Moroccan Mint: The Spearmint Behind North Africa’s Mint Tea

The mint in that sweet green tea served across North Africa, a drink Gernot Katzer calls the “national beverage” of Morocco and Tunisia, is plain spearmint, Mentha spicata.¹ “Moroccan mint” is a trade and garden name, not a separate plant. Like other spearmints, it gets its sweet, gentle flavor from carvone, and some Moroccan-grown strains are very rich in it.² Others aren’t, which is why it pays to smell a plant before you buy it.

At a glance

What it is, and what it isn’t

“Moroccan mint” is a trade and garden name, not a botanical rank. Katzer identifies Moroccan green mint as M. spicata. You’ll often see it given the variety name Mentha spicata var. crispa. We found no source that ties Moroccan mint to that name, and Kew doesn’t recognize the variety anyway. It treats var. crispa as a synonym of Mentha spicata subsp. spicata, ordinary spearmint.⁴ Katzer’s crisped or curly mint, which “somewhat reminds of caraway,” doesn’t sound like the clean spearmint flavor of Moroccan mint either, and no source we found calls Moroccan mint curly mint.¹

The word nana on packets is just the Arabic word for mint, an-naʿnaʿ, which goes back to ancient Semitic roots.

North Africa is now one of the main mint-growing areas. A Moroccan study says spearmint is grown in every region of the country, sold in national markets, and exported too.²

Flavor and aroma

Fresh Moroccan mint is sweet, bright and green, with none of peppermint’s cold menthol bite. Katzer sums up spearmint as “minty but not pungent.”¹

The compounds

Carvone is the main component of spearmint oil, and Singh and Pandey contrast carvone-rich spearmint with peppermint, whose oil is dominated by menthol and menthone.⁵

Moroccan spearmint varies a lot. A study in the Moroccan Journal of Agricultural Sciences analyzed 13 cultivated or wild strains collected from 10 Moroccan regions:²

What that means for you: a “Moroccan mint” plant may or may not taste like the carvone-rich mint in a good glass of tea. Smell it before you buy.

How it is used

Mint tea

Saveur’s recipe by Penny De Los Santos gives a fair picture of the classic North African glass. It steeps 2 tablespoons of Chinese gunpowder tea or other green tea, 16 lumps of sugar (or ⅓ cup granulated), and a bunch of mint, about 25 sprigs with stems discarded, in 4 cups of boiling water for 10 minutes, then strains it into glasses.⁶ That’s one writer’s recipe, not a fixed standard. Sweetness and strength vary from household to household.

Other uses

Moroccan mint goes anywhere spearmint does: yogurt sauces, salads, peas and other vegetables, sauces for lamb, and drinks like the mojito or mint julep. Mint belongs with the delicate herbs best added near the end of cooking, since long heat costs flavor and aroma. For more ideas see mint uses and cooking with mint.

You may read that Moroccan mint has thicker leaves than other spearmints, so it holds up better in cooked dishes. We found no source for that.

Buying and storage

We found no grading standard. For tea, buy fresh bunches that smell strongly sweet when you rub a leaf, with no black or slimy patches. We didn’t find a published shelf life from a regulator or extension service. See how to store mint, can you freeze mint and how to dry mint.

Nutrition

USDA has no separate entry for Moroccan mint. For fresh spearmint, FoodData Central lists, per 100 g:⁷

A glass of tea or a garnish uses only a few grams of leaves, so you’re eating very little of any of this.

Health and safety

FDA lists spearmint among the spices and natural seasonings generally recognized as safe for their intended use.⁸

Claims that Moroccan mint relieves gas and nausea or treats breathing problems rest on general beliefs about mint. NIH’s NCCIH summary of the digestive evidence is about peppermint oil, not spearmint: enteric-coated peppermint oil capsules may improve IBS symptoms in adults.⁹ We found no comparable summary for spearmint, and we’re not claiming Moroccan mint treats or prevents any condition.

Substitutes and comparisons

Since Moroccan mint is spearmint, any good fresh spearmint stands in naturally. Peppermint makes a colder, sharper tea, so use less. See mint substitutes.

• Spearmint and spearmint vs. peppermint
• Mint, peppermint and types of mint
• Moroccan spices and ras el hanout
• Too strong? See too much mint.