Stripped Vale Mint

Old English stripian, to strip — past-participle of strip. As a color modifier, stripped implies a clear-and-bared-and-unornamented quality, the crisp color of Cistercian-and-Bauhaus anti-ornamental stripped-down architectural interior. Sits at the crisp-and-stripped end of the grid, parallel to spare and bare in usage.

Latin vallis, valley. As a color modifier, vale implies a broad-pastoral-valley quality, the visual register of Cotswold-and-Yorkshire-Dales wide river-valley pasture-and-hedgerow agricultural surfaces in spring-and-autumn pastoral-and-overcast English afternoon-light. Sits at the modifier-and-place end of the grid, parallel to glen and dale in usage.

The genus Mentha — peppermint, spearmint, apple mint, water mint — the cooling herb whose menthol gives it that quality at the molecular level. The color refers to fresh peppermint leaves before drying: a clean, slightly cool green with the matte finish of trichome-rich leaf surface. Lighter than basil, cooler than parsley, with the mojito-and-Pimm's association of a herb tied to summer drinks across two continents.