Gift of the Moon, Bane of the Spanish: The Story of Yerba Mate(npr.org)
npr.org
Gift of the Moon, Bane of the Spanish: The Story of Yerba Mate
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2015/03/17/393355841/tea-tuesdays-south-america-runs-on-yerba-mate?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20150318
42 comments
Ha - I experienced exactly this. Had my first meeting in Buenos Aires (with a dev shop). 6 (or so) guys around the table. One guy drinking Mate. Mid-conversation, as if it's no big deal, another guy reaches over, grabs the drink, and starts sipping. Moments later another guy does the same.
As an American, it was really amusing.
As an American, it was really amusing.
Note that, at least in the Argentinian custom, you do not simply reach over and grab the mate. You are in a round and get offered the mate by the guy pouring hot water in it. After you sip the water, you return the mate, the guy pours more hot water, and offers it to the next person in the round.
Growing up in the Philippines, this is how we used to drink, one guy fills the glass with booze, then passes it down to the next guy in line, who chugs it down then passes it back to have it refilled.
Same glass, same amount of booze, same order in the rounds. Wonder if it's an indio+Spaniard thing? I haven't seen this anywhere else in Asia.
Same glass, same amount of booze, same order in the rounds. Wonder if it's an indio+Spaniard thing? I haven't seen this anywhere else in Asia.
And if Argentina is like Brazil, never ever hold the straw with your hand. Only your lips should touch it.
Simply touching it is no big deal (in Argentina at least), but god forbid you stir the yerba, then you're in deep trouble.
Brazil's "chimarrão" (as they call the mate) is prepared pretty differently than we do in Argentina, and the customs are a bit different. They use way more yerba, a much bigger gourd and it's not as social (at least in Santa Catarina I very rarely saw people sharing the gourd.)
There's also "tereré", which is like "chimarrão", but it is infused and consumed with cold water instead of hot.
well that's because it makes all the powdery crap sink to the bottom instead of the big chunks acting like a filter
Paraguayans (at least the Mennonite colonists) don't have a problem with touching the bombillia either
Paraguayans (at least the Mennonite colonists) don't have a problem with touching the bombillia either
Probably a decade ago I'd heard of yerba mate, so I got myself a gourd, a bombilla and a big ol' sack of the stuff. Honestly, I wasn't impressed: it's not as refined as tea and not as interesting as coffee and frankly the bombilla doesn't do a great job of filtering the leaves out. I've since had other mates (on the theory that perhaps the stuff I bought was low-grade), and so far as I can tell there's no real reason to prefer it over other caffeine sources: it's just a trendy/fashionable thing to do. And really, how trendy can it be if I knew about it so long ago?
If anybody is interested in drinking this stuff, I HIGHLY suggest getting one of the gourds and trying it that way.
The taste is very different from what you get when you brew it in a french press.
That said, my favorite yerba drink is: brewed yerba, a small bit of milk, and some peppermint syrup.
Absolutely delicious. Many, many, many lines of code have been written because of that combination.
The taste is very different from what you get when you brew it in a french press.
That said, my favorite yerba drink is: brewed yerba, a small bit of milk, and some peppermint syrup.
Absolutely delicious. Many, many, many lines of code have been written because of that combination.
Can you clarify on the difference? Also, right now I stick the loose leaves into a tea sack and let that steep in my mug--would that accomplish the same function as the gourd? My gut says there would be no material difference in taste between my current method and the gourd, and it would be an unnecessary expense, but if there's something I'm missing as to what it does to change the flavor/experience I'd love to know more.
Also try drinking it with cold water. I prefer terere (cold water mate)
I'm a bit surprised it didn't catch on as a carbonated soft drink outside Germany.
First of all, I'm a bit surprised that the article does not even mention Club Mate.
Second, it's catching on in the Netherlands through the underground. All hackerspaces have their own supply line, either through their own import, or through other channels. There are now several wholesalers who sell it, and I'm starting to see it in small cafe's as well.
I've also heard that there is a cocktailbar in Amsterdam which uses Club Mate in some of their cocktails.
Second, it's catching on in the Netherlands through the underground. All hackerspaces have their own supply line, either through their own import, or through other channels. There are now several wholesalers who sell it, and I'm starting to see it in small cafe's as well.
I've also heard that there is a cocktailbar in Amsterdam which uses Club Mate in some of their cocktails.
Perhaps more surprising is that this was attempted in Argentina in the mid-2000s by Coca-Cola. They introduced a soft drink named "Nativa" based off mate with a huge ad campaign to go with it (the slogan was something along the lines of "there's never before been something so ours"). It was a complete flop, and the unsold bottles were removed from the shelves merely weeks after launch.
I'm an Argentine who enjoys mate. While in Germany I tried a Club Mate and found it disgusting. It may be an acquired taste though, much as plain mate is, and I'd gladly give it a second chance if I could get my hands on some.
