Tea & infusions
Olive Leaf Tea (Warq Zzitoun)
ورق الزيتون · warq zzitoun
In the olive-growing countryside around Marrakech and across Morocco, the leaves of the olive tree are not wasted — they are dried and brewed into warq zzitoun, a rustic herbal infusion drunk as a folk remedy. Mildly bitter and grassy, it is reached for above all to help manage blood pressure and blood sugar, a quiet piece of rural home medicine drawn from the country's most important tree.
- Type
- Olive leaf herbal infusion
- Served
- Hot, in a glass
- When
- Folk wellness, blood pressure
- Key flavour
- Grassy, faintly bitter, green
What Olive Leaf Tea is
Warq zzitoun is an infusion of the leaves of the olive tree — the same trees whose fruit and oil sit at the heart of Moroccan cooking. Dried and steeped, the silvery-green leaves give a pale, grassy, gently bitter brew, more herbal remedy than pleasure drink, with a clean vegetal taste.
It belongs to the deep countryside tradition of using every part of a useful plant. In a land where olive trees are everywhere, brewing their leaves as a health tonic is an old and thrifty habit, reached for mainly as a folk aid for high blood pressure and, increasingly, for blood sugar.
How it's made & served
A small handful of dried olive leaves is simmered or steeped in hot water for several minutes — a longer steep draws out more of their bitterness and colour — then strained and sweetened with honey or a little sugar to soften the edge. Some brew it strong and plain as a deliberate 'medicine', others lighten it with mint or lemon.
It is usually taken as a modest daily cup rather than a big pot shared for pleasure, in keeping with its role as a remedy. A squeeze of lemon or a sprig of mint is a common way to make the grassy bitterness easier to drink.
In the glass, at a glance
- Dried olive leaves (warq zzitoun)
- Water — simmered or steeped
- Honey or a little sugar to soften
- Optional lemon or mint
- A small glass, drunk as a daily tonic
A flavour snapshot of what goes in.
When & where you drink it in Marrakech
Olive leaf tea is above all a rural and home drink, brewed in the countryside and in city households with roots there, using leaves gathered from the family trees or bought dried at the herbalist. Dried bundles turn up among the medicinal plants in the spice square.
You are more likely to be offered it in a village home than in a Marrakech café, but the herbalists who sell it on a spice souk tour will explain its uses. It sits with the other folk-remedy infusions across our guides.
Cultural notes
The olive tree is one of the most important plants in Moroccan life — for its fruit, its oil and its deep place in the culture — so it is fitting that even its leaves are put to use. Brewing warq zzitoun is part of a countryside ethic of waste-nothing thrift, where a useful tree gives from root to leaf.
It also shows how Moroccan folk medicine keeps pace with modern concerns. Long valued as a general tonic, olive leaf tea is now drunk specifically for blood pressure and blood sugar, an old remedy re-read through the lens of today's most common health worries. More of this tradition is in our guides.
Frequently asked questions
What does olive leaf tea taste like?
Grassy and vegetal with a mild, clean bitterness — more of a remedy than a treat. It is usually softened with honey, and sometimes lemon or mint, to make it easier to drink.
What is olive leaf tea used for in Morocco?
It is a countryside folk remedy taken mainly to help manage high blood pressure and, increasingly, blood sugar. It is drunk as a modest daily cup rather than a big shared pot.
Where do the olive leaves come from?
Often straight from a family's own olive trees in the countryside, or bought dried at herbalist stalls in the medina spice souk. Morocco is a major olive-growing country, so the leaves are plentiful.