Tea & infusions
Pine Nut Mint Tea (Atay bi Snoubar)
أتاي بالصنوبر · atay b'snoubar
In the old bourgeois households of Fez and among Moroccan families marking an occasion, mint tea is dressed up by scattering pine nuts into the glass. Atay bi snoubar is the same sweet, foaming green tea poured everywhere in Morocco, but with a handful of pine nuts floating on top — softening as they steep, adding a buttery richness, and doubling as a small edible treat at the bottom of the glass. It is hospitality with an extra flourish.
- Type
- Mint tea garnished with pine nuts
- Served
- Hot, in small glasses
- When
- Celebrations, honoured guests
- Key flavour
- Mint, green tea, buttery pine nut
What Pine Nut Mint Tea is
Atay bi snoubar is classic Moroccan mint tea — gunpowder green tea, fresh mint and sugar — given a luxurious garnish of pine nuts dropped into each glass just before drinking. The nuts float at first, then slowly sink and swell as they soak up the hot tea, releasing a gentle buttery richness into the sweet mint brew.
It is a dressed-up, celebratory version of the everyday glass, associated above all with the refined tea culture of Fez and with households marking a special moment. The pine nuts turn tea into something closer to a small dessert: you drink the perfumed tea, then eat the softened, tea-soaked nuts at the end.
How it's made & served
The tea itself is made exactly as ordinary Moroccan mint tea — the gunpowder green tea rinsed and boiled, mint and sugar added, and the pot poured from a height to raise the prized layer of foam. The difference comes at the glass: a small spoonful of pine nuts is dropped into each one just before or just after pouring.
The high pour still matters, both for the foam and to set the nuts swirling. Left to sit, the pine nuts steep and soften, so the drink changes as you go — bright and minty at first, then rounder and nuttier as the tea cools and the nuts give up their richness.
In the glass, at a glance
- Chinese gunpowder green tea
- A generous bunch of fresh mint
- Sugar, added to the pot
- A spoonful of pine nuts per glass
- A long-spouted teapot and small glasses
A flavour snapshot of what goes in.
When & where you drink it in Marrakech
The pine-nut garnish is most at home in Fez, but you will meet it across Morocco whenever a family wants to make tea feel special — for guests of honour, at celebrations, or simply to spoil someone. In Marrakech it turns up in more refined riads and at gatherings rather than at the everyday café.
It is a lovely thing to be offered in a home, and the sort of detail a mint tea experience or a mint tea and pastry class will show you. The base it builds on is our Moroccan mint tea.
Cultural notes
Adding pine nuts is a quiet signal of generosity and status. Pine nuts are expensive, so a glass of tea crowned with them says the host has spent a little extra to honour you — the same logic of hospitality that governs Moroccan tea in general, expressed through one costly garnish.
It also reflects the layered, refined tea culture of the old imperial cities, Fez above all, where the everyday ritual of mint tea acquired extra polish — the perfect foam, the special glasses, the flourish of nuts. It is a reminder that a single national drink can carry many registers, from the roadside glass to the celebratory pour.
Frequently asked questions
What is atay bi snoubar?
It is Moroccan mint tea served with pine nuts floating in the glass. The nuts soften as they steep, adding a buttery richness, and are eaten at the end — a celebratory, dressed-up version of everyday mint tea.
Where does pine nut tea come from in Morocco?
It is especially associated with Fez and its refined bourgeois tea culture, though it is served across Morocco for guests of honour and special occasions.
Do you eat the pine nuts in the tea?
Yes — after drinking the tea, you eat the softened, tea-soaked pine nuts from the bottom of the glass, almost like a small dessert.