ROCK THE KASBAH

The key ingredient in mint tea is time. Well, time and mint, of course, but it’s time that matters the most. Every Moroccan has their own recipe for mint tea. But the one thing that each fiercely individual routine has in common with the other is that it should never, ever be rushed. In the desert, a single pot can take an hour to perfect.

Here, in a small village in the Atlas Mountains, our guide Abdul begins the ritual of pouring glasses and returning them to the pot, pouring and returning, the tea leaves muddling with the fresh mint over and over again. He will not be hurried. I am seated on a terrace draped in soft carpets belonging to Hassan and Safida – and Abdelhaid, their boisterous three year old – who opened up their home to us for a morning. A two-and-a-bit-hour drive out of Marrakech, the Atlas Mountains are home to the Berber tribe, who have lived in