Making Moroccan Mint Tea

Craft your own cup of Moroccan mint tea!

The Tradition of Tea

Hot mint tea embodies Moroccan culture. Moroccans are always willing to sit down and chat with a friend over a glass of this comforting beverage. As an integral display of hospitality, tea is usually served to guests at the beginning and end of a meal and throughout a visit. Turbaned desert nomads sip strong, rich tea on the dunes of the Sahara while tourists sample sweet, light tea in the richly-adorned riads of Fez. Moroccans also prescribe mint tea for weight loss and a host of other ailments.

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Elements

  • Green tea

Moroccans use loose green tea called gunpowder tea as the base of mint tea. This distinctive pellet-like tea, also known as “pearl tea,” may have derived its name from its similar appearance to gunpowder. Gunpowder tea is imported to Morocco from China and sold in most Moroccan stores. Numbers on the boxes of tea indicate varying intensities of gunpowder tea.

  • Sugar

Moroccan tea is usually deliciously sweet, but the amount of sugar in tea varies from household to household. Since diabetes is prevalent among Moroccans, some prepare mint tea with little or no sugar. However, where health is not a concern, more sugar generally makes better tea and happier guests. Tea sugar is sold in large rectangular blocks called ingots. Moroccans typically use about three of these blocks in a full teapot, but some use up to five.

Traditionally, tea sugar comes from conical sugar loaves weighing about two kilograms. Moroccans break chunks of sugar from a sugar cone with a special metal hammer and store the chunks in a large silver bowl. Sugar cones are also given as symbolic gifts for specific occasions such as births and funerals. 

  • Fresh mint

Moroccans buy mint for tea in huge bunches freshly uprooted from the ground—dirt and all. Mint is available in most small stores, called hanuts, and vegetable shops throughout residential neighborhoods. This lush green essential costs only 1.5 dh, or about $ 0.15. While mint is the most famous ingredient for Moroccan tea, other herbs such as verveine, lavender, camomile, and rosemary are sometimes substituted.

Moroccan Mint Tea

Serves about 12 full Moroccan teacups

*This recipe should be adjusted for

different sizes of teapots.

Ingredients:

  • One very large handful of fresh mint (about 3 c.)
  • 1 tsp of Gunpowder tea
  • 6 c. boiling water
  • 3 ½ blocks (ingots) of sugar (about 7 Tbsp of granulated sugar)

Preparation:

  1. Heat six cups of water to boiling.
  2. While you wait for the water to boil, rinse the mint and remove brown or wilted leaves.
  3. Measure one teaspoon of loose green tea into a teapot suitable for stovetop cooking.
  4. Pour about ¼ cup of boiling water over the green tea or enough water to cover the bottom of the tea pot. Swirl the water around and pour it out. If your teapot doesn’t have a strainer in the spout, pour the water through a strainer and return the tea leaves to the teapot.
  5. Add the sugar to the teapot.
  6. Crush the mint by twisting the bunch repeatedly to release the flavor. Stuff the mint into the teapot until the teapot is full. Your teapot may require more mint than the recipe calls for.
  7. Pour five cups of boiling water (or enough to fill the teapot) over the mint, sugar, and tea leaves.
  8. Simmer the tea on the stovetop for about five minutes or until it bubbles, leaving the teapot lid open while the tea brews.
  9. After the tea has simmered, remove the teapot from the stove. Mix the tea by pouring it into a teacup then back into the teapot. Repeat five to seven times or until it is thoroughly mixed.
  10. Once the tea is mixed, serve it hot in teacups.
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Serving Tea

In Morocco tradition extends to how tea is served. Tea is presented in an ornately engraved metal teapot that sits on a round, square, or oval metal tray. The tea is drunk from small cups made of clear or colored glass. Other accessories include a fancy cover for the tea tray and a matching teapot handle cover.

Pouring tea is a ceremony in itself. A thick layer of delicate, foamy bubbles on the surface of the tea is desirable to Moroccans. To create the bubbles, the host or hostess pours tea into each teacup, starting with the teapot just above the cup then arcing the teapot up into the air before bringing it down. Tea becomes a dramatic event when poured with such a flare.

Mint tea can complement almost any food. It may be drunk at breakfast, lunch, and supper. Tea is often served to guests with Moroccan cookies such as fekkas (a crunchy cookie similar to biscotti) or ghriba (a rich, soft cookie often flavored with coconut or peanuts). However, mint tea doesn’t really need to be accompanied by food. It can be a refreshing dessert by itself.

So, imbibe the flavor and aroma of Morocco in a cup of homemade Moroccan mint tea. Authentic Moroccan ingredients are easily obtained online. Better yet, visit Morocco and encounter mint tea in its exotic homeland! As Moroccans would say, “Marhaba!” (Welcome!)

 

Mint tea at Café Hafa in Tangier, Morocco.

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