Spick Syrup Mint

Old Norse spik-spakr, spike-new — sharing root with spic-and-span. As a color modifier, spick implies a clear-and-newly-cleaned quality where the hue carries the just-polished visual register of fresh-painted-and-fresh-cleaned surfaces. Sits at the crisp-and-clean end of the grid, parallel to spotless and pristine in usage.

Arabic sharāb, thick-sweet-drink. As a color modifier, syrup implies a thick-and-amber-and-pourable-sweet quality, the visual register of Vermont-maple-and-Levantine-rose-syrup hand-thick-and-amber-and-pourable-sweet Vermont-maple-and-Levantine-rose-syrup-and-French-grenadine syrup-and-thick-and-amber surfaces under Vermont-maple-and-Levantine-rose-syrup-and-French-grenadine Vermont-sugar-shack-and-Damascus-souk amber-pourable-light. Sits at the modifier-and-flavor end of the grid, parallel to malt and zest 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.