Maghrebi mint tea
Té a la menta magrebí
- Date
- c. 1854-1856 · confidence low
- Place
- Tangier, Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima, Morocco
- Credited to
- British merchants and Moroccan society
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Chinese gunpowder green tea infused with mint and sugar and served in a ceremony of pouring from a height. It spread in Morocco from the mid-19th century, when tea destined for the Baltic countries was diverted to North Africa.
The usual account attributes tea's arrival to the Crimean War (1853-1856) and the 1856 Anglo-Moroccan treaty; tea was already known at the Moroccan court from the 18th century and the exact date of the mint drink's origin is disputed.
What it led to
- a social ceremony of hospitality across the Maghreb and the Sahara
- tea as a symbol of urban and then rural status
- consumption across North Africa, the Sahel and Maghrebi communities in Europe