Attaya

ataaya

/ataːja/ah-TAH-yah

No recording by a native speaker yet. Use the spelling above.

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Drink
All Senegal

When: Teatime
Taste: Sweet
Made with: Vegetables

History

Attaya, also written ataya or ataaya, is the green mint tea of Senegal and the elaborate ritual of preparing it. Chinese green tea is boiled with water and mint leaves in a small metal teapot on a charcoal stove, sugar is added, and the tea is poured from high up into small glasses and back into the pot again and again until a thick foam forms; the thicker the foam, the better. It is served in three rounds from the same leaves, the first strong and bitter, the second sweeter and the third very sweet. Because it takes so long to make, it is drunk after meals and offered to friends and visitors to keep conversation going. The words for tea, pot and mint are borrowed from Arabic, which suggests a Moorish origin.

Sources

Senegalese tea culture (Wikipedia) read 2026-11-01
Cuisine sénégalaise (fr Wikipedia) read 2026-11-01

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How to pronounce Attaya

Attaya is written ataaya where it comes from. In the International Phonetic Alphabet it is /ataːja/. In plain English letters that is ah-TAH-yah, with the stress on the syllable in capitals. There is no recording by a native speaker yet, so use the spelling and the IPA.

What is Attaya?

Attaya is a drink of Senegal. Where it comes from: All Senegal. People usually eat it at teatime. Its main ingredients are vegetables. It tastes sweet.

Where Attaya comes from

Attaya is one of 13 signature dishes of Senegal on this map.

Soupe kandia supu kànja · Soup & stew · All Senegal
Soupe kandia, or soupou kandja, is an okra stew cooked with palm oil and served with rice.
Lakh laax · Dessert · All Senegal
Lakh, from the Wolof laax, is a thick porridge of millet served with sweetened curdled milk.
Mafé mafe · Main dish · All Senegal
Mafé, maafe or maffé is a stew of meat or fish cooked in a smooth sauce of peanut paste, often with tomato and vegetables, and in Senegal it is served with rice.
Bissap · Drink · All Senegal
Bissap is Senegal's most popular drink: a purplish-red juice made by steeping the flowers of roselle, Hibiscus sabdariffa, in water and sweetening it with sugar, sometimes with fresh mint or orange blossom.
Thiéboudienne ceebu jën · Rice dish · Saint-Louis
Ceebu jën, written thieboudienne in French, means "rice and fish" in Wolof.
Yassa · Main dish · Casamance
Yassa is chicken or fish marinated for hours in lemon juice, mustard and a mountain of onions, then grilled and simmered in the marinade until the onions turn soft and golden.

Food of Senegal

Dishes like Attaya in other countries

Same type of dish and similar main ingredients as Attaya:

Omunanansi · Drink · Buganda, Uganda
Omunanansi, also called munanansi, is a non-alcoholic drink traditionally made in Uganda by boiling pineapple peels with ginger and tea leaves.
Mbege · Drink · Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
Mbege is a mildly alcoholic drink of the Chagga people of Kilimanjaro Region, made from ripe bananas, finger-millet malt and water.
Poncha · Drink · Madeira, Portugal
Poncha is the traditional drink of Madeira.
Moroccan mint tea أتاي · Drink · All Morocco, Morocco
Atay, Moroccan mint tea, is green gunpowder tea brewed with fresh spearmint leaves and plenty of sugar.