Morocco regularly appears in the world’s top 10 tea-drinking chart, and tea is as much a part of the culture as it is back home. Moroccans started using the stuff in the mid-19th century, after British tea merchants started exporting it via Essaouira (then Mogador) and Tangier.
Moroccan tea is made from Chinese gunpowder green tea, along with vast quantities of sugar, mint leaves and, depending on the season, location and personal preference, all manner of additional ingredients – like lemon verbena, orange blossom, cinnamon or even wormwood. Here’s a recipe for the basic version, should you wish to experiment before or after your visit:
Rinse your teapot with boiling water, add 2 teaspoons of Chinese gunpowder green tea and a little boiling water. Swirl it briefly then drain the water to remove any tea dust. Half fill the pot with boiling water. Crush sprigs of spearmint in your hand and add to the pot until it’s nearly three-quarters full. Add 2 tablespoons of white sugar and fill the pot with boiling water. Let brew for 3 minutes. Pour out a glass of tea and pour it back into the pot. Repeat this twice, to mix the tea and dissolve the sugar. Then pour from a height, to aerate the tea.
Enjoy!
‘Called by the Moors “Es Soueira” (The Little Picture), I could never understand why, until on a certain day in June some years ago, I had been staying at a Moor’s house a little way up country and was returning to the city. I reached the heights which overlook the sand dunes soon after sunrise, and I saw “The Picture”…