Its colour variesfrom gold to amber; its subtle taste, a judicious blend of the flavour of thetea, the fresh note of mint and the sweetness of sugar, make tea a beveragevery highly appreciated in Morocco.  This is a chronicle of a beverage that has made a long journey, from China to Europe... landing in Morocco as a gift for Sultan Moulay Ismail… and that has seduced the Moroccanpeople to the point that it has become the national beverage.

Accordingto a Chinese legend, tea has existed since 2737 BCE. The man to whom we owethis beverage with its medicinal qualities is no other than Emperor Shen Nung,known as the “father of agriculture” or the “divine farmer”.  He used to boil water, the only drinkavailable at the time, before drinking it. He found himself under a wild bushwhen the breeze caused several leaves to fall into his cup of boiled water.Captivated by the flavour and aromas of the resultant drink, Shen Nungintoduced it to China.And thus was born the most widely drunk beverage in the world after water.  The custom of tea drinking spread rapidlyinto the south and a little more slowly into the north of China but itwas not until the arrival of the glorious Tang dynasty that the art of tea wasdeveloped, and took its place beside painting, calligraphy, poetry, the artof playing the lute, the martial arts and other intellectual pursuits.  From China,tea spread to Mongolia andinto the Muslim world by way of the Silk Road.  Initially, it was the drink of the caravansof merchants who appreciated its ability to quench thirst and combat fatigueduring their long journeys.  In her book,“The Art of Tea in Morocco”Noufissa Kessar Raji informs us that “The first mention of tea in the West wasin the 9^th Century and appeared in the notes of an Arab merchantnamed Suleyman.  In his “Relations withChina and India”, a work written in 851, this merchant refers to his trip notesand mentions a plant that he claims to be in constant use by the Chinese “Aplant that has more leaves than clover, a little more perfume, but also verybitter…”
Four hundred years later, Marco Polo described the unrestrained activity inpopular tea houses in China.  However, it was not until the time of thegreat maritime companies that tea in the Far Eastleft the caravan routes and took to the seas.

HISTORYOF TEA IN MOROCCO
Noufissa Kessar Raji, in her book “The Art of Tea in Morocco”,tells of the epic of the introduction of tea into Morocco:“Tea was first introduced into Moroccothrough the court of Moulay Ismail (1672-1727). Apparently, Queen Anne ofEngland (1644-1714) considered that “two great copper tea fountains and alittle high quality tea” would be enough to soften the heart of the emperor of Morocco who washolding sixty nine English prisoners of war. Ben Aicha, the ambassador of theMoroccan sultan to the court of Louis XIV had strongly requested some tea from theParisian merchant Jourdan who maintained trade relations with Morocco.  Throughout the 18^th century, tearegularly accompanied English, Dutch or Scandinavian diplomatic missions.  It was also supplied by English and Dutchrenegades who were among the crew members on the pirate ships of the city ofSale”, Noufissa Kessar Raji writes: “In 1789, the English surgeon WilliamLempriere, summoned to the court of sultan Sidi Mohammed, was surprised to seethat tea was served in superb and remarkably tiny Indian porcelain cups. Thesmall amount served, showed the fuss that the Moors made of this beverage. Atea ceremony would last at least two hours. Only the rich could drink it because of its rarity in Barbary”
During the 20^th century, tea was the favourite drink of viceroys andupper echelons of the Makhzen, representatives of the sovereign in the variousprovinces, and of certain privileged families. When the British tea merchants saw the Slavic market closed to theirexports during the Crimean War, they turned their attention to Morocco.  The trading posts of Tangier and Mogador(present day Essaouira)  receivedimportant stocks of tea to store and began to commercialise it.  This is how tea drinking became democratisedand soon touched all strata of the population. Moroccans received tea with great pleasure since it softened thestringency of the mint infusions they were in the habit of drinking.  Mixed with various aromatic plants, tea became a beverage whose popularity didnot cease to grow. “In Morocco”,writes Noufissa Kessar Raji,” tea evolved in a paradoxical manner: it wasbrought from China duringrecent times by a triumphant Europe in searchof new markets and took time to pass from status symbol to national drink.However Moroccans have considered it, from the very start as something that belongs tothem”.

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