flipMint Tea with Pine Nuts
Mint Tea with Pine Nuts
Why this dish? Mint tea, often garnished with toasted pine nuts in Tunisia, seals every visit and every meal. It is the gesture of hospitality par excellence, the one Amina finds both at home and on tour, the moment when the music of glasses replaces for an instant that of the stage.
Strongly brewed green tea with a generous handful of fresh mint and plenty of sugar, poured from a height to create foam, and served garnished with pine nuts (sometimes almonds) floating in the glass.
Tea is never drunk alone — it's a matter of patience and hospitality. You pour it from very high, the stream singing as it falls creates the foam, and the more beautiful the foam, the more the host honors you. In Tunisia we throw in a handful of toasted pine nuts that swell at the bottom of the glass, and we drink two, three glasses, talking about everything and nothing. Stay, have a glass, listen: in our home we never let anyone leave without their tea.
- •Green tea (gunpowder) — a spoonful per teapot (base)
- •Fresh green mint — a large handful (flavor)
- •Sugar — generously (sweetness)
- •Toasted pine nuts — a spoonful per glass (garnish)
Mint Tea with Pine Nuts
Strongly brewed green tea with a generous handful of fresh mint and plenty of sugar, poured from a height to create foam, and served garnished with pine nuts (sometimes almonds) floating in the glass.
Why this dish? Mint tea, often garnished with toasted pine nuts in Tunisia, seals every visit and every meal. It is the gesture of hospitality par excellence, the one Amina finds both at home and on tour, the moment when the music of glasses replaces for an instant that of the stage.
Tea is never drunk alone — it's a matter of patience and hospitality. You pour it from very high, the stream singing as it falls creates the foam, and the more beautiful the foam, the more the host honors you. In Tunisia we throw in a handful of toasted pine nuts that swell at the bottom of the glass, and we drink two, three glasses, talking about everything and nothing. Stay, have a glass, listen: in our home we never let anyone leave without their tea.
Ingredients (period version)
- Green tea (gunpowder) — a spoonful per teapot (base)
- Fresh green mint — a large handful (flavor)
- Sugar — generously (sweetness)
- Toasted pine nuts — a spoonful per glass (garnish)
Ingredients
- Gunpowder green tea — 1 tbsp (base)
- Fresh green mint — 1 bunch (flavor)
- Sugar — 3 to 5 lumps (to taste) (sweetness)
- Pine nuts — 2 tbsp (garnish)
- Water — 500 ml (infusion)
Method
- Rinse the green tea with hot water once and discard that water to remove bitterness.
- Dry-toast the pine nuts until golden.
- Return the tea to the teapot with sugar and boiling water, let steep for a few minutes over low heat.
- Add fresh mint at the end of steeping; taste and adjust sugar.
- Pour from a height into small glasses to create foam, drop a few toasted pine nuts into each glass and serve piping hot.
How it was made : Green mint tea spread across the Maghreb in the 19th century; in Tunisia it is distinguished by the addition of pine nuts (or toasted almonds) at the bottom of the glass. The high-pour, which aerates the tea and creates foam, is both a technique (oxygenation) and a mark of respect toward the guest.
The contemporary twist : Serve in small faceted gold-rimmed glasses on an engraved tray, floating pine nuts, with a mint sprig slid over the rim — an oriental interlude between courses.
Sources : Mohamed Kouki, La cuisine tunisienne d'Ommok Sannafa · Abderrazak Haouari, traditions du thé au Maghreb
Amina · Charactorium
