How to Make Traditional Moroccan Mint Tea
✨ NEW EASY RECIPE for a refreshing summer drink
It’s summertime, the weather is hot, and everyone is in vacation mode, so I’m sharing my light and refreshing Moroccan mint tea recipe.
Moroccan mint tea is a North African beverage made with just four ingredients. It combines Chinese gunpowder green tea with fresh mint and cane sugar to create this famously delightful tea. When simmered together in hot water, it makes the most incredible Mint Tea. It’s very easy to make hot or iced.
Moroccan Tea
The Moroccans have elevated the art of making this tea to a performance for their guests. The ceremony embodies Moroccan elegance; it’s a way of life and a gesture of hospitality extended through friendship and tradition.
Also known as Maghrebi mint tea, Moroccans have been making it since British merchants introduced Chinese gunpowder green tea to Morocco in the 1860s.
The traditional Moroccan teapot is beautiful, curvy, and elegant, with the perfect spout for that high ceremonial pour. Although it’s nice to have, mainly when serving guests, it’s not essential to create this delightfully sweet and refreshing beverage.
How to Make The Best Moroccan Mint Tea
It’s always better to make food and beverages from scratch with ingredients you source yourself. Because we’ve become quite removed from making our beverages at home, I try to make it easy for you with simple recipes, while providing sources for rare teas that you may not find in supermarkets otherwise.
I’ll show you an effortless and delicious way to make Mint Tea, but first, I want you to see how beautiful the ceremony is when it is made traditionally.
Linda Gaylard explains the traditional preparation in her book The Tea Book:
The host begins by rinsing two tablespoons of Gunpowder tea leaves in a teapot with boiling water. This reduces the bitterness of the tea.
Next, he adds up to 12 cubes of sugar to the teapot and infuses the leaves with 3⅓ cups of boiling water for 15 minutes. This produces a very strong tea, which helps to explain why so much sugar is used. The tea is strained into a second metal teapot and brought to a boil before the sugar is added. When the tea is ready, handfuls of fresh mint leaves are placed in the traditional jewel-colored glasses known as "keesan".
Finally, the tea is poured with a flourish from a height of about 24in (60cm) to aerate the tea and create froth.
The decorative small Moroccan glass cups, “keesan,” are another part of the entire tradition. These special glasses are beautifully ornate and colorful, perfect for serving tea to guests, providing an authentic feel. But use what you have on hand for an elegant presentation for your guests.
Authentic Moroccan Mint Tea
Cooking with Alia is a website all about Moroccan cooking. Watch this beautiful video on authentic Moroccan Tea prepared the traditional way. If you have two minutes, it’s worth watching.
Essential Ingredients:
Fresh sprigs of mint
Chinese gunpowder tea
Hot water
Cane sugar
What Kind of Mint in Moroccan Tea?
There are several varieties of mint available to use in cooking and beverages. Fresh spearmint is commonly found in food stores and is the most popular choice for mint tea. You can also find easy-to-grow mint at nurseries or farmers’ markets.
Fresh mint sprigs yield the best flavor, which is my preference; however, you can also use dried mint leaves, typically found in the spice section of the grocery store.
I grow my mint in a planter. That way, it doesn’t take over the garden, and I have it fresh on hand. It’s very easy to grow. Once you’ve tried homemade mint tea, you’ll never go back to teabags!
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Three Ways To Make Moroccan Mint Tea
I brew my mint tea on the stovetop in a spouted saucepan. I wouldn’t serve it this way, of course. Once brewed, you can transfer to a lovely serving teapot or pitcher. While traditionally served hot, it makes an excellent iced tea in the summertime. Try it over ice!
Quick and Easy Tips to Make Mint Tea Three Different Ways:
The traditional ceremonial method is shown in the video. A handful of fresh mint is placed in a Moroccan teapot, along with Chinese green tea, cane sugar, and hot water.
The simple stovetop brew featuring fresh mint leaves is included in the recipe I’ve provided at the end.
