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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Sbaa'ouat (سبعوات)
Created by
A Moroccan winter cup of hot milk simmered with seven plants, sweet spice, licorice root, fennel, and aniseed. You drink it for warmth, comfort, and the chair pulled close.
Beverages
Moroccan
Comfort Food
Holiday
5 min
Active Time
15 min cook•20 min total
Yield4 small cups
When the cold settles into the walls, milk takes the spices differently. It softens the ginger, carries the cinnamon, and rounds the licorice until the cup feels like something your hands remember before your mouth does.
Sbaa'ouat means the seven, and here the number matters: ginger, cinnamon, clove, star anise, licorice root, fennel seed, and aniseed. Don't boil the milk hard. Let it tremble gently, because a hard boil makes the milk taste tired and can turn the licorice too strong. The drink should be warm, spiced, and a little sweet, not medicinal in the mouth.
This is winter cooking, yes, but it is also la cuisine du lien (the cooking of connection). You make a pot when someone comes in chilled, when a child has a cough, when the evening needs softening. Pour small cups. Keep one more ready.
Milk infusions with warming seeds and roots belong to the household remedy traditions found across northern and eastern Morocco, especially in cold months when spice, not fresh fruit, carried comfort. The exact dating of Sbaa'ouat is not written cleanly in court records; it lives closer to oral domestic medicine than to the imperial kitchens of Fez or Marrakech. Its ingredients show Morocco's old trade habits clearly: ginger, cinnamon, clove, and star anise arrived through Indian Ocean and Mediterranean routes, then were folded into local milk and seed infusions.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
whole milk
Quantity
750ml
water
Quantity
250ml
honey or sugar
Quantity
1 tbsp, plus more to taste
fresh ginger
Quantity
3cm
sliced thin, or use 1 tsp dried ginger
cinnamon stick
Quantity
1
whole cloves
Quantity
3
star anise
Quantity
1
licorice root
Quantity
1 tsp
lightly crushed
fennel seeds
Quantity
1 tsp
lightly crushed
aniseed
Quantity
1 tsp
lightly crushed
sea salt
Quantity
1 small pinch
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| whole milk | 750ml |
| water | 250ml |
| honey or sugar | 1 tbsp, plus more to taste |
| fresh gingersliced thin, or use 1 tsp dried ginger | 3cm |
| cinnamon stick | 1 |
| whole cloves | 3 |
| star anise | 1 |
| licorice rootlightly crushed | 1 tsp |
| fennel seedslightly crushed | 1 tsp |
| aniseedlightly crushed | 1 tsp |
| sea salt | 1 small pinch |
Equipment Needed
- •Small heavy saucepan
- •Fine-mesh strainer
- •Mortar and pestle
Instructions
- 1
Crush the seeds
Lightly crush the fennel, aniseed, and licorice root with a mortar or the bottom of a glass. Don't powder them. You want the milk to pull out their sweetness without making the final cup cloudy and gritty.
- 2
Start the infusion
Put the water, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, licorice root, fennel, and aniseed into a small saucepan. Bring it just to a lively simmer for 5 minutes, until the kitchen smells of warm seed and cinnamon. This first water draw wakes the roots and hard spices before the milk goes in.
- 3
Add the milk
Pour in the milk, add the pinch of salt, and lower the heat. Let the surface tremble gently for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring now and then. Keep it below a hard boil: milk scorches fast, and licorice grows heavy if you bully it.
- 4
Sweeten and strain
Stir in the honey or sugar, then taste. La balance est dans les yeux (the scale is in the eyes), but here it is also in the mouth: sweeten only enough to round the ginger and clove. Strain into small cups and serve warm.
Chef Tips
- •Buy the spices whole when you can. Ground clove and stale cinnamon take over the cup before the milk has a chance to become gentle.
- •Licorice root is naturally sweet and strong. If you are pregnant, have high blood pressure, kidney disease, or take medicines affected by licorice, leave it out and increase the fennel slightly.
- •Use whole milk for the traditional body. If milk is difficult for your table, use a plain unsweetened oat milk, but say honestly that it is an accommodation, not the old cup.
Advance Preparation
- •Measure the seven spices into a small jar up to 1 month ahead, keeping the ginger separate if using fresh.
- •Sbaa'ouat is best made fresh. If you must hold it, strain it, chill it for up to 24 hours, and rewarm gently without boiling.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 250g)
Calories
135 calories
Total Fat
6 g
Saturated Fat
4 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
2 g
Cholesterol
20 mg
Sodium
100 mg
Total Carbohydrates
14 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
14 g
Protein
6 g
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