Moroccan mint tea, explained: gunpowder, mint and sugar
FindMeTea Editorial Team · Published 2026-10-19
Moroccan mint tea, called té moruno in Spanish and atay in Morocco, is Chinese gunpowder green tea brewed with a large bunch of fresh spearmint and a generous amount of sugar, then poured from a height into small glasses so each one gets a crown of foam. It is a recipe, not a plant: the leaf is green tea, the mint is spearmint rather than peppermint, and the caffeine comes from the tea, level 2 on our 0 to 3 scale. Our catalog lists 203°F (95°C), 4 minutes and 3 g per cup for the blend, and the sections below explain where each ingredient comes from and how the pot is made.
One drink, several names
In English it is Moroccan mint tea or Maghrebi mint tea; in Spanish it is té moruno, literally Moorish tea, a name that has stuck across Spain and Latin America. In Morocco itself it is simply atay, and the mint is called na'na. All of these mean the same glass. What is not the same is té de menta or mint tea on its own: a pot of plain spearmint or peppermint is a caffeine-free herbal infusion, level 0 in our catalog, with no tea leaf in it. If a packet says mint tea, check the ingredients for green tea before assuming it is caffeine-free; our page on Moroccan Mint lists the blend with its own numbers.
What goes into the pot
Three things. The tea is gunpowder, a green tea rolled into tight pellets and lightly pan-fired, most of it grown in China's Zhejiang province; Morocco is among the world's largest importers of Chinese green tea. The mint is spearmint, Mentha spicata, grown across Morocco and especially around Meknès and the Atlas valleys. Spearmint matters: its scent is led by carvone, which reads sweet and cool, while peppermint is led by menthol and comes across far sharper. A pot made with peppermint tastes like a different drink. The third ingredient is sugar, traditionally broken from a cone-shaped loaf; the recipe on our tea page calls for 3 to 4 tablespoons per 750 ml, and in a Moroccan home the amount of sugar is read as a measure of welcome. Some households add a sprig of wormwood, called chiba, in winter, for a bitter note, and only now and then.
How the pot is made in Morocco
The traditional method has four moves. First the gunpowder goes into the empty pot with a little boiling water, which is swirled and thrown away: that rinse takes the dust off the pellets and softens their astringency. Then the sugar goes in, boiling water goes over it, and the tea steeps for 3 to 5 minutes. The mint, leaves and stems together, is pushed into the pot after that, or straight into the glasses, and sits for another 2 or 3 minutes off the heat. Finally the tea is poured from well above the glass, 30 cm or more, which cools it and raises the foam. The foam on top is the sign of a glass poured with care. The first glass is often tipped back into the pot to mix the brew before anyone drinks.
Three glasses from one pot
The same pot is served three times, and the leaf keeps infusing between rounds, so the three glasses do not taste alike. Nearly every host in Morocco has a saying about the three, comparing them to life, love and death; the order of the adjectives changes from teller to teller, so do not take any one version as the official one. What does not change is the hospitality: tea is offered to every guest, after every meal, and a first refusal can read as rude. If you are served atay, say yes to the first glass.
Brewing it at home
Use the catalog numbers for the blend: 203°F (95°C), 4 minutes, 3 g of gunpowder per cup, and multiply by the number of glasses. Rinse the pellets with a splash of hot water first and discard it. Add sugar before the water if you want the traditional sweetness, or leave it out and sweeten the glasses, which is a legitimate variation rather than a mistake. Pack in more mint than looks reasonable; it will wilt into the pot. Pour from as high as you dare over a sink the first time. Note that gunpowder on its own is listed at 185°F (85°C) for 2 minutes with 2 g per cup, the usual green-tea caution against bitterness; the blend takes hotter water and a longer steep because the sugar and the mint carry the astringency. Our brewing chart has the plain green-tea numbers alongside, if you want to compare.
Caffeine, and when it is poured
A glass of atay carries the caffeine of its gunpowder: level 2 of 3 on our caffeine ladder, the same step as sencha or jasmine green, and below Assam or the breakfast blends. Spearmint itself contributes none. Our catalog lists the blend for mid-morning, after a meal and early afternoon, which matches the Moroccan habit of a glass after lunch; for the evening, a pot of spearmint alone, brewed at 203°F (95°C) for 5 minutes with 2 g per cup, gives you the same foam and the same scent with nothing to keep you up.
Where the drink came from
Chinese green tea reached Morocco in the 1700s as a diplomatic gift to the sultan and stayed a court luxury for a long time. It became an everyday drink after the 1850s, when tea and sugar grew cheaper and merchants carried both inland from ports like Essaouira and Tangier. The version you will read most often says that British merchants, cut off from their Baltic markets by the Crimean War, unloaded surplus gunpowder in Moroccan ports and the locals married it to an older habit of sweet mint infusions. It is a good story, but a historian who went through the trade records of the period found no evidence for it, so treat the war as a tale and the 1850s as the date. Our Morocco origin page sits alongside China and the other tea countries in the catalog.
Beyond the hot glass
The same strong, sweet pot works cold: our iced Moroccan mint tea brews it double strength and pours it over crushed ice with extra mint and a slice of lemon. At the table it follows tagines, couscous and almond pastries; our pairing page for Moroccan Mint goes dish by dish. And if you want the other great glass of the region, Turkish tea is the opposite answer to the same question: black, unsweetened in the pot, and served without mint. Every green tea in our catalog shows the same three brewing figures next to its caffeine level, so a doubtful substitution for the gunpowder takes seconds to check.
FAQ
Is Moroccan mint tea a green tea?
Yes. The base is gunpowder, a Chinese green tea rolled into pellets, brewed with fresh spearmint and sugar. The mint and sugar are additions; the tea underneath is green, which is why the blend sits at level 2 on our caffeine scale.
Does té moruno have caffeine?
Yes, from the gunpowder green tea: level 2 of 3 on our scale, the same step as most green teas. A pot of spearmint alone, which some people also call mint tea, has none and is listed at level 0 in our catalog.
What kind of mint goes in Moroccan tea?
Spearmint, Mentha spicata, known as na'na in Morocco and hierbabuena in Spanish. Its scent comes from carvone, which reads sweet and cool, while peppermint is led by menthol and tastes much sharper. Peppermint works in a pinch but makes a noticeably different glass.
Why is Moroccan tea poured from so high?
Pouring from 30 cm or more above the glass cools the tea slightly and raises a layer of foam on top, which is the visible sign of a well-made glass. The first glass is often poured back into the pot to mix the brew evenly before serving.