Yerba Maté

One of my loyal readers (Aunt Donne) has requested I write something about Argentina's beloved national beverage: Yerba Maté. Well, I´m only too happy to oblige, and hopefully introduce you all to something new from this yerba maté primer.

Yerba maté (say: YER-bah MA-tay) is a typical Argentine drink, kind of like a strong green tea, that is drunk hot, and usually shared between two or more people. Basically, the loose-leaf yerba, or herb, is steeped in a hollowed-out gourd, called a maté, and is drunk through a metal strainer/straw contraption called a bombilla. It has a very potent flavor, and can be a bit bitter to the uninitiated. It does contain a lot of caffeine, almost as much as coffee, but it does not produce the same jittery kind of high as coffee. Instead, it produces a lower-intensity buzz, but accompanied by a kind of alertness and heightened focus, which I think lasts much longer than coffee.

Maté is a very social drink, and many people here only drink it when they are in the company of others. Someone is usually assigned to warm up the water and prepare the maté gourd by filling it almost to the top with yerba. Then when the water is hot, but not boiling, the first maté is served. The maté is passed to the first person, who drinks the whole gourd full at his own pace, then passes it back to the host, who fills it again with hot water and passes it to the next person, who drains it, and passes it back, and so forth, until everyone has had a turn. The cycle usually begins again with the first person, and such a gathering can take hours on end.

Maté is also not solely drunk in the home, either. At city parks in the afternoon, friends or family can be seen passing the maté with a thermos or two full of hot water nearby. On the streets in the early morning workers can be seen sipping it alone or in groups as they wait for their rides to work.

You will not, however, find yerba maté in restaurants or cafés, and if so very, very rarely. Occasionally you can buy single servings of maté cocido (literally 'cooked' or ready-made yerba maté) in machines at some convenience stores, and there are always vendors who sell it on the street in tiny cups, but you will be hard-pressed to find it at a restaurant or café.

The photo shows the maté, the bombilla, as well as a package of typical Argentine yerba that can be bought at the store for about $2.50 pesos, or about $.80 U.S. The gourd and bombilla cost about $3.00 U.S.

Please stay tuned for upcoming Blogs on the history of maté, and how to prepare your new maté gourd....