Thé à la Malienne (Sahelienne?)

One very pleasant feature of life here is tea, made outdoors in little teapots over charcoal braziers. Guardians make it incessantly. Any group of people (especially men) hanging out under a tree or outside a house will probably be making it. It is made with tea leaves and lots of sugar; making it is very elaborate and idiosyncratic; I think every person has his/her own ideas about how many times you need to pour the tea back and forth (to mix in the sugar?), how long it must be left to steep, etc. It is served in little glass cups and each batch has 3 glasses. The first is the strongest, and could easily strip paint; the third is the sweetest, and would make a dentist weep; the second, obviously, is between the others. I like it best made with mint.