ARGENTINA -The national drink - Mate

Drinking Mate with Santiago

Another of the Argentinian traditions is the drinking of mate (pronounced mah-tey). Everywhere you go you will see Argentinians carrying thermos flasks for their favourite hot drink. Again it is a fine art, and one that has taken Dean a good lot of practice and advice from the locals!

Mate is a drink (almost like a green tea) made from the dried crushed leaves of a holly like plant - the yerba. What you will need for a perfect mate are the yerba, a gourd (drinking vessel made traditionally of a dried pumpkin like plant, though can also be wooden), a bombilla ( a metal straw with filter on the end)  and a thermos of hot water of the exact temperature (not boiling!), then follows the very complex instructions below!!

1. Heat up a pot of water to 83 degrees (Do not boil!) Apparently according to our yerba-maister you can tell 83 degrees by the sound of the air bubbles!?) Once at this temperature put into a thermos flask.
2. Into your gourd pour the yerba mate leaf to about 2/3rds full. Cover with your hand and turn  it upside down and tap it a couple of times to mix the leaves.
3. Holding it at a 45 degree angle so the mixture is along one side of the gourd, add some luke warm water to the bare side of the gourd to wet the mate, and let it sit for about a minute.
4. Then add in the hotter water from the flask to the gourd until almost full.
5. Cover the top of the metal straw (bombilla) with your thumb and firmly push in to the bottom of the gourd (not stirring).
6. Sip from the bombilla until all the water has gone, refill with water and pass it to the next person.

The perfect mate is a fine art! Water too hot and the yerba will taste burnt and bitter. Mate drinking is a real tradition and part of the Argentinian social culture. Friends get together to drink mate, sharing round the cup, almost like smoking a pipe and passing it on .

One person ( the cerebador) is responsible for making the mate. He will make it and pass it to the first person to drink. If they want more they will hand the gourd back to the cerebador to refill, and if they've had enough will say 'Thank you' and hand it back to the cerebador who will then prepare another one for the next person, and so on, through day and night!

Packets of Yerba and gourds

Dean gets the taste for it!