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Maghrebi mint tea (
Maghrebi Arabic Maghrebi Arabic (, Western Arabic; as opposed to Eastern or Mashriqi Arabic) is a vernacular Arabic dialect continuum spoken in the Maghreb region, in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Western Sahara, and Mauritania. It includes Moroccan, Alger ...
: , ''atay''; ar, الشاي بالنعناع, aš-šhāy bin-na'nā'; ), also known as Moroccan mint tea and Algerian mint tea, is a
North African North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...
green tea Green tea is a type of tea that is made from '' Camellia sinensis'' leaves and buds that have not undergone the same withering and oxidation process which is used to make oolong teas and black teas. Green tea originated in China, and since the ...
prepared with
spearmint Spearmint, also known as garden mint, common mint, lamb mint and mackerel mint, is a species of mint, ''Mentha spicata'' (, native to Europe and southern temperate Asia, extending from Ireland in the west to southern China in the east. It is nat ...
leaves and sugar. It is traditional to the
Greater Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...
region (the northwest African countries of
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
,
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
,
Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...
,
Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...
, and
Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...
). Its consumption has spread throughout
North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
, parts of the
Sahel The Sahel (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid c ...
,
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
,
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
, the
Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
, and
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
. Mint tea is central to social life in the Maghreb. and is very popular among the
Tuareg people The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym: ''Imuhaɣ/Imušaɣ/Imašeɣăn/Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Al ...
of
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
,
Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...
,
Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesMali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...
. The serving can take a ceremonial form, especially when prepared for a guest. The tea is traditionally made by the head male in the family and offered to guests as a sign of hospitality. Typically, at least three glasses of tea are served. The tea is consumed throughout the day as a social activity. The native spearmint ''naʿnāʿ'' () possesses a clear, pungent, mild aroma, and is the mint that is traditionally used in Maghrebi mint tea. Other hybrids and cultivars of spearmint, including ''
yerba buena Yerba buena or hierba buena is the Spanish name for a number of aromatic plants, most of which belong to the mint family. ''Yerba buena'' translates as "good herb". The specific plant species regarded as ''yerba buena'' varies from region to regi ...
'', are occasionally used as substitutes for Nana mint. In Morocco, mint tea is sometimes perfumed with herbs, flowers, or orange blossom water. In the cold season, they add many warming herbs like pennyroyal mint and wormwood. Mint has been used as an infusion, decoction, and herbal medicine throughout the Mediterranean since Antiquity. This aromatic plant was widely used in
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
to cure and prevent cholera when it plagued the country from 1835 until 1865.


