Maghrebi mint tea

It’s probably common to get a birthday present and since it’s September 10 I thought I should buy myself at least something. I had been studying YouTube-videos on how to make Moroccan or Maghrebi mint tea. I ordered a 400 ml handmade Moroccan tea pot and 4 handmade beldi tea glasses made from recycled glass.

My teapot takes about 1,5 cups of water so 1 teaspoon of tea and 1 tablespoon of sugar is the right amount. Discard the first pour to clean and open the tea leaves. During ramadan the butcher near my work sells chebakia.

Now you can either boil and brew the tea on a fire of just add boiling water to the tea pot and steep the tea in the pot. The correct tea to use is Chinese gunpowder green tea. Most common fresh herb is mint. In winter when fresh mint can be difficult to find Artemisia arborescens (sheeba) is also being used as a substitute or together with the mint. Sheeba has a bitter taste. For a lemon taste Aloysia citrodora can be used.

Of course this tea need sugar, which kept me from making this tea at home because I barely use sugar. A few threads of saffron can be added and after the tea is steeped you mix by pouring the tea in a glass and back into the pot and repeat this several times.

Screenshot from the YouTube-channel Travizeo, the travel video company.

Screenshot from Authentic World Food.

Gunpowder tea from Zhejiang Province, China.