Coffee Drink
Moroccan Spiced Coffee: Café Beldi & a Home Recipe
Moroccan spiced coffee combines roasted coffee with aromatic spices. This simple stovetop version uses cinnamon and ginger for a sweet-smelling aroma and warm finish, then lets the grounds settle before pouring.
Drink Snapshot
- Caffeine
- 50 mg referenceGeneric brewed coffee at the defined serving massNot a measurement of this simmered recipe; beans, dose and extraction vary.
- Calories
- Estimated 5 kcalPlain coffee plus a conservative spice allowanceNo milk or sweetener. The estimate counts all spice input, including some left behind.
Serving, sugar and sources
- Serving
- 125 g (4.4 oz) prepared cinnamon-ginger coffee; no milk or sugar
- Made with
- Ground coffee + water + cinnamon + ginger
- Sugar
- Estimated less than 0.1 g total. Trace sugar from the spices; none added in the main recipe.
- Preparation
- About 8 minutes
USDA brewed coffee, ground cinnamon and ground ginger records. The defined serving contains cinnamon and ginger. Sources checked 26 September 2026. See the full calculation or label comparison.
Key Takeaways
- Start with the simple cinnamon-and-ginger version to learn how each spice changes the coffee.
- A ready-made café beldi blend may already contain several spices and sesame; check its ingredients before adding more.
- Let the pot settle and pour gently so the fragrant cup ends with flavor rather than loose spice powder.
On This Page9 Sections
Simple Moroccan Spiced Coffee Recipe
This simple cinnamon-and-ginger version adapts the brief simmer-and-settle method in Choumicha’s café beldi recipe. Weigh the ground spices; fresh ginger and whole cinnamon sticks need a different preparation.
The cowboy coffee guide covers decanting and sediment.
Recipe
Simple Moroccan Spiced Coffee
- Makes:
- 2 servings
- Time:
- About 8 minutes
Ingredients
- 20 g finely ground coffee
- 300 ml (10.1 US fl oz) water, plus hot water only if needed after decanting
- 0.5 g ground cinnamon
- 0.5 g ground ginger
Equipment
- Small saucepan, spoon, scale accurate to 0.1 g, ml measure, heatproof jug and two cups
- Hob and timer
Method
- Mix the coffee, cinnamon and ginger in a small saucepan. Add 300 ml (10.1 US fl oz) water and stir.
- Heat gently until the first boil, then lower the heat and simmer gently for 1 minute. Stay beside the pan to prevent overflow.
- Remove from the heat and leave undisturbed for 1 minute so the grounds settle.
- Slowly decant into a heatproof jug, leaving sediment behind. Measure 250 g (8.8 oz) prepared coffee; if short, add only enough hot water to reach 250 g (8.8 oz).
- Divide into two 125 g (4.4 oz) portions. Serve plain; leave any remaining sediment in the cups.
Estimated nutrition: 5 kcal · less than 0.1 g total sugar per 125 g (4.4 oz) serving, without milk or sugar.
What Does Moroccan Spiced Coffee Taste Like?
This two-spice version has a sweet-smelling cinnamon aroma and a warmer, gently peppery ginger finish. Coffee supplies the roasted backbone. It remains an unsweetened drink unless you add sugar, even though cinnamon’s aroma may bring sweet foods to mind.
I prefer to keep the cinnamon and ginger light enough that I can still taste the coffee’s roast. Cinnamon supplies the sweet-smelling aroma I enjoy, while a smaller ginger edge keeps the finish lively.
The simmered, unfiltered preparation has more texture than a paper-filtered brew. Fuller café beldi blends can add further layers of anise, clove, cardamom and sesame; their flavor will differ from this deliberately simple cup.
Which Spices Are in Moroccan Spiced Coffee?
Start with cinnamon and ginger: this recipe uses 0.5 g of each with 20 g coffee and 300 ml (10.1 US fl oz) brewing water. A fuller café beldi blend can include cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, anise and sesame.
