By Meriem Cherif
In North Africa, drinking tea isn’t just a quick sore throat remedy or a pick-me-up during a sluggish day—it’s a thorough ritual. If you are up to the challenge, here are the steps to make authentic and delicious Moroccan tea!
Ingredients:
- 8 cups of water
- 4 tablespoons of sugar
- 5 fresh sprigs of mint
- 1 ½ tablespoons of cut dry mint leaves (can be found at most ethnic grocery stores or here)
- 1 ½ tablespoons rolled dry green tea (can be found at most ethnic grocery stores or here)
- In a medium-sized pot, set 3 cups of water to boil. In a larger pot, set the remaining 5 cups of your water to boil.
- Place 1 ½ tablespoons of your cut dry mint leaves into the smaller pot. This leaf will provide the strong and bitter flavor found in Moroccan tea. In your larger pot, add 1 ½ tablespoons of the rolled mint leaves to boil. Allow both teas to steep for 3 minutes after boiling. After a few minutes, you will see the rolled leaves begin to unfurl!
- Once the color has released and both teas are aromatic, turn down the heat to a low simmer.
- Grab a ladle, and begin slowly transferring the tea from the larger pot into your medium-sized pot.
- Continue ladling the mint tea into the green teapot until both teas have fully incorporated with each other.
- Add 4 tablespoons of sugar into the pot (3 if you want less sweet tea), and allow to simmer for 2 more minutes
- Place 5 sprigs of fresh mint leaves into a teapot or drinking vessel of choice
- Pour hot tea into teapot or drinking vessel of choice
- Allow tea to fully steep in the teapot for 5 more minutes before enjoying!
Extra pro tip: Pouring your tea from as high a height possible makes it magically taste better. Check out my dad’s pour above for an example!