What is a Moroccan afternoon tea / goûter?

Somewhere between lunch and a late Moroccan dinner sits one of my favourite rituals of the day: the goûter, the unhurried afternoon tea-and-snack that French speakers call 'le goûter' and Moroccans often 'kaskrout'. It happens around five or six in the afternoon, and it's far more than a quick bite — it's a genuine social pause, the moment families and friends gather around the low table to slow down, talk, and let the day's heat ease.

The spread is gloriously carby and comforting. The stars are the warm griddle breads: flaky square msemen, spongy lacy baghrir, crumbly semolina harcha, all served hot and drizzled with melted butter and honey so each piece is soft and golden. Around them you'll find sweet pastries — sticky chebakia, almond ghriba, little honey briouats — alongside bread with jam, amlou or soft cheese, and very often a dish of olives, because the Moroccan table never strays far from them.

And of course there's the drink, poured and re-poured without end. A steaming pot of sweet mint tea is the heart of the goûter, sometimes a glass of milky nous-nous coffee instead, and the host keeps everyone's glass full long after you think you've finished. In winter the tea might be scented with extra herbs; in Ramadan the whole rhythm shifts, but the spirit of gathering over tea and sweet bread remains.

For travellers, the goûter is a lovely thing to lean into rather than power through. If your riad offers an afternoon tea, take it — settle on the rooftop as the light turns golden, with msemen and honey and a bottomless pot of mint tea. Some of my guests' fondest memories aren't a grand dinner but exactly this: a slow, sweet, sociable hour in the late afternoon, doing very little except enjoying being fed.