Drink · Campfire-Brewed
Bedouin Tea (Sinai Sage Tea)
📷 Closely related photo — Photo: Ben Meyer / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
It's often flavored with marmareya, a wild herb that grows in the Sinai desert and is frequently described by visitors as 'Sinai sage.'
Black tea is boiled hard over an open fire with generous sugar and a handful of local desert herbs — most often marmareya or habbak — until it turns strong, sweet, and fragrant. Bedouin camps and beach cafes across South Sinai brew it in blackened kettles and pour it into small glasses throughout the day.
Why it's made this way: Tea brewed with foraged desert herbs is a core part of Bedouin hospitality in Sinai, traditionally offered to any guest as the first gesture of welcome.
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