In Morocco, atay is less a drink than a form of good manners. It is offered to guests on arrival, poured after every meal, sipped in shops while a price is negotiated and shared with family and friends many times a day. The tea is Chinese gunpowder green tea, rolled into tight little pellets, brewed strong with a generous bunch of fresh spearmint and plenty of sugar. The host pours from high above the glass, which cools the tea, mixes it and raises a light foam on top; a glass without foam is considered a little underdressed.

Making it properly takes ten minutes and a certain ceremony, which is entirely the point. It is the ideal drink for the slow stretch of a race between the start and the pit stops, and it ends any Moroccan meal in this book with the right note of sweetness.

The tea

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon gunpowder green tea
• 4 1/4 cups (1 liter) water
• 1 large bunch fresh spearmint
• 3 to 5 tablespoons sugar

Method

1. Wash the mint under cold water and shake it dry. Keep the sprigs whole; trim off only thick, woody stems.
2. Put the tea in the teapot and pour in about 1/2 cup (120 ml) of the boiling water. Swirl for 20 seconds and pour this first liquid into a glass. Set it aside: it is considered the spirit of the tea and goes back in later.
3. Pour another 1/2 cup (120 ml) of boiling water over the tea, swirl for 10 seconds and throw this cloudy rinse away. It washes off dust and some of the bitterness.
4. Pour back the reserved first glass. Add the mint, pushing it down, and the sugar, then fill the pot with the rest of the boiling water. Set the pot over low heat, or pour everything into the small saucepan if your pot cannot go on the stove, and bring it just to a simmer, 3 to 5 minutes. Do not let it boil hard.
5. Take the pot off the heat. Pour a glass of tea and tip it back into the pot. Repeat two or three times, which dissolves the sugar and blends the tea without stirring the leaves. Taste a little and add sugar if you like.
6. Line up the glasses. Start pouring close to the first glass, then slowly lift the pot to about 12 inches (30 cm) above it, keeping the stream steady, and lower it again before you stop. Fill each glass about two thirds full. Practice over the sink the first time.

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