Green Tea / Social Ritual
Photo: Nabil Atiche / Pexels
Moroccan mint tea, also called Maghrebi mint tea, is gunpowder green tea steeped with fresh spearmint and a generous amount of sugar — and in Morocco, it’s less a drink than a ritual of hospitality.
The base is gunpowder green tea, so named because its tightly rolled leaves resemble small pellets. It’s brewed strong, combined with a large handful of fresh spearmint and sugar, then traditionally poured from a foot or more above the glass. The height isn’t showmanship for its own sake — it aerates the tea and builds a thin foam on top, which is considered part of a properly made glass.
Serving it is a social act as much as a beverage: offering mint tea to a guest is a near-automatic gesture of welcome across Morocco and much of the Maghreb, and refusing a glass can read as impolite. It’s typically served in small, ornate glasses rather than mugs, poured in a first light round meant to be topped up again through a visit.
How to Make It
Rinse the gunpowder tea briefly with hot water and discard that first pour to soften its bitterness, then steep with fresh mint and sugar for a few minutes before pouring from height into glasses. It’s sweet by design — traditional versions use noticeably more sugar than a typical Western cup of green tea.
Poured from height to build foam
Central to Moroccan hospitality
