Coffee or Maté?

Besides Malbec, the other national drink is maté. This is an herbal tea, made from the leaves and stems of a large bush called Yerba Maté (literally “maté herb”), and grown at a large scale in Argentina’s Missiones province. It is a digestive tea and has a similar chemical to caffeine, which enhances one’s energy. The loose leaves are typically poured into a maté gourd, made out of wood or a dried squash, up to an inch below the brim. Hot water is then poured in and drank from a bombilla (straw) with a filter on the end so as not to get the leaves in your mouth.

Drinking maté is always a social affair and the cebador (the person who prepares the maté) always takes the first and most bitter drink, sipping it until there is no more water left, then refills it for the next person to drink until the gourd is dry again. And the gourd is passed to each person in the group, who in turn sips on it for a couple minutes, drinking the entire thing, when it is refilled for the next person.

Drinking maté is most popular when out and about in the countryside, whether it be going for a drive into the mountains, hiking, or horseback riding, as an excuse to stop and rest, enjoying the scenery every so often. However, some people never go out without their maté set, always including a thermos of hot water, the gourd, bombilla, and a Tupperware of herb and/or sugar. They even make fancy leather bags specially designed to carry the maté set, but most locals just use an old paper gift bag.

The flavor is a bit grassy or earthy, and thus reminds me a bit of the Hawaiian Kava root drink, except that the 2 have totally opposite effects. It takes some getting used to, and although I didn’t turn into one of those people with their maté kit attached to the hip, I do enjoy a maté once in a while and have a kit, including the herb, gourd and bombilla, at home.