Moroccan Spiced Coffee

Moroccan spiced coffee, called qahwa ma’atra by Tasting Table and café aux épices in French, is coffee brewed or blended with warm spices: typically cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and nutmeg, and sometimes ginger, black pepper, anise or fennel. In Morocco it’s mainly a home drink, poured by the woman of the house for her guests, rather than something you order in a café. There’s no single recipe, because every family has its own blend. Here’s how it’s made, with a published recipe and the spice mixes people use.

The short version

• Coffee plus five or more spices, chosen by family taste.
• Two ways to make it: infuse whole spices with the coffee and strain, or grind the spices into the coffee and brew as usual.
• One recipe: 150 g of coffee, whole spices and 1 litre of water, infused off the heat for 10 minutes.
• Sweetened with honey, sugar or brown sugar; sometimes served with milk.
• A home tradition: guests are served first, and there are often several rounds.

What spices go in Moroccan coffee?

There’s no fixed blend. Tasting Table says qahwa ma’atra often has five or more spices, and that the mix depends on the drinker and on family tradition. Here’s how three published versions compare:

Source	Spices
Tasting Table (typical)	Cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg; less often black pepper, ginger, anise, vanilla
Abdel Alaoui’s recipe	4 cloves, 5 black peppercorns, 1 tsp fennel seeds, 3 cinnamon sticks, 1 tsp ground ginger
Paperblog blend (for about 250 g of coffee)	Toasted sesame, anise seed, cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, optional thyme, a pinch each of cardamom and nutmeg, a little gum arabic
Salima’s Kitchen	Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, clove, black pepper, star anise

Paperblog’s writer says Moroccans add spices for a subtle taste and a reviving drink: “a cup of coffee lightly peppered wakes you up very well”.

How do you make Moroccan spiced coffee?

Infused (Abdel Alaoui’s recipe)

This recipe, from Abdel Alaoui’s book Alimentation générale as published by Do It in Paris, serves four:

Ingredient	Amount
Ground coffee	150 g
Water	1 litre
Cloves	4
Black peppercorns	5
Fennel seeds	1 teaspoon
Cinnamon sticks	3
Ground ginger	1 teaspoon
To sweeten	Honey or brown sugar

1. Boil 1 litre of water.
2. Take it off the heat and stir in the coffee and all the spices.
3. Infuse for 10 minutes.
4. Strain, and serve with a little honey or brown sugar.

That’s a strong ratio, about 1:7 coffee to water, so it makes a rich, concentrated cup. Add a splash of hot water if you’d like it lighter.

Blended (spice your coffee, then brew as normal)

The other approach is to mix ground spices into ground coffee and brew it however you like. Salima’s Kitchen grinds whole spices with the beans, or stirs ground spices into pre-ground coffee, then brews as usual and serves it with warm milk and sugar. Tasting Table notes you can use anything from a drip machine or French press to the traditional pot method, and warns that grinding spices in your coffee grinder will leave their flavour behind in it, so a spice mill or mortar and pestle is kinder to your grinder.

How is it served?

Tasting Table describes a home ritual: the coffee is poured by the female head of the household, guests are served first, and there are often several rounds. Simply holding your cup out signals that you’d like a refill.

How did coffee come to Morocco?

Morocco is a mint tea country first. According to Tasting Table, Moroccan Islamic scholars debated whether coffee should be allowed in the 17th century, and some leaders banned it. Coffee beans reached Morocco in the 18th century, but cafés only spread in the 20th century, during French colonial rule. Spiced coffee developed as a domestic drink, which is why visitors rarely find it in cafés.

General guidance only. Use spices in the small amounts recipes give, and take care with boiling water.

Moroccan spiced coffee vs other methods

• Café de olla: Mexico’s coffee simmered with cinnamon and piloncillo.
• Arabic coffee: light-roast coffee boiled with cardamom.
• Café Touba: Senegal’s coffee spiced with Guinea pepper.
• Yemeni qishr: coffee husks brewed with ginger.

Explore every boiled method in the boiled chapter.