If the first two methods are too time-consuming for you or you prefer a quick cup of Mint Tea, you can purchase it already blended from The Tea Spot.
I received samples of this tea, and it is delicious. It’s a nice, balanced blend without any bitterness or overpowering mint flavor. But truthfully, nothing outshines the delicious authentic taste of fresh mint.
If you use fresh mint and buy the Chinese gunpowder green loose tea by itself, it couldn’t be easier to brew them together.
What is Gunpowder Green tea?
Chinese gunpowder green tea is an even-rolled, pellet-shaped leaf with a smooth, nutty flavor. Using gunpowder green tea is critical for an authentic Moroccan Mint Tea experience.
Zhu Cha is the Chinese name for gunpowder green tea. A high-quality gunpowder green tea will have glossy, green little pellets of consistent size with a vegetal fragrance. The liquor is a pale yellow with a hint of green, transitioning to deep gold.
During production, gunpowder green tea is heated in a tumbler, creating small pellets resembling gunpowder, hence the name. Tumble drying is a common firing practice in producing moderate to high-quality tea. Most gunpowder tea is mechanically processed, but some may still be hand-processed and hand-rolled, although this is rare.
Of all the green teas, gunpowder tea’s sweet, robust flavor is the most liked. It’s easy to brew and very forgiving, tolerating a range of water temperatures without turning bitter. The pellet shape allows it to retain its fresh flavor better.
The pellets should be more rounded than crumpled and a little springy in good-quality gunpowder tea. Compression should not make them crumble. The flavor should be clean and nutty with a light toastiness and vegetal notes. It might be over-processed or over-brewed if it tastes too smoky or bitter.
Moroccan Mint Tea Benefits
Mint is often used to alleviate digestive problems, such as indigestion and irritable bowel syndrome.
Mint has long been used to calm the digestive tract. It relaxes the muscles of the digestive tract and improves bile flow from the gallbladder, which aids in the body’s digestion of fats.
Mint tea is often used to help alleviate colds and coughs by thinning mucus and relieving a stuffy nose.
Gunpowder green tea is known for its numerous health benefits and contains caffeine, L-theanine, and the polyphenol EGCG, a powerful antioxidant.
Several studies have demonstrated that green tea can enhance metabolism, support weight loss, and lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels.
Moroccan Mint Tea Recipe
Servings: 4 cups
Calories: 47 kcal
Ingredients
4 cups filtered water
4 teaspoons Chinese gunpowder green tea leaves
4 Tablespoons pure cane sugar
6 sprigs of mint leaves
Instructions
Bring 4 cups of water to 190° F (88°C). Set aside.
Place the tea leaves and the mint leaves in a pot. Add the hot water and steep for 5 minutes.
Strain the tea into a saucepan and add the sugar. Stir and bring to a simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes. This caramelizes the sugar.
Remove from heat and pour the sweetened tea into a teapot for serving.
Pour into cups or decorative glasses.
To create a froth, pour from a height of 12 inches. Begin low and slowly raise the height of the teapot as you pour.
Garnish with mint, and enjoy.
Nutrition
Serving: 4g Calories: 47kcal Carbohydrates: 12g Sodium: 13mg Sugar: 11g Vitamin A: 65 IU Vitamin C: 0.5mg Calcium: 11mg Iron: 0.1mg
Buy Gunpowder Green Tea
Any specialty tea shop should have gunpowder green tea. If you can’t find it anywhere, I typically buy mine from Adagio Tea, The Tea Spot, or Harney & Sons. They are among my favorite online shops for purchasing high-quality loose-leaf teas. They never disappoint!
Adagio Tea sources its gunpowder green tea from Zhejiang Province, China.
The Tea Spot offers premium loose-leaf gunpowder tea from China, as well as their blend of mint tea.
Harney & Sons has an organic gunpowder tea rolled into small pearls, which is used to prepare traditional Moroccan mint tea.
❤️ ❤️ Did you try this recipe? Let me know how it was in the comments!