Okay, I've gotten some flack for not defining terms, so what follows is a recipe for the national drink of Gambia, attaya:
Ingredients: Water, loose Gunpowder green tea leaves, sugar (lots), maybe some extras like mint, nescafe, etc. if you've got them around
Put charcoal or coals from the fire in a metal stand with a handle and swing it around until it gets really hot. Then, pour three shot glasses of water into a very very small kettle. Add a bunch of tea leaves and let it sit until it boils. Once it boils, add 1-2 shot glasses full of sugar. Sit back and wait until it boils again.
Now is where practice makes perfect. Pour the tea from the kettle into a shot glass from as high up as possible to start creating a foam. Alternate filling one shot glass and then pouring it (also from very high up) into the other shot glass, filling both and pouring them into the kettle, and any variation on the theme. Now is also when you add any extra goodies to the recipe. All this pouring from a great distance goes on for at least 10 minutes, until a good foam head forms in the glasses. Then, it's back into the kettle and back onto the coals to heat up again.
Take a moment here to rinse off the outside of your glasses and your serving plate. Once the attaya is hot again you can fill both cups. Make sure to serve in order of seniority. When it's your turn, make sure to slurp and drink as quickly as possible so that the next person can get some too.
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2 comments:
That's my shit right there! We made it every day at my house and my brother once told me he would feel ill if he didn't drink his 3 cups a day. I have some of the packets of tea at my house in California still but I never mastered making it so you should learn!
where can i get some? it sounds pretty amazing. i love how there is such a ceremony around it--one more example of why tea is so fantastic :)
keep writing, annie face! i get to have a little african escape during work, i love it!
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