In the dusty red foothills of Morocco’s Atlas Mountains, it’s time for tea. Here, it’s known as “Atay bi Nanaa”: a local ritual, and just one of the many tenets of the Berber community’s hospitality. We’ve journeyed just 45 minutes from Marrakech airport, followed winding roads through cacophonous markets and rocky gorges, and slalomed past troupes of donkeys led by men in tall Berber hats and airy djellabas. Our fortified home sits stoic above a sweeping valley and the small town of Asni— Kasbah Tamadot , a luxury retreat with a name meaning “soft breeze” in Amazigh.

Photo: Courtesy of Kasbah Tamadot

We have our tea in Kasbah’s high-walled courtyard on plush embroidered Berber cushions, shaded by languid leafy trees, with Mohammad Ait Belhaj. Mohammad, in his 70s, previously worked

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