Summary
Spearmint (Mentha spicata) is a herbaceous perennial known for its fresh scent, cooling taste and vigorous spreading growth. It has moved through Roman kitchens, European herb gardens, Chinese households, tea traditions and commercial distillation for centuries. The leaves and young shoots were eaten fresh or dried, brewed in drinks and used in household preparations, while later growers harvested flowering plants for aromatic oil. Modern research has also examined spearmint tea, especially its effects on androgen levels in women with hirsutism.
Mentha spicata
About
Spearmint has green, toothed leaves, square stems and upright flower spikes, usually with pale pink to lilac flowers in summer. It spreads through underground runners and can quickly colonize nearby soil, so gardeners often grow it in a contained area or pot. In colder climates the above-ground growth usually dies back in winter, so it is not evergreen there.
Fresh or dried spearmint leaves are used in food, drinks and tea. Across history, people cooked mint with vegetables, fish, milk and legumes, added it to baths, dried it for winter and distilled flowering plants for aromatic oil.
From the Roman Table to the Herb Garden
In the first century CE, mint was already an ordinary kitchen and household herb. Pliny the Elder (Roman naturalist and writer) described mint growing well in moist ground and being used both fresh and dried. Its juice was added to sauces, while crushed leaves appeared in drinks made with milk, honeyed wine and sour pomegranate juice.
Dioscorides (Greek physician and botanist) described green mint as aromatic and pungent. He recorded mint juice mixed with vinegar or pomegranate juice and mint sprigs steeped in milk. The Roman cookbook associated with Apicius also used fresh and dried mint in vegetable sauces, legumes, meat, fish and sweet-and-sour dishes.
More than fifteen centuries later, John Parkinson (English gardener and herbal writer) described spearmint with square green stems, paired leaves and pale flowers. He also observed how strongly it spreads underground: creeping roots could produce a new plant from even a small separated piece. Parkinson advised keeping mint in its own place at the edge of the herb garden so it would not overrun neighbouring plants.
Spearmint in China: From Garden Herb to Tea
Li Shizhen (Chinese physician and herbalist) included bo he, a historical Chinese mint, in the Bencao Gangmu, published in 1596. Families cultivated mint near their homes, and new plants could be raised by dividing the roots in spring.
In regions including Wu and Sichuan, mint leaves were brewed and drunk instead of ordinary tea, and mint grown around Suzhou was especially valued for its fragrance. Chinese tradition described the plant as pungent and cooling. Mint therefore belonged to the garden, kitchen and tea cup at the same time.
How Spearmint Was Harvested, Dried and Distilled
By the early twentieth century, spearmint had become both a household herb and an agricultural crop. Maud Grieve (British herbal writer) described harvesting plants around flowering time. Mint intended for drying was cut on a dry morning after the dew had disappeared, damaged leaves were removed, and stems were tied into loose bundles.
Once dry, the leaves were protected from moisture to preserve their fragrance. Flowering plants intended for oil were taken to the still for distillation. Spearmint oil is strongly associated with carvone, the compound responsible for much of its characteristic aroma.
What Are the Benefits of Spearmint Tea?
Spearmint tea has been studied for its effects on hormone levels, particularly in women with hirsutism. In a small 2007 study, 21 women with hirsutism drank one cup of spearmint tea twice daily for five days, and their free testosterone levels decreased significantly.
Does Spearmint Tea Lower Testosterone?
In a later 30-day randomized trial involving 42 women, drinking spearmint tea twice daily significantly reduced both free and total testosterone, although objective hair-growth scores did not significantly change during the short study period.
These studies used a defined preparation and repeated daily intake, so they do not show that an occasional cup of spearmint tea will produce the same effect in everyone. They do, however, provide a modern continuation of one of mint’s oldest forms of use: leaves brewed as tea.
Sources
- Pliny the Elder — Natural History.
- Dioscorides — De Materia Medica.
- Apicius — De Re Coquinaria.
- John Parkinson — Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris, 1629.
- Li Shizhen — Bencao Gangmu, 1596.
- Maud Grieve — A Modern Herbal, 1931.
- Akdoğan M. et al. — Effect of spearmint teas on androgen levels in women with hirsutism, Phytotherapy Research, 2007.
- Grant P. — Spearmint herbal tea has significant anti-androgen effects in polycystic ovarian syndrome, Phytotherapy Research, 2010.
- NutritionFacts.org — Spearmint / mint and androgen-related research.
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Plants of the World Online: Mentha spicata.
