Tea Time

Drinking tea is an essential component to the Niger culture – almost everyone has the necessary implements to make tea.  Up and down the street you can see the signs of a “fada” – a group of men sitting around, drinking tea, and discussing politics and the weather.  (It reminds me of the farmers in Saskatchewan who go to the local    Co-Op to drink coffee and discuss the harvest!

My house is one location of a fada – my guards have many visitors day and night.  I call them the “tea boys” and I love to joke and laugh with these guys.   We chatter with each other in a big language mix of Djarma, French, Fulfulde and Tamasheq!

 

They salute me when I drive into my yard and wave to me when they see me around town. And when my guard was in a bush taxi accident, they piled into my truck to accompany me to the hospital and help me navigate this unknown system.

There are six basic implements necessary to tea making:

• wire mesh “oven”
• small metal teapot 
• glass tea cup – shared among the group
• tea
• sugar
• coal

 

Once a live coal is found from a street food vendor, the wire mesh is swung in a circle to start a petering fire with which to make the tea.  There is an art to making the tea – pouring the tea into the cup,              re-pouring into the pot, pouring into the cup again . . . over and over – the height of the pour making the tea nice and frothy!

The Tuareg culture drinks three cups of tea, the first being the most bitter and the third being the most sweet.  Ironically, I always tend to arrive in midst of the second cup – so I have yet to try the first or third.  Each cup represents a part of life:

1. the first cup is bitter like life
2. the second cup is for friendship
3. the third cup is sweet like love

And should you find yourself at one moment far from your fada – tea is still available.  In Canada – we drive to coffee shops . . . in Niger - the tea shop comes to you! 

Walking vendors parade up and down the street – carrying their tea table on their head or in their hand.  Once a customer is found, the tea table is lowered to the ground – there are many options of tea flavours, coffee, fresh mint, milk and sugar.  The vendor pours the tea from his teapot which is carried over a bed of coals

and then serves the customer tea. 

The tea is finished on the spot and the cup returned – and the vendor continues on his way!