How to make Moroccan Mint Tea: recipe, serving and culture

Moroccan mint tea is sweet and flavourful and served piping hot. The powerful scent of mint is to die for. After reading this post, you know how to infuse a pot of authentic Moroccan Mint tea and how to serve and savor it.

Family is gathered around the tea tray filled with pastries and sweets and countless tiny glasses to enjoy the tea from. The teapot and tray are shining the silvery color and Arabic decorations. It is time for the Moroccan Mint tea, which is a huge part of Moroccans’ everyday life.

The traditional Moroccan Mint Tea, the staple of Moroccan Cuisine, has only four ingredients: mint, green tea, sugar, and water. That’s it. It is easy to implement at home to enjoy this sweet and delicious hot drink with your family and friends.

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Tips for making

• Use fresh mint if you have, if you don’t dried will do just fine as well.
• Green tea has the best flavor when infused at 75-80°C (167-176°F). If you use too hot water it creates bitterness which we don’t want to!
• The infusion time for the green tea is short only 2-3 minutes, so use a tea sieve or ball to easily take off the green tea leaves when it’s time.
• For the best result use loose-leaf green tea, but green tea bags will work fine too.

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FAQ

Does Moroccan mint tea have caffeine in it?

Yes. In Moroccan mint tea there is used green tea leaves and they do contain caffeine. If you want to have caffeine-free you can modify and leave the tea out.

Is Moroccan mint tea safe during pregnancy?

Yes, in reasonable amounts. In Moroccan mint tea there is used green tea which contains caffeine. During pregnancy, it is okay to drink a certain amount of green tea, though it contains caffeine. Check with your local health care for the recommended limits. Green tea varieties contain different amounts of caffeine, so turn to your local tea shop, to find one that has less caffeine if needed.

Tools you may need

• Moroccan teapot or other teapot that is heatproof to use on the stove
• Measuring spoons
• Tea sieve
• Spoon for stirring
• Small tea glasses for serving
• Tray (optional) for tea glasses and teapot

Moroccan Mint Tea ingredients

Moroccans know the quality, especially what comes to the ingredients. The mint tea is the most common drink in Moroccan everyday life alongside coffee. Tough mint tea is mundane, it is never bad or boring when served in Morocco.

Choosing well the ingredients

Below, you find my suggestions for the ingredients to obtain the best result.

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Gunpowder Green tea

Use good quality unflavored green tea. I prefer the Chinese Temple of Heaven Gunpowder Green Tea. The name comes from the tea leaves used in it, which are rolled into tight tiny pearls. In fact, in Mandarin, they call it “pearl tea“. It is aromatic and naturally slightly sweet. The color of this rolled tea is greyish so no wonder why the English started to call it gunpowder.

NANA MINT

In Arabic nana means mint. Usually, the Moroccan spearmint is then called Nana mint. It is strong in flavor and scent and best choice for mint tea. Other mint varieties will do fine as well, taste and increase the amount if needed.

sugar

Generally in Morocco white sugar is used in the mint tea. They even have bigger blocks of sugar that melt fast in the teapot. You can choose a sweetener of your liking, but notice that some might add a different flavor to your tea. I have tried with cane sugar and it turned out great!

water

Use always fresh water for the best result.

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How to make Moroccan Mint Tea step-by-step

Measure green tea leaves into a tea sieve, or tea ball. Put the mint twigs into the teapot, and leave a few twigs for each serving glass. Spoon the sugar on the mint leaves in the teapot. Fill with water and let it simmer but not heavily boil.

Rinse rapidly the green tea sieve under the running water and place it into the teapot. Decrease the heat. Infuse the green tea for 2-3 minutes and take off the sieve. Too high a temperature and too long infusing time might cause bitter flavors. Put the teapot on a pot coaster, like our blue Moroccan tile, and place it on a tray.

Serving

Serve the tea from the Moroccan teapot right after finishing. Use a tea serving tray where you can set the glasses, teapot, and some biscuits and sweets to enjoy with the tea. Put fresh mint twigs in the glasses before serving to obtain the Moroccan style. Pour in one glass full of the tea and then pour it back into the teapot to mix the tea well before serving. Then pour everyone a glass. You can try pouring the Moroccan style and start pouring close to the rim of the glass and then lifting the teapot very high up and lowering it down to finish up the pour.

Enjoy the traditional Moroccan mint tea with some Moroccan pastries like harcha, msemen (rghaif), or some Moroccan sweets.

Storage

Enjoy the hot tea right away. If you have something left, you can sieve it into a bottle in the fridge to use as iced tea later. Keeps in the fridge for up to a week.

Depending on the age let the child carry the tea tray (maybe without the hot teapot) to the sofa table from the kitchen and place the mint twigs in the drinking glasses.

Try this out and let me know!

Have you tasted yet the Moroccan mint tea? Doesn’t it just taste so delicious? Let me know in the comments where you have tasted it and what you have enjoyed with it!

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Check out my other hot drink posts!

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