History

Gunpowder tea Gunpowder tea (; pronounced ) is a form of tea in which each leaf has been rolled into a small round pellet. Its English name comes from its resemblance to grains of gunpowder. This rolling method of shaping tea is most often applied either to d ...
was introduced into North Africa by the British in the 18th and 19th centuries via Morocco and Algeria. According to food historian, Helen Saberi, the drinking of green tea infused with mint spread from
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
to
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
,
Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...
,
Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...
,
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
and to nomadic tribes of Berbers and Tuareg in the
Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...
. Sugar and tea would arrive from Europe to the port of Essaouira, where
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
merchants who had started migrating to coastal cities in the 19th century managed their passing through the interior of
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
. James Richardson recorded a description of a Moroccan tea ceremony in the 1840s, and said that during his travels tea was drunk widely and all day long. Tea consumption became associated with power and prestige in Morocco, and , officer of Sultan
Suleiman Suleiman (Arabic language, Arabic: سُلِيمَان ''sulaymān''; or dictionary.reference.comsuleiman/ref>) is the Arabic name of the Quranic king and Islam, Islamic prophet Solomon (name), Solomon meaning "man of peace", derived from the Heb ...
, became the first ''mūl atay'' ( "master of tea") in the
Makhzen Makhzen (Arabic: , Berber: ''Lmexzen'') is the governing institution in Morocco and in pre-1957 Tunisia, centered on the monarch and consisting of royal notables, top-ranking military personnel, landowners, security service bosses, civil servant ...
. In the twenty years after the
Anglo-Moroccan Treaty of 1856 The Anglo-Moroccan Treaty of 1856 was a treaty between Morocco and the United Kingdom signed in Tangier on December 9, 1856. It was signed after long negotiations between John Hay Drummond Hay and Muhammad al-Khatib, representatives of Queen Vict ...
, and after the
British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
diverted tea meant for the Baltic states to Morocco during the
Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
, tea imports quadrupled but tea consumption remained an urban practice. Among urban populations, partaking in the tea ceremony became a symbol of status and , while among rural farmers it was a way to emulate the urban class they both envied and resented. Tea consumption spread through wider segments of the population as a result of the famines of the 1880s, when it became an emergency calorie substitute, appetite suppressant, and mode of performing acculturation for rural populations flooding the cities in search of opportunities. Another factor in the spread of ''atay'' consumption in Morocco was the comparative scarcity of coffee. Whereas Algerian cities had been introduced to
coffee culture Coffee culture is the set of traditions and social behaviors that surround the consumption of coffee, particularly as a social lubricant. The term also refers to the cultural diffusion and adoption of coffee as a widely consumed stimulant. In the ...
under the influence of the
Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
, Moroccan cities would only be introduced to coffee later. Oral traditions in the Algerian city of
Tlemcen Tlemcen (; ar, تلمسان, translit=Tilimsān) is the second-largest city in northwestern Algeria after Oran, and capital of the Tlemcen Province. The city has developed leather, carpet, and textile industries, which it exports through the por ...
distinguish between "Fassi tea drinkers and Tlemceni coffee drinkers." In the late 19th century, Sufi orders led by figures such as
Muhammad Bin Abdul-Kabir Al-Kattani Muhammad Bin Abdul-Kabir Al-Kattani (محمد بن عبد الكبير الكتاني; from 1873 - May 4, 1909), also known by his ''kunya'' Abu l-Fayḍ () or simply as Muhammad Al-Kattani, was a Moroccan Sufi ''faqih'' (scholar of Islamic law ...
told their adherents not to drink tea, attempting to boycott sugar and tea imported by Europeans.Bazzaz, S. (2002). ''Challenging power and authority in pre-protectorate morocco: Shaykh muhammad al-kattānī and the tarīqa kattāniyya'' (Order No. 3051111). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (305526264). By the early 20th century, mint tea had become well established in Morocco.


