Time for tea

Here is my first solo attempt at making tea. It sounds easy but it is not, actually it is an art form. My friend Semba is teaching me. It involves boiling the tea over a coal fire and then pouring it out a number of times to mix and cool it. I am not sure where the ceremony of this all developed, but I think it has been passed on from Arabic culture. You actually make three pots of tea and each pot gets sweeter as you go because of the vast amounts of sugar used. The tea is strong and sweet and the whole process takes quite some time. It is pretty relaxing and a common social activity. You just sit around and talk and drink tea out of these shot glasses. I like it.