Pouring mint tea is a ritual. The host holds the teapot up high - sometimes half a metre above the glasses - and pours in a long thin stream. The longer the fall, the more bubbles on top, and the prouder the host. Children often learn how to pour by practising on each other with empty teapots.
Mint tea is offered to anyone who visits a Moroccan home. To say no to a glass would be a bit rude - it is the welcome itself, like a handshake you can drink. People in Morocco call it 'Berber whisky' as a joke, because it is enjoyed so often.
The glasses are small, colourful and have no handle. The first sip is hot, sweet and tastes strongly of mint - like a garden in a glass. You usually drink three: the first is 'gentle as life', the second 'strong as love', the third 'bitter as death'. The tea changes as the leaves brew longer.
The fresh mint is the secret. In Morocco, the mint is grown in big bunches in the markets - long stems, lots of leaves. The whole bunch goes into the pot. The whole house smells of mint while the tea is being made.