Arabic Tea with Mint (Shai Bil Na'ana'a)
A comforting mint tea that’s meant to be savored and shared with friends. With only a few simple ingredients, it’s so easy to make!
Servings: 6 cups
Ingredients
- 6 cups water
- 2 teaspoons loose-leaf black tea, or more if you like your tea strong
- 6-8 fresh mint leaves, a large handful
- sugar or sweetener, optional
Instructions
- Bring the water to a rolling boil in a tea kettle or medium saucepan. Stir in the tea and allow it to boil for 1 minute to help "agitate" the tea leaves.
- Turn off the heat and immediately add the fresh mint leaves. Cover and allow the tea to steep for 5 minutes. Ideally, your tea should be an amber red (a deep red indicates that the tea may have over-steeped).
- Divide the tea among cups (preferably clear teacups), pouring through a small mesh strainer to strain the leaves. Serve with sugar on the side so guests may add as much as they like.
Video
Notes
- This recipe and excerpts in this post are from my debut book, The Mediterranean Dish Cookbook: 120 Bold and Healthy Recipes You'll Make on Repeat (Clarkson Potter, 2022).
- A note on sweetener: It is more traditional to sweeten the water in the pot ahead of time, but I like to allow everyone to add sugar or honey to their taste.
- For best flavor: try to use purified water as opposed to tap water, if possible. Purified water is neautral-tasting (PH 7), so it will not alter the taste of your brewed tea.
- Visit our shop to browse quality Mediterranean products including honey, olive oils, spices and more.
Nutrition
Calories: 1.8kcal | Carbohydrates: 0.4g | Protein: 0.1g | Fat: 0.02g | Saturated Fat: 0.01g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.01g | Sodium: 12.6mg | Potassium: 14.2mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Vitamin A: 106.2IU | Vitamin C: 0.8mg | Calcium: 13.2mg | Iron: 0.1mg
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