Moroccan · Drinks

Moroccan Mint Tea

Gunpowder green tea and a large bunch of spearmint, sweetened heavily and poured from height into small glasses until it foams.

15 min total Serves 4 servings Easy
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Moroccan Mint Tea

Photograph credit: Moroccan mint tea-01 by Dan4th Nicholas · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Build the Meal Around Moroccan Mint Tea

  • Msemen with honey
  • Almond pastries
  • Fresh dates
Moroccan Mint Tea, in preparation
Moroccan Mint Tea, in preparation

Photograph credit: Moroccan Mint Tea by Tola Akindipe · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence

How to Make Moroccan Mint Tea

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  1. Warm a metal teapot by swilling boiling water round it and pouring it away.

  2. Put the gunpowder tea in the pot, pour in about 150 ml boiling water, swirl for 30 seconds and pour that water off. This first rinse removes the bitterness.

  3. Some households keep this first liquid as "the spirit of the tea" and add it back at the end; either is correct.

  4. Add the sugar and the boiling water to the pot and set it over low heat. Bring to just below a boil and hold it there for 3 minutes.

  5. Push the whole bunch of mint into the pot, stems and all, and pressing it under the surface with a spoon.

  6. Leave 3 to 4 minutes only. Longer and the mint turns bitter.

  7. Pour a glassful and return it to the pot. Repeat twice — this mixes the sugar through without stirring.

  8. Taste and add sugar if needed. Moroccan tea is sweet.

  9. Pour into small glasses from at least 30 cm above them so a foam head forms, and serve with a sprig of mint in each.

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Worth Knowing Before You Cook

Rinse the leaves first. It is the difference between smooth and bitter.

Mint for four minutes, no longer.

Pour from height. Foam is the sign of a well-made glass.

Storing and Reheating

Drink fresh. Leftover tea is good chilled over ice the same day.

The Numbers per Serving

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.

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Compiled by Turab

Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.

First published ; last changed .