The Ritual of Mate

While in Buenos Aires if someone offers you to have a mate, don’t turn it down! Mate is a very popular type of tea everyone drinks all the time, everywhere. But it is more than just a traditional drink, it is a ritual in Argentina.

Here is a short overview that explains the matter: herbs called yerba mate (which come from a tree that grows throughout the Mesopotamia region of Argentina) are placed in a small container (made out of wood or metal or sometimes a hollowed-out gourd) called mate. Hot water is poured into the mate. Then you drink the tea through a straw, usually made of metal or bamboo, called  bombilla (there’s a filter attached to the end so you don’t drink any of the little leaves). The cebador is the person who prepares the mate and then passed it to a person, who drains the cup, and then gives it back to the cebador, who will then fill it up again and give it to the next person and so on. It is a communal and social thing. It is not the drink, it is the moment one enjoys the most.
The taste is bitter and harsh. Some people say it is an acquired taste, some people just don’t like it. I really like it, it has a refreshing taste to it. You can drink it with sugar if you don’t like the bitterness.

The drink has been claimed to help energize the body, stimulate mental alertness, aid weight loss, cleanse the colon, accelerate healing, relieve stress, calm allergies, fortify immune system, increase longevity, among other things. I don’t know about that, I just enjoy sharing it with friends.