Tea Time

I’m slightly, okay, more than slightly caffeinated right now. Since I’ve yet to find a Starbucks here in Bamako (which is probably a good thing), I’ve decided to embrace the local custom of taking tea. If I could pick just one Malian tradition that would be representative of this culture, it’d be taking tea. Everywhere you walk in Mali, you can find a group of men lounging on low chairs around tiny tea pots and shot sized glasses (the women are too busy working for tea. Sigh, I know…). Historically, it began with millet beer, but switched to tea after Islam was introduced and forbade consumption of alcohol (thankfully, this is no longer true).

Three glasses of tea are poured throughout this ceremony and the entire process takes over two hours. The first is said to be “Bitter as death,” the second, “Mild as life” and the third, “Sweet as love.” Kinda like Goldilocks. In a weird somewhat related way. The tea is incredibly concentrated (think espresso) and one’s skill as a tea maker is measured by the amount of froth. This requires considerable hand-eye coordination as you have to pour from about two feet above the glass. I make quite a mess but the guys promise me that I’ll be good enough by the time I return home.

At first, I couldn’t sit still that long because, being the good American that I am, I kept thinking of other things I could be doing. I quickly realized however, that this is an invaluable opportunity to practice my French and to really understand another culture. I’m learning more in my two-three hours of tea each day than I have in many formal lectures at school. Here are just a few conversation topics from last night:
-Saddam Hussein’s sentence and capital punishment in Mali
-federal prisons
-taxes
-fasting and Sabbaths

I plan to pick up my own tea set to bring home, but more importantly, I hope I can return with the peace of mind that it takes to sit for two unhurried hours with friends.


(Laya Kassogue and Boucary Kassogue, my Malian uncle and cousin)