Sahara Tea Ceremony

Across the Algerian Sahara, tea is not a drink so much as a sequence. Gunpowder green tea is brewed in a small enamel or metal pot on a charcoal brazier, sugar is added in quantity, mint often goes in with it, and the tea is poured from a height into small glasses and returned to the pot repeatedly until a head of foam forms. It is served in three rounds, each brewed from the same leaves and each weaker and sweeter than the last, and the whole business takes an hour or more, which is the point: it is what people do while they talk. A saying about the three glasses, bitter, sweet and gentle, is repeated across the region.

What you actually see

• Brewing on a charcoal brazier - the small pot set on coals.
• Pouring from a height - the technique that raises the foam.
• Three rounds from one pot - each weaker and sweeter than the last.
• An hour of conversation - the time the ritual is designed to fill.

When to go

November to March, the months when the south is bearable to travel in. One to two hours. It is offered as hospitality; refusing outright is discourteous, so accept at least the first glass.

Honest expectations

It is very sweet and drinking three glasses affects most visitors. It cannot be hurried, and trying to is rude. Hygiene depends entirely on where you are. It is hospitality, not a service, and offering money for it is inappropriate.

Nearby

The Hoggar and Tassili regions are where visitors most often encounter it.