If you can’t afford tea, just burn the sugar!

[vc_row type=”vc_default” margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”5″][vc_column][vc_column_text]Drinking tea is a normal part of the current Tanzania tradition.   I don’t know if its introduction was through the Arabic, Indian, German, or English influence, but it is now a very common thing to drink. Along the coast (where I live in Mtwara) ginger and cardamom is added to the tea. If it is served without milk it is called “chai ya rangi” (colored tea) or “chai kavu” (dry tea), if it is prepared (i.e. boiled) with milk, it is call “chai ya maziwa” (tea with milk).

Tea is heavily sweetened with sugar. I often joke with my Tanzanian friends who come to my home for tea by asking, “Would you like some tea with your sugar?” Sometimes a family may occasionally be too poor to buy tea and sugar for sweetening it. In such a case they will buy sugar and burn it in a pan before adding water. The burned sugar will turn the water brown given the appearance of tea without sacrificing the essential sweetness.

Watu wa Mtwara [People of Mtwara]

This blog post (and future similar blog posts) was inspired by the Humans of New York blog series by Brandon Stanton, to introduce ADEA blog visitors to the everyday people I meet in Mtwara, Tanzania.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][interactive_banner][/vc_column][/vc_row]