The Greater Maghreb, previously known as the Barbary Coast, a term used by Europeans to refer to the lands of the Berber People. This area is usually defined as most of western North Africa, including the Atlas Mountains and the coastal plains of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania and Western Sahara.
This tea is most closely associated with Morocco, hence ‘Moroccan Tea’, or in Spanish ‘Té Moruno’. Maghrebi Nanamint Tea was introduced to Morocco in the 1850’s during the Crimean War. Apparently, a British tea merchant unable to sell his Chinese Gunpowder tea in the Baltic region, found a market in Morocco as an alternative destination.
A locally grown cultivar of the Spearmint, Mentha spicata ‘Nana’, whose leaves possess a pungent and yet mild aroma were added to this newly imported drink and thus became a popular new ‘Traditional’ drink. Generally, freshly picked leaves were used but we have used dried ‘Nana’ mint leaves.
The proportions and the brewing time vary widely, depending on personal taste, and boiling water is used rather than the traditional Chinese way of using hot water with Green Teas. Large amounts of sugar are usually added and the tea is regularly topped up changing the flavour from one glass to the next.
This is a famous Maghrebi proverb; “the first glass is as gentle as life, the second glass is as strong as love, the third glass is as bitter as death”.
