Mint Tea, Cafés and Pastries in Marrakech: Where to Take a Break

The mint tea ritual

Mint tea is Morocco's national drink. It combines Chinese green tea, usually gunpowder with its leaves rolled into small pellets, fresh mint, called nana, and plenty of sugar. Brought in through trade with Europe, it spread across the whole country in the 19th century, to the point of becoming the symbol of hospitality: turning down the first glass is considered impolite.

It is prepared in a precise order. The tea leaves are first rinsed with boiling water to remove their bitterness, then the mint and sugar are added, the sugar often broken off a sugar loaf. Whoever serves pours from a height, raising the silver-plated metal teapot to make the tea froth in the small decorated glass; they taste the first glass, pour it back into the pot and start again until the flavour is right. A glass is never filled to the brim: you hold it by the rim and the base, because it is scalding hot.

A few pointers to make the most of it:

• Sugar: tea is served very sweet by default. Ask for it "with little sugar" or "without sugar" when you order; in cafés, the teapot and sugar are often brought separately.
• Variations: in winter, chiba (wormwood) is sometimes added; lemon verbena, louiza, is also drunk on its own in the evening. "Nous-nous" coffee, half coffee and half milk served in a glass, is the city's other counter drink.
• Complimentary tea: in riads and in some shops in the souks, tea is offered while you talk. Accepting it does not commit you to buying anything.

Moroccan pastries to try

Moroccan pastries are eaten in small bites, with tea. They are built on almonds, honey, sesame and orange blossom water. The must-tries:

• Gazelle horns (kaab el ghzal): crescents of very thin pastry filled with almond paste scented with orange blossom. They are the signature pastry of festivals and weddings.
• Ghriba: small crackled biscuits made with almonds, semolina or coconut, which melt in the mouth.
• Chebakia: fried pastry flowers dipped in honey and coated with sesame. You find them all year round, but they are bought by the trayful during Ramadan, to break the fast with harira.
• Honey briouats: triangles of brick pastry stuffed with almonds, fried and then dipped in honey.
• Sellou (or sfouf): a powder of toasted flour, almonds, sesame and spices, served in a small mound; very filling, it goes with Ramadan and births.
• M'hancha: the "snake", a long spiral of thin pastry filled with almonds, cut into slices.

In pastry shops, these sweets are sold by the kilo, and you put together your own assortment on a tray. Expect generally 160 to 240 DH a kilo depending on the shop and the proportion of almonds; well-known addresses price gazelle horns at around 200 DH a kilo. They keep for one to two weeks in a closed box: a good gift to take home, alongside the ideas in our guide to what to bring back from Marrakech.

Breakfast: msemen, baghrir and doughnuts

The morning flatbreads, flaky msemen and "thousand-hole" baghrir, are described in our guide to what to eat in Marrakech. For a break, remember that you can find them hot, early in the morning, from vendors in the alleys of the medina, for a few dirhams each, to eat with honey or fresh cheese and a glass of tea. Neighbourhood cafés also serve a full breakfast (flatbread, bread, olive oil, orange juice, tea or coffee) at a modest price, and the pastry shops in the new town open early for viennoiseries. Round doughnuts, sfenj, are also sold in the morning, threaded on a palm stem.

Cafés and tea rooms in the medina

The medina mixes working-class cafés, where the customers are mostly men and a tea costs around ten dirhams, with tea rooms set in old houses, where you pay for the decor and the calm. Women travellers are welcome in the cafés frequented by tourists; in neighbourhood cafés, custom rather has men keep to themselves.

Bacha Coffee, at Dar el-Bacha

Set in an original room of the Dar el-Bacha palace, under painted cedar ceilings, Bacha Coffee has revived the coffee house that Pasha Glaoui is said to have run. The menu lists more than 200 arabica coffees, served in individual pots, along with pastries, breakfast and afternoon tea. Access is through the museum ticket office: in 2026, a 10 DH ticket gives access to the café only, and the 60 DH museum ticket includes the exhibition rooms. The café follows the museum's days and is closed on Mondays.

Expect from around 44 DH for a coffee, 70 to 100 DH for a pot of a rare origin, from 35 DH for a pastry, and 160 to 250 DH for a breakfast or afternoon tea set. Bacha Coffee takes no reservations: the queue forms before opening at 10 am and the wait often exceeds an hour, sometimes two or three in the middle of the day. Come before opening, on a weekday, and visit the museum afterwards.

