How To Correctly Brew (make) Traditional Moroccan Mint Tea (Tutorial)

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Today we're going on a little trip to Morocco. To brew Moroccan tea you need some green tea, of course, and some mint. That's the base of this drink.
And now I will slightly 'offend' the green tea making tradition, for this kind of tea is typically poured over with boiling water and sometimes even boiled. To brew Touareg (this is what this tea is called) I'll be using this somewhat classic set, it's not necessary though. You can use any teapot and glass you like. Such a fine set is not required.
What's important is that the mint doesn't have to be fresh -- I happen to have some fresh leaves, but dried ones will do just fine.
I don't know why it is typical to use gunpowder, a Chinese green tea, but I haven't found a single recipe that would recommend some other variety.
So what do we begin with?
You take a teapot, fill it with a considerable amount of gunpowder and add a bunch of mint. You literally stuff it full. Now, this is going to be a bit silly. Tear it all off and cram in here. You can even scrunch it for good measure. Barbarian style.
Add sugar straight away or do it later -- I'm going to add it now. Unfortunately this is something Europeans have a hard time dealing with: a whole lot of sugar. Plenty of it! Don't hold back! It's supposed to be very sweet. What's more, everything in Morocco is very sweet. While enjoying this tea it's typical to eat sugary pancakes. Since sugar is a sign of well-being and happiness, food and pretty much everything is extremely sweet there.
Pour it over with, pay attention, boiling water! Green tea! With boiling hot water! Some people even put the whole thing on a cooking fire, I'm not going to do that though.
The teapot is sometimes scalded beforehand, the same goes for tea. Whatever floats your boat. Let's not try to be more Moroccan than Moroccans themselves, shall we? I'm sure they don't pay attention to such details on an everyday basis.
Moroccan tea is connected with hospitality, since they are extremely welcoming people. Never say no to a Moroccan man serving you some tea. It's polite to drink with him at least three cups.
It's also associated with a family ritual. Well, maybe not a 'ritual', it's just a way of spending time with one's family in this country. The same goes for Turkey. Everyone gathers round -- family, friends, acquaintances. Brewing, as well as drinking, takes a long time.
It's done in complete silence, too. No words are spoken while making this tea. I'm going against the tradition now, of course, since I'm talking the whole time. This is pretty interesting -- when you see Moroccans brewing and drinking tea you don't hear a word. They enjoy the beverage and each others' company, leaving the conversation for later. And so they gather round a teapot like this one. Moroccans drink great amounts of tea and prepare it several times a day.
Brew Touareg for about ten minutes. Some people like to put it on a cooking fire, but simply adding boiling water will do just fine. There's no golden rule. The few things that remain invariable are mint leaves, gunpowder and a lot of sugar. You can brew it longer or shorter -- the point is for it to be tasty. You just have to adjust the amount, ratio and brewing time to your own preferences. Pamper yourself a bit.
It's good to give the tea a stir, mostly because of the sugar -- it has to dissolve. The mint scent is already very strong. And now for the crucial part... crucial in Morocco, that is.
First of all, drinking hot mint tea nearby the scorching Sahara desert may sound weird. In Morocco people drink hot tea to refresh themselves. Contrary to popular belief drinking cold beverages gives us only a fake feeling of refreshment and cooling. The truth is we sweat more and burn more calories. Green tea with mint will strongly refresh you in spite of the apparent heat wave right after drinking it.
What's interesting is that you pour the tea from up high to make a turban. I hope I manage to demonstrate it. In Morocco it's the done thing to overflow the tea as a sign of abundance. Well, I'm not going to do that now but perhaps the turban will come out right.
There should be a single mint leaf in every glass. Well.. perhaps it's not absolutely necessary, but I will follow this tradition.
Okay. The tea should be ready. Let's try to pour it from the right height. We start low and then raise the teapot. Tea loses its... oh, I've spilled it already. Tea loses its temperature as we pour it.
As I said before, you should have at least three cups of this tea. The true taste of Morocco.

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