the winter. Here are just a few uses for this versatile herb:

• Make tea with your mint, fresh or dried. Mint tea is refreshing, soothing, and has loads of health benefits.
• Add fresh mint to mojitos, such as these refreshing strawberry mojitos.
• Make herb sauces. Mint is delicious in yogurt-based sauces, chimichurri-inspired sauces, pestos, and more.
• Use as a lovely edible garnish on dishes and desserts. I love adding sprigs of mint and homegrown edible flowers to fresh berry cakes in the summer.
• Add fresh mint leaves to salads and fruit salads (such as spring fruit salad)

FAQs

When should I pick mint for tea?

Mint can be harvested for tea throughout the growing season, starting when the plant is 3-4 inches tall until the first killing frost. Mint is its most flavorful right before it flowers, but it’s best to harvest mint throughout the season. The best time of day to harvest mint is the early morning.

Is fresh or dried mint better for tea?

This is technically a matter of preference, but in my opinion, the bright and refreshing flavor of fresh mint tea is hard to beat. The flavor is much more “minty” when the herb is fresh compared to dry. Of course, having fresh mint year-round is challenging in most climates, so drying tea is a wonderful way to preserve the harvest.

How do you know when mint is ready to harvest?

You can pick individual mint leaves at any time, starting in early summer when it first emerges.. For a large harvest, it’s best to wait until the plant is about 4 inches high. Be sure to leave at least ⅓ of the plant to continue growing after each harvest.

How do you store fresh mint after cutting?

If they are long enough, I’ve found that sticking the mint stems in a jar of water on the counter is the best for a long shelf life. For shorter pieces and individual leaves, you can store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. If you aren’t able to use your mint before it goes bad, I recommend freezing the mint or drying your mint.

What is the best type of mint?

There are so many types of mint and they are all delicious. You can get chocolate mint, lemon mint, strawberry mint, pineapple mint, orange mint, and even ginger mint. I am rather partial to strawberry mint, but my go-to is plain old peppermint! You can’t go wrong with any of the options, it’s a matter of preference and what you’ll be using your mint for.

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