Preparation

The basic ingredients of the tea are green tea, fresh mint leaves, sugar, and boiling water. The proportions of the ingredients and the brewing time can vary widely. Boiling water is used in the Maghreb, rather than the cooler water that is used in East Asia to avoid bitterness. The leaves are left in the pot while the tea is consumed, changing the flavor from one glass to the next. It is poured into glasses from high above to swirl loose tea leaves to the bottom of the glass, whilst gently aerating the tea to improve its flavor. In the winter, if mint is rare, sometimes leaves of tree wormwood ( ''chiba'' or ''sheeba'' in Moroccan dialect) are substituted for (or used to complement) the mint, giving the tea a distinctly bitter flavor.
Lemon verbena ''Aloysia citrodora'', lemon verbena, is a species of flowering plant in the verbena family Verbenaceae, native to South America. Other common names include lemon beebrush. It was brought to Europe by the Spanish and the Portuguese in the 17th ce ...
( ''lwiza'' in
Moroccan Arabic Moroccan Arabic ( ar, العربية المغربية الدارجة, translit=al-ʻArabīya al-Maghribīya ad-Dārija ), also known as Darija (), is the dialectal, vernacular form or forms of Arabic spoken in Morocco. It is part of the Maghrebi ...
) is also used to give it a lemon flavor. Other herbs used to flavor the tea include oregano, sage, and thyme. The tea is sometimes sold as a ready-to-cook mixture of tea and dried mint, which is easier to store and to prepare but has diminished flavor. A simple and practical method runs as follows: * In a teapot, combine two teaspoons of tea-leaf with a half liter of boiling water. Allow it to steep for at least 15 minutes. * Without stirring, filter the mixture into a stainless steel pot, so that the tea leaves and coarse powder are removed. * Add sugar (about one teaspoon per 100 milliliters). * Bring to boil over a medium heat (this helps the sugar dissolve). * Fresh mint leaves can be added to the teapot, or directly to the cup. A more complex method is as follows: The tea is first put in the teapot and a small quantity of boiling water is added. The tea is left to infuse for approximately 20–30 seconds. This initial liquid is poured out and kept aside. This is the "spirit" of the tea and will be added back after the tea is washed, to restore the "spirit" (the "spirit" of the tea is essentially a strong, deeply flavored liquid from the initial infusion, which adds extra flavor to the final infusion). The tea is then "cleaned" by adding a small quantity of boiling water; that is poured out after one minute (to lessen the bitterness). This process may be repeated more than once. Mint and sugar are added (amounts vary; approximately five teaspoons of sugar for one teaspoon of tea leaves is typical), and water at the
boiling point The boiling point of a substance is the temperature at which the vapor pressure of a liquid equals the pressure surrounding the liquid and the liquid changes into a vapor. The boiling point of a liquid varies depending upon the surrounding envir ...
is then poured in the pot. The pot may then be taken to heat and further boiled to increase the flavor of the infusion. After three to five minutes, a glass is served and poured back in the pot two to three times to mix the tea. Tea is then tasted (sugar if needed may be added) until the infusion is fully developed. Traditionally, the tea is served three times. The amount of time it has been steeping gives each of the glasses of tea a unique flavor, described in this famous Maghrebi proverb: The first glass is as gentle as life,
the second is as strong as love,
the third is as bitter as death. ThiMil The1.jpg, Ingredients. ThiMil The2.jpg, Cleaning the tea. Trek302-mint tea.jpg, Adding the mint. ThiMil The4.jpg, Adding the sugar. ThiMil The5.jpg, Ready to drink.


In popular culture

In one of Nass El Ghiwane's most popular songs, ''Es-Siniya'' (), the tea tray is used as a metaphor to discuss the hardships of migrating from the countryside to a big city such as Casablanca.


See also

* Arabic tea *
Algerian cuisine The cuisine of Algeria is influenced by Algeria's interactions and exchanges with other cultures and nations over the centuries. It is characterized by a wealth derived from both land and sea products. Conquests or demographic movement towards ...
*
Tunisian cuisine Tunisian cuisine, the cuisine of Tunisia, consists of the cooking traditions, ingredients, recipes and techniques developed in Tunisia since antiquity. It is mainly a blend of Mediterranean and native Punics-Berber cuisine. Historically, Tuni ...
*
Moroccan cuisine Moroccan cuisine () is the cuisine of Morocco, fueled by interactions and exchanges with many cultures and nations over the centuries. Moroccan cuisine is usually a mix of Arab, Berber, Andalusi, and Mediterranean cuisines, with minimal Europea ...
*
Libyan cuisine The cuisine of Libya is Arab and Mediterranean with Italian influence. One of the most popular Libyan dishes is ''bazin'', an unleavened bread prepared with barley, water and salt. ''Bazin'' is prepared by boiling barley flour in water and then b ...
*
Libyan tea Libyan tea is a strong beverage, prepared with traditional set of stainless utensils and served in a small glass cups. It is similar to Moroccan tea in prepared by boiling loose tea leaves but differ in presentation. Libyan tea is usually served i ...
*
Tea culture Tea culture is defined by the way tea is made and consumed, by the way the people interact with tea, and by the aesthetics surrounding tea drinking. Tea plays an important role in some countries. It is commonly consumed at social events, and ...


References

{{African cuisine Blended tea Green tea North African cuisine Sephardi Jewish cuisine Tea culture Tea in Africa Algerian cuisine African cuisine Algerian drinks African drinks Tuareg culture