Exactly two summers ago I visited the country of Morocco for the first time. During one point of my stay in Morocco, the festive Eid Al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice) was going on. This is a three-day-long festive where families get together and well… eat a lot.
On the first day it is traditional that a young man from the family will obtain an animal to slaughter, this is most often a goat or sheep. The animal will get sacrificed, a third will be given to the poor and the rest of the animal can be used by the family for the upcoming days.
I had the fortune of being invited by a family to join them for a day during one of the festive days, this of course I accepted. However, as a young man from another family, I was expected to make a certain contribution, something I had not expected and will not go further into...
I arrived at the house of the family and was welcomed inside. I hadn't even introduced myself to the family or even spoken a word before the next question was asked: 'Tea?' And the father of the family said: 'First tea, then talk,' with a big smile on his face.
"Tea is drunk at the slightest pretext every hour of the day,” wrote Madame Guinaudeau in her classic 1950s work on Moroccan cuisine. It starts a day and ends it, precedes a meal, and finishes it.
In this week’s Edit, we will cover the history of Moroccan Tea. But before we do so, grab yourself a cup of tea first.
What is Moroccan Tea?
Even though Moroccan tea is known worldwide there is a high chance you've never had the real deal. The process of making Moroccan Tea isn't as simple as the English tea where you simply have to dip a bag of spices in a hot cup of water.
There are three essential ingredients you need in order to make Maghrebi: Gunpowder, mint, and sugar. Gunpowder can be found in most Middle-Eastern shops. For fresh mint, I recommend going to a Halal butcher since they sell it way cheaper than most supermarkets.
Steps to make Moroccan tea:
Pour the gunpowder tea and boiled water into the teapot. Let the tea simmer for a minute and pour the water into separate cups. Don't discard it. This way you take the 'soul' out of the tea.
Discard the leftover water in the pot and pour in newly boiled water in the teapot. Swirl the teapot to rinse the tea leaves and discard the water after 2 minutes of swirling.
Insert the sugar, fresh mint, and the 'soul' of the tea into the teapot. Fill the teapot with the remaining boiled water and let it simmer over medium-low heat until it comes to a boil.
“This liquor, you see, is gold, it warms the heart of my old years. Believe me, I could not answer your questions nor I would answer them all wrong, if I had not drunk this elixir, which has the power to remove the vapors, which otherwise always turn around our brain . Tea is the drink of the gods that loosens tongues and opens hearts. ”
History of Tea
How tea made its way to Morocco is still a bit of a mystery and so, there are multiple theories about its history:
Theory 1: Some say that it was the Phoenicians who brought tea to Morocco around the 12th century, and others that it was the first nomadic Berbers who imported it from Asia.
Theory 2: Others think that it was the Arabs who introduced it when they arrived in Morocco, others claim that it was the Spanish and Portuguese invaders who brought the sweet nectar around 1900.
Theory 3: Tea was probably introduced into Morocco during the reign of Moulay Ismail (1672-1727), because of Queen Anne of England. But it didn’t become popular until the mid-19th century.
Theory 4: The most commonly accepted is that it was introduced to Morocco in the mid-19th century by a British merchant.
So which one is true?
Theory 1 is immediately off the table, gunpowder is a Chinese product. The tea trade began in the early years of the 16th century when a Portuguese priest stumbled upon it during his travels to the East. However, it is possible that the Phoenicians brought a different kind of tea with them. One that wasn't liked.
Theory 2 is also very doubtful since tea had become a staple product for all the classes in 1865 in Morocco. A quarter of Morocco's total imports in 1865 were tea and sugar combined. Today, Morocco is one of the largest importers of Chinese green tea around the globe.
Theories 3 and 4 are perhaps the most logical. While the Scramble for Africa was still almost 200 years away, Morocco already had its fair share of European colonization.
English Tangier
Tangier was under the control of the English Empire for 13 years (1661-1684). For almost 13 years they had been in a fight with the court of Sultan Moulay Ismail and his army called Jays-al Rifi (the Army of all the People) However, in 1684 the English blew up the harbor of Tangier and the defensive work and evacuated the city.
All this fighting led to the fact that both parties had captives of each other. Moulay Ismail and the Jays-al Rifi were in control of some very important English generals. George Legge, 1st Baron Dartmouth was desperate to get all his men back. In Dartmouth's extensive papers held by the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich certain amounts of gold can be found that were paid in order to return the English men. But what about the tea?
Trading Tea
Tea was one of the products the East India Company brought back and proved to be the most successful. Initially, it was promoted as a medicinal beverage but by the end of the 17th-century tea became an all-purpose drink. However, this was only for the elite since tea was expensive to import.
Exclusive products were often used as a token of goodwill and so, there is a very high possibility that through Queen Anne of England tea made its way to Morocco. Yet it wasn't until the late 1900s tea became popular in Morocco. That's where theory 4 comes into play…
The Brits, again…
Somewhere around the mid-1950s, there was a British merchant that was specialized in trading tea. Unable to sell what he called “gunpowder tea” in the Baltic region of Northern Europe because ports were closed due to the Crimean War, he looked for other options. He stumbled upon Morocco, where it immediately became sought after.
Through the ports of Asseoura and Tangiers, the gunpowder slowly made its way to the Atlas Mountains, Marrakech, and the other big cities. The locals made it their own by sweetening it and brightening it with fresh mint.
Conclusion
So even though the Moroccans themselves won’t like hearing this, there is a high possibility that tea was introduced to Morocco by the Brits. Luckily, the Moroccans decided to prepare tea in their own way; with fresh herbs and a lot of sugar.
Many of my memories from Morocco are linked with tea. Sitting at cafe Argana overlooking the Jemaa el-Fna square, eating a pigeon filled basteeya in secret garden in the middle of Fez’s Medina or meeting a forgotten prince living in his ancestors royal palace.
The tea makes you feel welcome and urges you to visit the country again and again.