I'm an Argentine who enjoys mate. While in Germany I tried a Club Mate and found it disgusting. It may be an acquired taste though, much as plain mate is, and I'd gladly give it a second chance if I could get my hands on some.
In Germany, you should give a try to Flora Power, another mate-based soft drink :
http://flora-power.de/
It's more difficult to find than Club Mate (it's a local brew from Hamburg). Depending on your taste, it contains much less sugar than Club Mate and feels more 'herbal', I prefer this.
http://flora-power.de/
It's more difficult to find than Club Mate (it's a local brew from Hamburg). Depending on your taste, it contains much less sugar than Club Mate and feels more 'herbal', I prefer this.
Also, if you happen to find Kolle Mate[0], try one.
If you're looking for places to buy, Matekarte[1] provides a nice map detailing who sells what and the latest status (in stock, only few left, out of stock). Unfortunately, it appears to only be available in german.
[0] http://kolle-mate.de [1] https://www.matekarte.de/
If you're looking for places to buy, Matekarte[1] provides a nice map detailing who sells what and the latest status (in stock, only few left, out of stock). Unfortunately, it appears to only be available in german.
[0] http://kolle-mate.de [1] https://www.matekarte.de/
Thanks for the tip, I'll look for it next time I'm in Germany.
Well, Nativa was pretty gross though. It was (slightly) sweet, and a lot of people prefer their mate without any sort of sweetening.
Me too. I love Club Mate (pronounced Clue-b, Maw Tay). It's apparently super popular among hackers in Berlin.
I only know two places to get it in California. One, The Fizzary on Haight in SF, the other Galcos Old World Grocery in Pasadena although my impression of Galcos is they aren't going to keep stocking it.
It's one of many drinks that seem like they could do well with the right marketing and distribution.
I only know two places to get it in California. One, The Fizzary on Haight in SF, the other Galcos Old World Grocery in Pasadena although my impression of Galcos is they aren't going to keep stocking it.
It's one of many drinks that seem like they could do well with the right marketing and distribution.
In the USA we've had "Materva" for many years, which seems reasonably popular. Lately, I've seen more and more energy/"health" drinks listing Mate as an ingredient; the Guayaki brand seemingly the most common.
These drinks really have very little to do with the taste/experience of the traditional S. American mate though...
These drinks really have very little to do with the taste/experience of the traditional S. American mate though...
Well, I like the Guayaki drinks, and anecdotally they do help moderate my appetite, so maybe I’ll try traditional mate now.
You can buy a kilo of mate for $4 from any decent latin grocery or mennonite vacuum store. Brew it, add sugar, ice. Totally not worth the $2/bottle for the Guayaki drinks.
I live in a house of four CS students in the UK and it is the staple drink at home. It fuels many of our programming sessions. However, we can't buy it in shops round here and we have to order it in bulk from the supplier. We probably get through a crate of the stuff every two weeks.
I imagine it would catch on in a far bigger way, but no one has heard of it. It was only through a HN article on SoundCloud's Berlin offices that we decided to try some.
I imagine it would catch on in a far bigger way, but no one has heard of it. It was only through a HN article on SoundCloud's Berlin offices that we decided to try some.
For those who like mate, I recommend also trying guayusa [1]. It is a close relative of mate with more pronounced flavor. At least in the US it's pretty easy to find in health food stores and the like.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilex_guayusa
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilex_guayusa
I only just discovered this drink this year. They sell it at a nearby supermarket. In the sugarless variety, it is slightly sweet and fantastic.
There are parts of Brazil where people drink mate like tea. No straw, no gourd, no sharing, no herpes.
That's true of Argentina too (and most likely anywhere where mate is drunk), it's called mate cocido: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_cocido
Funnily enough, I only got familiarized with herpes when I moved to Brazil. I only recall a couple people ever having herpes in Argentina, but in Brazil it was a pretty common occurrence. I imagine it might have to do with the 'browner' people of Argentina being more resilient and maybe just being asymptomatic.
"the 'browner' people of Argentina"
Argentina has a much larger fraction of "white" people than Brazil, right?
Argentina has a much larger fraction of "white" people than Brazil, right?
You'd think that, but not so much. There's a substantial Germanic/Polish descendant population in the South of Brazil. Very fair skinned. I'd love to have a breakdown by ancestry of both countries, but from my own anecdotal experience is is more common to see fair-skinned people in Brazil than in Argentina. (Just going quickly over it in Wikipedia it looks like about 90 million people in Brazil are 'white'. That's double the population of Argentina already.)
Yes, I'm aware that people in the South of Brazil are generally fair skinned due to the factors you mentioned.
I understood you were comparing Argentina as a whole to Brazil as a whole (and the latter has a much larger fraction of black/mixed/amerindian people, the other 90 million who are not white i.e. half of the population).