The public recipes show real variation. Choumicha includes star anise and white pepper as well as other spices and seeds. Les Cafés Mirka's seven-spice Beldi blend lists cardamom, clove, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, anise and sesame.
Swipe to see all columnsScroll to see all columns
| Starting point | What to do | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Plain coffee and two pantry spices | Follow the measured recipe above | Ground cinnamon and ginger are weighed separately |
| A ready-made café beldi coffee blend | Follow its brewing directions | Spices are already mixed with coffee; avoid adding the full extra dose |
| A spice-only blend | Use its suggested coffee dosage | It may contain no coffee at all, and the strength varies |
| A fuller homemade blend | Follow one complete recipe first | Sesame and other ingredients change flavor, allergens and nutrition |
Our version omits sesame and the additional spices to keep the ingredient list short. Anyone avoiding sesame should check a purchased blend's actual label rather than infer its ingredients from the drink's name.
Does Moroccan Coffee Use Moroccan-Grown Beans?
Not necessarily. Mirka identifies Colombian beans in its Moroccan Beldi preparation. That is a useful distinction when shopping: the regional style describes how the coffee is prepared, while origin describes where its beans were grown. A bag can truthfully describe both.
Moroccan Spiced Coffee vs. Nous Nous
Spiced coffee emphasizes the aromatics brewed with the coffee. Nous nous centers on the coffee-and-milk combination; it does not require this spice blend. Adding milk to café beldi is an optional serving choice, not a reason to treat every Moroccan coffee name as interchangeable.
Better Buzz's Anaheim menu uses Moroccan Spice Iced Coffee for espresso with spices, raw cane sugar and cream. Check the ingredient description when ordering: that sweet, creamy iced espresso drink is a different preparation from the black stovetop version here.
For another distinct regional preparation, Mofawar combines cardamom coffee with cream.
Adjust Spice, Strength and Sediment
Change one ingredient at a time. If the first cup is too spicy, keep the coffee portion and halve the spice responsible next time.
| What you notice | A practical adjustment |
|---|---|
| Ginger dominates | Try 0.25 g ginger next time, keeping the other ingredients fixed |
| Cinnamon feels dusty | Check the weighed dose; let the pot settle and stop pouring before the sediment |
| Too much grit | Decant slowly; a paper filter can remove more fines, but changes texture and collected yield |
| Coffee tastes harsh | Avoid prolonged boiling or reheating on the stove; also check the roast and coffee dose |
| Too strong overall | Add hot water to your cup in small increments; that changes serving volume and concentration |
Sugar and milk are optional at the table. Taste the plain preparation before deciding how much to add. For a repeatable version, record the addition in grams instead of assuming that every spoon or splash is the same size.
Moroccan Spiced Coffee Caffeine, Calories and Sugar
For one 125 g (4.4 oz) plain serving, the estimate is 5 kcal and less than 0.1 g total sugar, with 50 mg reference caffeine. The caffeine figure uses generic brewed coffee, not a laboratory analysis of the spiced stovetop recipe.
Serving calculation and source assumptions
USDA brewed coffee, NDB 14209, lists 1 kcal, 0 g sugar and 40 mg caffeine per 100 g. At the defined 250 g batch, that is 2.5 kcal and 100 mg reference caffeine before dividing into two.
USDA ground cinnamon, NDB 02010, lists 247 kcal and 2.17 g sugar per 100 g; ground ginger, NDB 02021, lists 335 kcal and 3.39 g sugar. Counting the entire 0.5 g of each gives 2.91 kcal and 0.0278 g sugar for the batch. Some spice remains with the sediment, so counting all of it is a conservative input allowance.
The combined calculation is 5.41 kcal and 0.0278 g sugar per batch, or 2.705 kcal and 0.0139 g sugar per serving. Calories are rounded to 5 kcal. Sugar is less than 0.1 g. The caffeine calculation gives 50 mg per serving. No milk, sweetener or sesame is included.