Dar Cherifa, a literary café

At the end of a cul-de-sac in Mouassine (8 Derb Chorfa Lakbir), Dar Cherifa occupies one of the oldest houses in the medina, a Saadian-era residence with restored carved woodwork and stucco. People come for a tea in the patio, surrounded by contemporary art exhibitions, or for a Moroccan lunch, with dishes from around 50 DH. The house opens daily at 10 am; closing time varies from evening to evening. Our Mouassine neighbourhood guide shows how to include it in a walk.

The terrace of the Maison de la Photographie

In the north of the medina, near the Ben Youssef Madrasa, the Maison de la Photographie ends with a rooftop terrace laid out as a café. You can have a tea or lunch from a short Moroccan menu, with a view over the medina's rooftops and, on clear days, the Atlas. The café is reserved for museum visitors: you need to buy an entrance ticket (80 DH for an adult in October 2026), which makes it a natural break at the end of the visit.

The cafés on Jemaa el-Fna square

Around Jemaa el-Fna square, the large multi-storey cafés, including Café de France, opened in 1912, are institutions: people go up to drink a tea while watching the square come to life in the late afternoon. Access to the terraces requires ordering something, and prices are noticeably higher than two streets away; ask the price or check the menu before ordering. To choose a terrace by view and time of day, see our guide to Marrakech rooftop terraces.

Pâtisserie des Princes

On the pedestrian Rue Bab Agnaou (no. 32), which leads off Jemaa el-Fna, Pâtisserie des Princes has been selling Moroccan pastries by the kilo and French-style cakes since 1989. It opens early in the morning and has an air-conditioned tea room at the back of the shop, useful in summer for catching your breath a stone's throw from the square.

Afternoon tea at La Mamounia

The La Mamounia palace hotel, on Avenue Bab Jdid at the edge of the medina, welcomes non-residents in its restaurants and lounges, with booking recommended. Its two tea rooms are signed by pastry chef Pierre Hermé:

• Le Menzeh, a pavilion at the end of an alley of orange and palm trees in the gardens, presented as the very first building on the site. It is open daily from 10 am to 6 pm and serves, from 2 pm to 5 pm, a Moroccan-inspired afternoon tea: macarons, reinvented oriental pastries, small sandwiches, and mint tea made with mint from the garden.
• Le Salon de thé, beneath an Andalusian-style patio, serving everything from breakfast to afternoon tea.

An afternoon tea costs several hundred dirhams per person; ask for the day's price when booking. Smart dress is required: no flip-flops or plastic sandals, and no shorts after 6 pm. It is the simplest way to discover the hotel's gardens without staying there.

Gueliz: pastry shops and cafés in the new town

In Gueliz, the new town built under the French protectorate, pastry shops and cafés have street terraces, displayed prices and a mostly Moroccan clientele.

• Pâtisserie Al Jawda (11 Rue de la Liberté): the go-to address for traditional Moroccan pastries, chosen piece by piece from the display cases. Open Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 8:30 pm, Sunday from 9 am to 6 pm. Prices from 160 DH a kilo, around 200 DH for the almond cakes; you can also sit down for a pastry and a juice.
• Pâtisserie Amandine (177 Rue Mohamed el-Beqal): opened in 1997, it combines Moroccan and French pastries, a tea room and an adjoining ice-cream parlour. Expect 15 to 40 DH for an individual pastry; open daily.
• Grand Café de la Poste (corner of Boulevard El Mansour Eddahbi and Avenue Imam Malik): built around 1925 next to the post office, it is one of the oldest buildings in Gueliz. Its terrace under the arcades suits an afternoon coffee or tea, at brasserie prices; it is open daily, from morning until late at night.

Our Gueliz and Hivernage guide places these addresses on a walk through the neighbourhood.

Summary table

Prices observed in October 2026, for guidance only: they vary by address and season.

Practical tips

• Ask the price before sitting down in tourist cafés with no menu on display; it is the main source of unpleasant surprises.
• Tipping: leave a few dirhams in a café, around 10% in a tea room with table service; our guide to money and tipping in Marrakech explains the customs.
• Cash: working-class cafés and street vendors take cash only; the pastry shops in Gueliz, tea rooms and grand hotels accept cards.
• Ramadan: during the day, many neighbourhood cafés close, while pastry shops work flat out on chebakia and sellou. In the evening, after the fast is broken, cafés fill up until late. See our guide to Ramadan in Marrakech.

Further reading

For savoury dishes, from tanjia to the evening food stalls, read our guide to what to eat in Marrakech; to learn how to make tea and pastries yourself, see cooking classes in Marrakech. The best views for a sunset tea are gathered in Marrakech rooftop terraces, and our Marrakech medina guide will help you fit these breaks into your sightseeing days.