How to make Moroccan tea

We recently had a guest from Morocco who showed me how to make Moroccan tea. Here's how :-)

Ingredients:

- 1 teaspoon of green tea
- 1 pinch of dried lavender
- 1 pinch of zatar
- 1 pinch of lavender + thyme mix
- About 2 cups water
- 5 small teaspoons sugar

I know it just looks like a list of ingredients but trust me, it is so easy once you've memorised them. I mean, it's not even hard to memorise! Just make it twice and you'll probably get it :-)

Directions:

Okay, so there are two ways - with a metal teapot (that has small holes in the spout so you don't need a strainer) and with a normal pot.

Metal teapot way:

1. So, first of all, you should boil the kettle otherwise the water is just gonna take AGES to boil on the stove. Remember, boil about two cups.
2. While it's boiling, put the herbs in the teapot and give them a quick rinse.
3. Next, add the water you've just boiled, to the teapot and leave to boil on the stove for like 4 minutes.
4. After 4 mins, and when you've got a gut feeling it's ready, turn off the stove and add the sugar. Then, mix by pouring into glasses and then back into the pot. When you pour, you should pour from high up so it gets mixed really well. A good sign is if there are big-ish bubbles on the top of the tea.


5. Pour into little glasses. It's quite strong so traditionally, you're not really meant to drink, like a full mug of it. But you can if you really like it :-)

Normal pot way:

It's basically the same way as the metal teapot way, except, without the teapot you can't really give the tea a rinse before you boil it. I think that's ok, though - it doesn't make a huge difference, it's just nice to be thorough. And when you pour the tea, you'll need a strainer.

This tea is traditionally drunk in the mornings and evenings, and is something you make for guests when they arrive, so I'd say in Morocco it takes the same place in as English tea does here.