Senegalese tea culture facts for kids

A five-year-old boy preparing tea near Dakar, Senegal.

Tea is a very important part of daily life in Senegal, a country in West Africa. The way people drink tea there is much like in other nearby countries such as Mali, Guinea, Gambia, and Mauritania. In Senegal, this special tea is called attaya (or ataya, ataaya) in the Wolof language. It's made in a very detailed way and is a big part of social gatherings.

Making Senegalese Tea: Attaya

Senegalese tea, often made with fresh mint, is usually served after meals. It's also the drink offered to friends and guests. Drinking attaya helps people talk and stay friends because it takes a long time to make. This long process is part of the fun!

Senegalese attaya is served in three different stages, often called "the three concoctions." Here's how it's made:

Green tea leaves are put into a teapot with some water and mint leaves. This mixture is then boiled over a charcoal stove. Sugar is added to the teapot. The tea is poured into small glasses and then poured back and forth from the glass to the teapot many times. This creates a lot of foam in the glass. The more foam, the better the tea is thought to be!

People in West Africa often hold the teapot high when pouring the tea into small glasses. This helps mix the tea and sugar well. They usually like their tea very sweet.

The Three Stages of Attaya

Each of the three glasses of attaya has a different taste:

• The first glass is very sweet, but it also has a strong, slightly bitter taste from the tea leaves.
• The second glass is even sweeter than the first.
• The third glass is very sweet, but it's much less bitter. This is because the same tea leaves are used for all three glasses, and their bitterness fades with each pour.

Many of the words used for tea, the tiny metal teapot, and mint in different local languages come from Arabic. This suggests that Senegalese mint tea might have come from the Moorish people, who lived in North Africa.

More than 80% of people in Senegal, aged 15 to 60, drink tea regularly. Studies have shown that the high amount of fluoride in green tea might help prevent tooth decay.

Attaya in Music

The importance of tea in Senegalese culture was even highlighted in a song! The song Ataya is a track on Ismaël Lô's 1986 music album, Natt.

See also

In Spanish: Cultura del té en Senegal para niños