A Cup of Tea in Morocco.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLI, Issue 21, 18 November 1908, Page 56

A Cup of Tea in Morocco.

Much quaint ceremonial attaches itself to the drinking of tea in Morocco, making our own simple preparations pale into insignificance by comparison. When a party of guests enter the house or tent of a rich Moor, one of the near relatives of the host is eliarged with the duty of making tea. He squats in one corner, having on either side of him a large server or platter. Upon one of these servers is a number of cups, and upon the other a sugar bowl, a box of tea. a pile of fragrant menthe leaves, a copper apparatus for heating water, and a tea-urn. MUCH TASTING 16 HONE. The tea maker sets the water boiling with a little fuel, and then pours the boiling water into his tea-urn, quickly adding to it some tea and some sugar, and allows the compound to steep a few moments. Then he pours out a cup of the tea, and tastes it, smacks his lips, sniffs the odour of the liquid, and draws a deep breath —all with an air which says, “I am going to get this tea exactly right.” Perhaps he does not find the compound to his taste at the first attempt, for he pours the tea in his tup back into the teaurn, adds a little sugar or a little tea, and pours out another cup for a second test. CUPS CHANGE HANDS WITHOUT WASHING. This process goes on, the teamaker testing his tea and pouring it back again until he'gets it just to his. liking. Then the guests are called, and if any one of the mdoes not finish his cup, he is expected to pour it back into the urn, for it is the custom in Morocco to take three cups in succession, and the tea making has to be begun over again- The first of the three cups offered is plain tea with sugar, and the two succeeding cups are perfumed with menthe or vervine. In preparing these successive kinds of tea, the cups go back to the teamaker, and change hands at the next serving without any washing. © © ©