Mate: you’re not in Asia anymore

In Asia, they have a huge tea culture. It varies greatly from country to country, but the tea culture in China and Vietnam are my favorites. Thailand was split between not so good tea and iced Nescafe. Not as good. Luckily we were already fans of tea prior to arriving in China, but small fans in comparison to how much the Chinese appreciate their tea. We got into it a bit, visiting random tea shops and sitting for tea tastings. It’s kind of like a wine tasting. You smell the tea before water is added, then after the water is added and so on. We lucked out and purchased some amazing Oolong tea, which we showed off to the Chinese running our hostel. They were really impressed, passing around our small tea canister, everyone taking turns smelling it. It’s a huge part of their culture. Vietnamese tea culture is very different from China’s, and it even changes in the North and South of Vietnam.



When we arrived in Buenos Aires, one of the first things we noticed was this funny looking cup with a metal straw which was carried around in one hand and a thermos of hot water carried in the other. I thought mate (pronounced mah-teh, with emphasis on the last syllable) culture was limited to countries like Bolivia or Ecuador because of high altitudes (much like what the Peruvians drink), but the drink couldn’t possibly get more popular in Argentina. We quickly decided that this is something we wanted to get into.




The drink originates with the nativos and has a long, rich history throughout South America. Mate culture and etiquette is quite fascinating and the social aspect is what I like most about it. Argentines travel with their mate and thermos, never missing a beat. It is consumed literally all day. Mate is not meant to be taken alone, but rather in a social setting, and that is why it is not served at restaurants (even though they will replenish your hot water for you). Everyone drinks out of the same straw, or bombilla as it’s called in Argentina and there are many etiquette rules to be followed. The method of preparation of the yerba, or herb, is hotly debated, with mate aficionados fervently disagreeing over minute things like how to put the mate into the gourd. Oh and the gourd. It can be made out of wood or natural, hollowed out plants, like calabazas (small pumpkins). Our gourd is a calabaza. Supposedly, this gives our yerba a better flavor. We really can’t tell the difference.
There are way too many facets concerning mate and its yerba and I’m sure you would fall asleep reading about it unless you’re as crazy as me, but let me tell you about our experience with it so far. First, we found a store that sold all things related to mate. We especially liked this store because it had gourds and bombilla sets on sale. So for 26 pesos, or $6.50, we purchased our very first gourd and bombilla. Then, we purchased the yerba. We opted for the organic because it’s a known fact that many times yerba is dried by a wood burning process (like curing meats), giving it a nice carcinogenic taste. We then headed down to the Chino store and purchased a thermos to keep our water hot. Apparently you can not use boiling water, like you would with tea, because it scalds the yerba, giving it a very bitter taste. Instead, the water must be served at precisely 72C. Then we had to figure out how to cure our gourd. Talk about a weird Google search. Apparently the curing process is heavily debated too. We opted for the easiest curing process, which was to leave boiled water in the gourd along with 2/3 mate for 48 hours, changing it once. We had our little gourd sitting out, supposedly curing itself, for two days.



After our long awaited curing process was over, we made our first mate. Believe me when I tell you that it was disgusting. First, we tried the organic yerba. Then we tried our mint and bolda yerba. When that didn’t work, we headed to Disco and got orange flavored yerba (pictured above!). I am determined to like this stuff. It can keep you awake all day without making you an insomniac (contains caffeine and 2 other types of caffeine or xanthines, but the effects are much diff than caffeine because of these 2 other xanthines), curbs appetite and its just plain good for you. We are slowly acquiring a taste for it. We force ourselves to drink it everyday, at least 4 gourd-fulls. The super mate drinkers say that flavored or infused yerbas, like our orange one, is only for women and children. Well, we hope to one day be as good of a mate drinker as the natives, but it may take awhile forever.
Maybe that is why we need to stay in Argentina for a long, long time.



And if you want to read more about the mate culture, visit our trusty friend wikipedia.

-A