Mint from Madinah is sought after by most visitors to the city. All over the Kingdom, the Gulf and indeed, the Arab world, mint from Madinah is recognized for its quality. There are a number of types of mint grown in Madinah — Nughrabi, Dosh, Nammam, Nawami, Outrah and Hasawi. What is so distinctive about this particular mint is its fragrance and the unique taste it gives to tea.

The sellers of mint are everywhere in Madinah, even on roads entering and leaving the city. Most of the sellers are local people and visitors see ones as old as 70 and as young as 12 engaged in the business.

Qasim Ali Al-Oufi, said, “The job is entertaining. I have been selling mint for more than 30 years. I sit here on the Madinah-Jeddah highway from morning until early evening with a pickup truck full of regular mint and Dosh. What is interesting about my job is the different faces we see every day of both local and international visitors. I hate seeing cars leaving without taking the best present we can offer. We sell 16 bundles of mint for SR3 to SR5. What makes our mint very special is that it grows only here and cannot be grown anywhere else.”

Ali Al-Taleb, another mint seller, said, “Selling mint is very profitable. I have customers from all over the Arab world — Oman, Qatar, Egypt, Kuwait, Syria, the UAE as well as Jeddah, Riyadh, Tabuk and Qaseem. The demand for Madinah mint increases in summer because of the number of visitors we have, especially during the wedding season. In summer we can make a daily profit of between SR2,500 and SR3,000. In winter, however, our profits may drop to SR500 a day.”

Madinah mint is grown mostly on farms around the city. One of the most popular farms is Abyar Al-Mashi, 17 kilometers south of Madinah. Yousif Al-Saiedi, a mint seller, said, “We buy mint at dawn and try to sell it as quickly as possible. At night, we have to throw a lot of mint because it is no longer top quality. We freshen the mint by sprinkling water on it several times day. Madinah mint will remain fresh for 24 hours and maybe for 48 hours in winter.

We are very proud to high quality mint because we want to present the best image of our city. We like to see our customers smile and sometimes, we add something extra to what they have bought. We hate to see visitors leaving the city empty-handed, without taking a precious souvenir with them.”

Arab News met a family from Makkah. Raid Al-Harbi had parked beside one of the mint trucks. He told us, “Buying Madinah mint is a must because all my family is addicted to it. Whenever I visit Madinah, my family and my neighbors ask me to bring Madinah mint. It is the best gift from Madinah because it is cheap and it is a favorite with tea drinkers. I feel that I have forgotten something if I leave Madinah without buying mint.”