In Morocco, mint tea is much more than a drink: it is an act of hospitality, friendship and tradition. In short, it is a real institution and is served throughout the day, after every meal and during any conversation. Moroccans take great pride in their tea and often question guests to find out who among their group of friends is able to prepare it best. To make the host proud, you may have to drink two or three cups. Thanks to its sweet and delicious taste, Moroccan mint tea is very popular even outside the borders of the North African country. It is prepared following the traditional method with a variety of green tea called Gunpowder and should be served with a lot of sugar.
Ingrediants
For 6 cups of tea
- 1 tablespoon (15 g) of Gunpowder green tea
- 1, 2 l of boiling water
- 3-4 tablespoons (45-60 g) of sugar
- 1 large bunch of fresh mint (about 28 g)
Steps
Part 1 of 2: Activating the Tea Leaves
Step 1. Boil 240ml of water
Pour it into a kettle or small saucepan and heat it on the stove using medium-high heat.
- If you prefer, you can heat all the water at this stage, but a cup (240 ml) will suffice to activate the leaves. The remaining water will need to be heated before using it.
- The water must reach a temperature between 70 and 80 ° C.
Step 2. Heat the teapot
Pour 60ml of hot water into the clean teapot, then gently swirl it inside to rinse and heat it.
The ideal is to use a Moroccan teapot. Its size may vary, but generally a small teapot can hold about half a liter of water, with which you can make 6 glasses of mint tea. Normally a large teapot can hold a liter, so the number of servings of tea doubles (12 shot glasses). Of course, you can also use a normal teapot, preferably one that can be heated directly on the stove
Step 3. Add green tea
Put the tea leaves in the teapot. You need approximately one teaspoon (5g) to make a cup of tea (175ml). If you use the quantities indicated in this recipe, add the full dose of leaves.
The variety of Chinese green tea that takes the name of Gunpowder (because the leaves are given the shape of small balls) is the most used to prepare Moroccan tea. If you can't find it, you can get a similar version of the drink using green tea of another variety or tea bag. In the second case, at least two sachets will be needed to replace a tablespoon (15 g) of green tea leaves
Step 4. Pour the remaining water
Add the other 200ml of hot water to the teapot, directly on top of the tea leaves. Gently swirl the teapot to heat, rinse and activate the green tea.
Step 5. Let it steep briefly
Let the green tea steep in hot water for about 30 seconds. If you are a lover of strong flavors you can consider leaving it to infuse even for 1-2 minutes.
Step 6. Drain the leaves
Swirl the teapot again to rinse the leaves again, then pour out the water and leave the leaves in the teapot.
- This phase serves only to rinse and activate the leaves; what you have to pour out is just water, not tea.
- Some teapots have a built-in filter, others don't. If your teapot does not include the filter, pour the water through a colander to hold the tea leaves so you can put them back in the teapot.
Part 2 of 2: Making the Tea
Step 1. Add the other ingredients to the teapot
It's time to incorporate the fresh mint and sugar. Add them directly to the wet tea leaves.
- Go in search of a grocery store that sells products from North Africa. Moroccan mint has a different taste than that which is grown elsewhere. However, if you can't find it, you can safely use our own one.
- The most suitable sugar for preparing Moroccan mint tea is cane sugar or, if you prefer, you can use dextrose; in this case, however, you have to double the doses to reach the right degree of sweetness.
Step 2. Pour the remaining water into the teapot
If you have previously heated it and it has been kept at the right temperature, you can add it immediately. If not, heat the remaining quart of water on the stove before pouring it into the teapot.
- Leave the tea leaves to steep for about 5 minutes.
- If you are using a Moroccan teapot (or a traditional teapot that you can put on the fire), instead of making a simple infusion, put it on the stove and bring the water to a light boil using a low heat. As soon as the water boils, remove the teapot from the heat and let the tea steep for a few minutes.
Step 3. Pour the tea into a glass, then return it to the teapot
Repeat this 2-3 times to make sure that the sugar dissolves completely.
Step 4. Pour the tea from above
Keep the teapot well away from the glasses to create a thin layer of foam on the surface of the tea. As you pour it, make sure the tea leaves don't spill out of the teapot. Fill the glass or cup only two-thirds full, to allow the aromas to be fully released.
Step 5. Enjoy Moroccan tea
After you have poured the remaining tea, decorate the glasses with some fresh mint leaves (if any are left over). This is an optional step which however gives a very dramatic result, especially if you are serving tea in classic Moroccan glass cups.
Advice
- Each cup of tea contains about 6g of sugar and provides 24 calories.
- When pouring the tea, be careful that the leaves do not fall into the glass. If you prefer, you can use a colander.
- Traditionally, tea is served 3 times, and as the brewing time increases, the tea will taste different each time. With the doses indicated in the recipe you can serve 3 cups of tea to 2 people.
- You can vary the amount of sugar to suit your taste or use a different sweetener, such as honey or stevia.
Warnings
- If you are a child, make tea under the supervision of an adult.
- After pouring the tea into the glasses, wait a few minutes before drinking it so as not to burn your tongue.
- There are several varieties of mint; the peppermint is the most suitable for preparing Moroccan tea. The other varieties are not as aromatic and fragrant.
