Maison NANA1807 | Interview France Bleu

Nana 1807 is the only company in the world specializing in mint tea . The brainchild of Zakaria Nana. This former sales engineer, who traveled the world for 30 years, spent his entire childhood in Lunery, in the Cher region, where his Moroccan parents settled in 1968. He set up his workshop in the family home.

It takes several months to validate a new tea recipe © Radio France - Michel Benoit

Nana 1807 occupies a niche. It all started with a recipe in homage to Zakaria Nana's mother : "We created Mouima tea," Zakaria explains with emotion. "Mouima is what my children called their grandmother, who passed away in 2015. It means my beloved mother. She made us a wonderful mint tea, and one day, I told her I would sell it all over the world. So I kept my word. It took several months of work to recreate the taste of her tea. She made it with peppermint from our garden, and we drink it without sugar. We opened the workshop in March 2020."

Zakaria's mother and her children, just before their departure from Morocco for Lunery, in Berry, in 1968 © Radio France - Michel Benoit

600 varieties of mint

The tea, mint, and associated fruits and herbs are organic, even biodynamic. This justifies the price, the highest on the market. Invitations to travel, from Cape Town to the Garden of Eden, twelve very varied recipes. To establish its reputation, the brand created the concept of Mintéalogie, the oenology of mint tea: " There is little written about the ritual, the ceremonial of Moroccan tea," continues Zakaria Nana. "So we will do research to try to decipher the history of mint tea, the science surrounding mint botany, and the benefits of mint tea. This goes well beyond the sometimes folkloric ritual of holding the teapot high to pour the tea. A much more technical gesture than it seems. Did you know that there are at least 600 varieties of mint?"

Visitors to the Nana 1807 workshops are invited to the tea ceremony, of course. © Radio France - Michel Benoit

Nana 1807 also organized a Mintéalogie seminar in Cambridge last May for businesses. The company partnered with the Rallye des Gazelles and offers workshops for the general public, particularly with Galeries Lafayette stores. This represents a rather high-end positioning in the highly competitive tea market. A small portion of the mint used is now grown in Berry at La Farges Allichamps.

Nana 1807 opens its workshops to you as part of secret visits, on 08/27 and 09/10 (register online, the Berry Province website).