- Chinese gunpowder green tea
- Fresh spearmint (sheeba, wormwood, in winter in some regions)
- Sugar, generously
Mint Tea Culture
A camel herder preparing Sahraoui tea in the desert. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
Mint tea is not a drink in Morocco; it is the social contract. Gunpowder green tea brewed with fresh mint and a great deal of sugar, poured from a height to raise the foam, and served in small painted glasses. It is offered to guests, to customers, to strangers: refusing it is refusing the conversation.
The pour matters: the height aerates the tea and cools it, and the foam (the 'turban') on top is the mark of a good pour. In the south, Sahraoui tea is poured three times, each glass stronger and more bitter than the last.
Key ingredients
Where to try it
- Everywhere: cafés, shops, riads, the roadside.
- Café Hafa in Tangier for the classic Strait view.
- The desert: three pours of Sahraoui tea with nomad hosts.