The Anatomy of Moroccan Tea

The tea is Chinese. Gunpowder green — so named because the leaves are rolled into small pellets that resemble gunpowder shot. It arrived in Morocco in the 18th century, brought by British merchants who found a market after the Crimean War disrupted their trade with Russia and the Baltics.

The mint is Moroccan. Mentha spicata — spearmint — grows across the country but the best comes from Meknes. In winter, when mint is scarce, wormwood (shiba) or verbena (louiza) substitute. The shift is seasonal, not optional.

The sugar is structural. It is not sweetener — it is an ingredient. A standard pot of Moroccan tea contains between 5 and 8 sugar cubes for three glasses. The sugar breaks the bitterness of the gunpowder green and extends the steep time. Without it, the second and third pours would be undrinkable.

The three glasses have meaning. The first is gentle, like life. The second is strong, like love. The third is bitter, like death. This is the saying — often attributed to Tuareg rather than Moroccan tradition — but the three-pour structure is real. The first pour is lightest. Each subsequent pour extracts more tannin.

The pour itself is technique. The berrad — the metal teapot — is lifted high, sometimes a full arm's length above the glass. This is not theatre. The height aerates the tea, creates a foam on the surface, and cools it slightly. A skilled pourer hits a small glass from 60 centimetres without spilling.

Refusing tea is a social signal. Accepting the first glass is courtesy. Accepting the second is friendship. The third is an obligation of hospitality that most hosts will insist upon. Declining before the third glass can be read as displeasure.

Morocco imports more Chinese green tea than any other country in Africa. The trade route that began as an accident of the Crimean War is now a $200 million annual import market.

Explore the full interactive module — with the trade data, the six-step topology, and the chemistry of the pour — at Dancing with Lions: https://www.dancingwiththelions.com/data/moroccan-tea