Chef Zohra
Atay b Chiba (Moroccan Wormwood Tea)
The cold-evening cousin of mint tea: gunpowder green tea brewed with chiba, the bitter winter herb Moroccans use when na'na is scarce and the house needs warming.
Culinary Explorer
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Salmia, Moroccan Sage Tea
Created by
Green tea softened with sage, sweetened in the pot, and poured for the guest who arrives tired, chilled, or needing the small mercy of a warm glass.
Beverages
Moroccan
Comfort Food
Weeknight
5 min
Active Time
10 min cook•15 min total
Yield6 small glasses
Sage doesn't enter quietly. The moment it touches the hot tea, it gives that clean, camphor-green scent that Moroccans know from winter kitchens, tired stomachs, and throats asking for kindness. Salmia is not ceremony like mint tea, but it is still welcome. You make it when someone needs tending.
Use a light hand. Sage is generous, then suddenly stern if you leave it too long. Rinse the green tea first to take away the rough bitterness, then steep the salmia only until the glass smells herbal and rounded, not sharp. That is the whole judgment here. La balance est dans les yeux (the scale is in the eyes), and also in the nose.
Serve it sweet, in small glasses, while everyone is still gathered close. A table is a door you leave open, and some nights the door is held by one pot of tea.
Salmia belongs to Morocco's household pharmacopoeia as much as to its tea table: sage, called salmia in darija, sits among the herbs used for digestion, colds, and winter comfort across the Maghreb. The green tea base is more recent, spreading widely in Morocco in the 18th and 19th centuries through Atlantic trade ports such as Essaouira and Tangier before becoming a national habit. The dating of sage infusions is older and less neatly documented, which is honest for a remedy carried mostly by kitchens, markets, and memory.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
Chinese gunpowder green tea
Quantity
1 tbsp
water
Quantity
750ml
fresh sage leaves
Quantity
6 leaves
or 1 tbsp dried Moroccan salmia
sugar
Quantity
4 tbsp, or to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Chinese gunpowder green tea | 1 tbsp |
| water | 750ml |
| fresh sage leavesor 1 tbsp dried Moroccan salmia | 6 leaves |
| sugar | 4 tbsp, or to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Long-spouted Moroccan teapot
- •Small tea glasses
- •Kettle
Instructions
- 1
Rinse the tea
Put the green tea in the teapot. Pour in a small splash of just-boiled water, swirl for a few seconds, then pour that water away. This first rinse wakes the leaves and carries off the rough edge, so the sage doesn't have to fight bitterness.
- 2
Add the salmia
Add the sage and sugar to the pot. Pour in the remaining hot water, cover, and let it steep for 4 to 5 minutes. Smell it before you taste it: the sage should be clear and green, not harsh or medicinal.
Dried salmia is stronger than fresh. Start modestly, then add more next time if your table likes a deeper herbal taste. - 3
Mix the pot
Pour one small glass, then return it to the teapot. Do this once or twice so the sugar and strength move through the whole pot. Taste and adjust while it is still hot.
- 4
Serve warm
Pour into small tea glasses and serve at once. Salmia is best when the herb is still bright and the tea still gentle, the kind of glass you put into someone's hands before asking too many questions.
Chef Tips
- •Buy salmia from a busy spice and herb seller, where the leaves still smell alive when rubbed between your fingers. A tired herb gives you only dust.
- •Don't boil the sage in the pot. It turns bossy and bitter. Steep it, taste it, then stop.
- •If the tea is for a sore throat, many families make it a little sweeter. If it is for digestion after dinner, they often keep the sugar lighter.
Advance Preparation
- •Wash fresh sage and keep it wrapped in a barely damp cloth in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
- •Salmia is made fresh. After a long rest in the pot, the sage turns bitter and loses its kindness.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 130g)
Calories
35 calories
Total Fat
0 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
0 mg
Total Carbohydrates
8 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
8 g
Protein
0 g
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