75 grams.
Chai Nanna is a famous Arabic tea blend, which combines Chinese green gunpowder tea and mint leaves for a supremely refreshing blend. Add sugar to enjoy it in traditional style!
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£10.20
Our Chai Nanna (from the Moroccan Arabic atay bil naânaâ, or tea with mint) is a refreshing brew, made with Chinese Gunpowder green tea and spearmint. It is wildly popular and a massive part of the culture in the Greater Maghreb region, encompassing Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya and Mauritania.
It is traditionally lavishly sweetened and served in a tea glass. Adding a wee sprig of fresh mint to our already tasty blend will enhance its flavour yet further.
Mint is a herb with a wide range of known health benefits. Best-known amongst these is its ability to aid digestion, relieve stomach cramps and reduce bloating and flatulence. This is most likely related to its anti-inflammatory properties, which mean that it can help relax intestinal muscles and reduce discomfort. Indeed, the anti-spasmodic attributes of menthol, the active ingredient in mint, have been said to constitute an effective treatment against Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Some recent studies have also shown that mint may improve brain function, bringing about increased alertness and improvements in learning and memory, as well as safeguarding neurons in the brain. Inhaling peppermint oil has shown great promise as a means of improving cognitive function, focus and overall brain health.
Mint’s usefulness in providing relief from cold symptoms and improving bad breath are also both widely known.
Green tea, due to its unoxidised tea leaves, contains extremely high levels of antioxidants, which combat damaging free radicals. Gunpowder has been shown to have high levels of Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which has anti-inflammatory properties that boost cardiovascular health, aid weight loss and help to regulate blood sugar levels. Eliminating free radicals also helps prevent a number of chronic diseases, including heart disease, cancer and degenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and dementia.
The catechins contained in green tea are also said to aid digestion, so that Chai Nanna really is a powerful double whammy when it comes to stomach issues.
As Gunpowder tea is wrapped tightly into little balls or pellets, it also tends to have a higher caffeine content than most other green teas, thereby boosting energy and attention. The balance between caffeine and theanine that it contains is said to provide a pleasant balance of increased energy and a state of peaceful relaxation.
Perhaps this explains why this tea has become so popular in the warm climate of North Africa. It is a refreshing mix that offers an energy kick and keeps minds sharp in the draining heat of Summer. Additionally, and somewhat counter-intuitively, drinking hot tea can have a cooling effect, as it helps produce more sweat, which absorbs heat from your body and cools you as it evaporates.
Tea first arrived in North Africa via The Silk Road, the name applied to the wide network of trading routes that connected East and West for many centuries. It remained in large part a luxury beverage of the ruling classes until the 18th or 19th Century, by which time the British East India Company had come to dominate the tea trade. They introduced Gunpowder green tea into North Africa sometime around the late 18th century, via the great Moroccan port of Essaouira. Although initially still viewed as a luxury product and status symbol, over time its increasing affordability and refreshing taste in a warm climate meant that its popularity quickly spread and became adapted to local traditions. Already in the 1840s, the explorer James Richardson described tea as an “article of universal consumption” in Morocco, and said that “Even in remote provinces, amongst Bebers and Bedouins…, the finest green tea is to be found.” By the 1880s tea and sugar, which Moroccans tend to add to their tea in copious quantities, accounted for a quarter of the country’s total imports!
These days, Nanna tea has become the primary symbol of Moroccan hospitality and generosity. It is standard practice in that part of the world for family and friends to meet for tea multiple times every day, making time for one another and strengthening social bonds, as well as for it to be served in shops, markets and when welcoming guests. The tea is traditionally served by the male head of the family, in a ritualised fashion known as Atai. It is prepared carefully and patiently then poured from a great height, as doing so not only forms bubbles that aerate the tea and provide “texture”, but also provides a bit of theatre. It allows the host to show off their skill in being able to land the liquid in the small, finely decorated glasses that are generally used, thereby displaying their dedication to the pleasure of their guests. It is said that in pouring the tea, they also pour out their hearts.
Once served, the tea is sipped slowly, providing plenty of opportunity for reflection and communication. The host usually continues to serve until everyone has had three glasses, each of which has a different character as the leaves go through their multiple infusions. This process is beautifully described by a famous local proverb, which states that,
The first glass is as gentle as life,
the second is as strong as love,
the third is as bitter as death.
In North Africa, and indeed throughout the Middle East, tea time is seen as a vital communal activity, allowing families and friends to spend time together, fostering inclusivity and camaraderie. It is a way of welcoming strangers and is seen as a refined expression of hospitality, to the extent that to refuse an offer of tea can be taken as an insult. It is often commented that the tea tradition there bridges differences and allows people with different backgrounds or worldviews to come together in a spirit of mutual respect. The special atmosphere of hospitality and conviviality that is produced encourages dialogue and shared understanding, thereby breaking down social barriers, for a while at least.
All put together, it can be seen that Chai Nanna is a potent brew, which also happens to taste absolutely lovely. You’d be totally menthol not to buy some!
Check out more of our homemade tea and herbal recipes here:
https://tchaiovna.com/shop/category/tea/recipe-tea/
And if you prefer your green tea pure and unadulterated, you can find Gunpowder in our Green Tea section here:
https://tchaiovna.com/shop/category/tea/green-tea/
| Weight | 150 g |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 34.5 × 16 × 4 cm |