Making your own Moroccan Mint

Most of us are already familiar with Moroccan Mint in dry form, often also called Touareg. Touareg is however a special tea drink prepared in African and Arabian countries and has a great significance in the Moroccan culture. It is a sign of hospitality, friendship and tradition,served to guests in a ceremonial way.

In order to prepare Morrocoan Mint Tea Drink you will need Gunpowder (a Chinese green tea of smoky character, rolled into small pellets resembling gunpowder), fresh mint leaves and sugar. Additional flavorings can sometimes be added added, like lemon or ginger for instance. The amounts you use are a matter of individual preference, but as a good rule you should count one teaspoon of Gunpowder per glass. In traditional Moroccan Mint there is quite a lot of sugar added even 5 cubes, so don’t be shy with the sugar, as this drink is meant to be very sweet. Like with all drinks however, you should experiment with ingredients according to individual taste.

How it’s done

1. Boil some water and pour some into the empty pot, swish the water around, so that the pot gets warm, then pour the water out 
2. Put the tea, mint leaves and sugar (preferably plain white sugar) directly into the pot or infuser
3. Let it steep for about 3 minutes
4. Pour tea into one glass and then pour it back into the pot. You can repeat this several times in order to evenly distribute sugar and flavor
5. Fill the cups, by pouring the tea from high up. this will create foam on top of the drink
6. Garnish drink with some mint leaves or a optionally a lemon slice

Traditionally the tea is prepared by the host or hostess who sits in from of a tray with two pots and decorative glasses, as well as the ingredients for the tea. The pots are rinsed with hot water and then tea leaves are added to each pot. The leaves are also rinsed the same way and water is poured out. The host then adds mint and sugar and lets the tea steep for several minutes, after which he stirs the tea making sure that the flavor is evenly mixed.  He then pours the tea simultaneously from both pots from a height of 30 cm or more into the guests’ glasses and fills them halfway. The host adds some more ingredients for the next cups. The second serving is the most famous for its sweetness and intense flavors. The guests should drink at least 3 glasses of Moroccan Mint.

 

T-Buddy – Two in one teamaker

Tzu The T-Buddy is a portable crossover between a tea mug and a pot with a built-in infuser for brewing loose leaf teas or coffee. Among the offerend features are air vented pressure relief lid, temperature resistance up to 137°C thanks to the polycarbonate it’s made of and a carrying strap which you attach to the bottle. 

The way T-Buddy functions is that it has two caps – the top, drinking cap and the bottom infuser cap. To brew loose leaf tea in it you first need to flip the bottle and unscrew the infuser cap. You Put the leaves into the infuser, put the bottom cap back on and flip the bottle again. Next, you remove the drinking cap and pour in the water into the bottle. If it’s a tea that doesn’t get bitter, you can just drink it as it is. If you need to remove the leaves, you flip the bottle yet again, unscrew the bottom cap and take and empty out the infuser. You put both back on and voila! You just completed your filpping regimen!

I see a the T-Buddy as a solution for people who absolutley have to have an infuser with them at all times and will look for hot (or cold) water while they are travelling. Altough it is meant to be a portable tea maker, I just don’t see myself going around places with some loose leaf tea and T-buddy in my bag and making it on the go. Why not just brew the tea at home or work and pour it into a normal bottle. Where as it might seem practical and functional at first (and for some it could be) the design is a big minus for me. T-Buddy looks like something that could be used by the military, just in case you’re in a war field and you need a cuppa, no bright colors will reveal your location to the enemy.

I think it’s nice that T-Buddy combines a cup with a pot, but overall, i have a hard time seeing T-buddy making my tea-brewing life more conventiant or easier, so I’ll stick to the good old tea-brewing methods and stay on the ever-ongoing lookout for perfect teaware.

Related links – http://www.tzu-the.com/