But fair enough, since you mentioned moving from Argentina to Brazil, I should have assumed shortest path :) and guessed you were talking about Rio Grande do Sul or Santa Catarina (obvious after reading your other references to it on this post).
P.S.: I need to update my "memorized demographics" - I remembered Brazil's population was 180 million but that's the number for 2002, today it's 200 million. An easy mistake to make coming from a country with a stagnant population growth...
I understood you were comparing Argentina as a whole to Brazil as a whole (and the latter has a much larger fraction of black/mixed/amerindian people, the other 90 million who are not white i.e. half of the population).
But fair enough, since you mentioned moving from Argentina to Brazil, I should have assumed shortest path :) and guessed you were talking about Rio Grande do Sul or Santa Catarina (obvious after reading your other references to it on this post).
P.S.: I need to update my "memorized demographics" - I remembered Brazil's population was 180 million but that's the number for 2002, today it's 200 million. An easy mistake to make coming from a country with a stagnant population growth...
" That's double the population of Argentina already".
You're mixing relative and absolute numbers to make your point. Brazil has 4 times the population of Argentina.
I mean it's like me arguing it's more common to see irish in the US than in Ireland. There are 33 million irish descendants in the US - That's like 6 times the population of Ireland...
You're mixing relative and absolute numbers to make your point. Brazil has 4 times the population of Argentina.
I mean it's like me arguing it's more common to see irish in the US than in Ireland. There are 33 million irish descendants in the US - That's like 6 times the population of Ireland...
Right, but adding both 'white' and 'brown' numbers (their terminology, not mine) you still get ~170 million people, which is ~85% of the population being 'somewhat white'. That's roughly the same relative number as Argentina.
The difference is the distribution on the 'white scale' if you will. Brazil has a higher influence of fairer-skinned Europeans (vast majority Portuguese, but with substantial German/Polish/Scandinavian) compared to Argentina (mostly Italian/Spanish, with tiny pockets of German, Swiss and British here and there.)
tl; dr: the chances of meeting a 'fair skinned' (defined as "European descendant) person are roughly the same in Argentina and Brazil. The chances of that person being blonde and have very fair skin are higher in Brazil.
(p.s. from my own anecdata: I consider myself to be smack in the middle of the darkness scale for Argentina, not too fair, not too dark. When I first moved to the South of Brazil I was surprised by how much I stood out in a group for being 'tan'.)
The difference is the distribution on the 'white scale' if you will. Brazil has a higher influence of fairer-skinned Europeans (vast majority Portuguese, but with substantial German/Polish/Scandinavian) compared to Argentina (mostly Italian/Spanish, with tiny pockets of German, Swiss and British here and there.)
tl; dr: the chances of meeting a 'fair skinned' (defined as "European descendant) person are roughly the same in Argentina and Brazil. The chances of that person being blonde and have very fair skin are higher in Brazil.
(p.s. from my own anecdata: I consider myself to be smack in the middle of the darkness scale for Argentina, not too fair, not too dark. When I first moved to the South of Brazil I was surprised by how much I stood out in a group for being 'tan'.)
>Funnily enough, I only got familiarized with herpes when I moved to Brazil. I only recall a couple people ever having herpes in Argentina, but in Brazil it was a pretty common occurrence.
without any specific tradition of sharing coming to mind, cold sores were pretty common in Russia while i never heard about genital herpes when i lived there (while there were normal occurrence of other STDs).
without any specific tradition of sharing coming to mind, cold sores were pretty common in Russia while i never heard about genital herpes when i lived there (while there were normal occurrence of other STDs).
Note link between Yerba Mate and esophageal cancer: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3947123/
and http://preventcancer.aicr.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id...
I love Yerba Mate, but I very much dislike the hot metal straw feel on my lips, so I use tea bags! There are loads of types of tea bags you can get, but I buy mine online via the urushop site.
I've also brewed them loose in a pot and strained with a mesh. The main thing when brewing loose, or in bags is to wait for a minute after the water brews. The tea doesnt like boiling water.
I've also brewed them loose in a pot and strained with a mesh. The main thing when brewing loose, or in bags is to wait for a minute after the water brews. The tea doesnt like boiling water.
Currently I use T-sac's for my mate/guayusa. Can you comment on whether there is a noticeable difference between using a tea bag vs. the traditional gourd/bombilla?
Note: One mate is shared by many. This makes at social ocassion, similarly to coffee, but with the restriction of having to take turns to sip. This makes it take a lot more time. As much as the conversation needs.
I fondly remember the warnings in Uruguay forbidding to drink mate in public buses due to the danger of hurting yourself with the straw (bombilla) when the vehicle suddenly brakes or stops.
In Argentina the custom is that someone pour the water in the mate and then pass it to the other persons, following the order of a round. And everyone suck from the same bombilla (straw). It's very strange for the foreign, because they are not used to share the straws.