Unconvential Tea Making

Tea is an integral part of the Tuareg culture.  Any good hostess will serve her guests tea, it would just be simply rude not to!  So a few weeks ago, when Ramatou came over for a quick visit, I dusted off my tea pot, got out the tea leaves and sugar--but oh wait!  I didn't have any charcoal and I couldn't find my little tea cups!  I was failing as a hostess!  But have no fear--where there is a will, there is a way, which led to the adventure of unconventional tea-making.  Ramatou was right with me, up for a little adventure.  I didn't have charcoal but I had a stove and so we balanced the little itty-bitty tea pot over the gas burner, and voila!  Problems solved!  In fact, it was like the express version of tea-making.  We drank two rounds of tea in the time it usually takes to drink one!!  Okay, so that defeats the chatting, hanging out part that slow tea making facilitates but we have a lot of good laughs during the whole fiasco!

 Ramatou watches our precariously perched little pot

 Despite it being express tea, we still had time to pose for some photos!

Pouring the tea--we had to use my regular-sized glasses which are huge compared to the little shot glasses and yet I was having so much trouble not spilling the tea!!  Yikes, I'm gonna lose my Tuareg status!

Testing the tea--Ramatou made me test the tea.  Clearly my tea making abilities didn't inspire confidence!