I was a summertime hot-tea skeptic until I drank refreshing, and heavily sweetened, hot mint tea in Morocco. If you typically brew tea by pouring boiling water over a sealed bag, you’ll appreciate this detailed recipe. There’s an art to brewing and pouring a foamy head on each glass.
In Montana, I typically brew this tea with homegrown spearmint or black peppermint, perennials that have been returning and spreading for years in my yard. Other mint varieties work, but all are best used fresh. You can make this tea with home-dried mint in winter, but it won’t taste nearly as refreshing.
I steep the mint with gunpowder green tea, whose name comes from its compressed, pellet-like leaves. This tea brews best in water slightly below boiling. Let the kettle whistle and then sit for a couple of minutes to hit the ideal temperature, or check it with an instant-read thermometer.
Because I usually drink tea barely or unsweetened, I reduced the sugar significantly in this recipe. In Morocco, the tea I drank had at least 1/3 cup of sugar per pot. Less sweetener makes the tea slightly less foamy, but I find it more drinkable.
The pouring technique is the most crucial to achieving the classic foamed top. I returned from my travels with a traditional pounded silver teapot, with a curving gooseneck pours slowly and accurately from arm’s length above the glass. Pour-over coffeepots or other long-necked styles might be nearly as effective.
Moroccan-Inspired Mint Tea
Makes 6 glasses
2 tablespoons gunpowder green tea leaves
4-1/2 cups water
3 tablespoons organic brown or cane sugar
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
In a clean, dry 1- to 1-1/2-quart teapot, place the tea leaves. In a stovetop or electric tea kettle, bring the water to a boil. Let the water cool for about two minutes, until it drops to around 180°F.
Pour about 1/4 cup of the hot water over the leaves in the teapot and let it sit for about a minute. Drain off the water through a fine-mesh strainer, reserving the rehydrated leaves. Pour another 1/4 cup of the hot water into the teapot, let it sit for another minute and then rinse out any remaining tea leaves by swirling, pouring out and discarding the water and leaves.
Return the rehydrated leaves reserved from the first pour to the teapot. Add the remaining hot water and let the tea steep for two minutes. Add the fresh mint, pushing the leaves down with a spoon until submerged. Stir in the sugar, and then steep for another three to four minutes.
Mix the tea by making four or five successive pours into a small glass or teacup and then returning each cupful to the teapot. Start the pour close enough to the glass that the liquid lands inside it, and then raise your arm straight up to finish the pour, forming surface foam. To serve, pour the mixed tea in the same way, from an arm’s length, into each glass.
Julie Laing is a Bigfork-based cookbook author and food blogger at TwiceAsTasty.com.