Hunja

This morning was cold, but not as cold as it's been the last 5 week days or so. Because of this, rather than wear my ski jacket which is bulky but covers my face well, I opted to wear my winter scarf I bought in Morocco. That made me think about this fantastic tea that is sold in the Djemma el Fna, the large square in Marrekech that bursts to life in the evenings.




The tea is called hunja and it's a ginseng tea with what I can only guess is a combination of cloves, ginger, cinnamon, cardamon, and like all the teas in Morocco: sugar. It's hot and spicy (they serve them in these tiny tea glasses but halfway through a serving my inner ears were on fire from all the spices). It is sold in giant gold urns with a cake which to the best of my research I've been able to identify as something called tkaout or maybe sellou. Both names came up when I tried to search for the cake sold with the tea. It's heavy and rich and I didn't think it was too sweet but by the time I ate it I was just trying to put out the slight fire going on in my mouth. :P


Marrakech was one of my favorite places, and especially the Djemma el Fna. I love thinking about the trip I had there with Jeremy and I can only imagine how good this tea would be on a day like this...it would warm anyone right up!