Where to Try Mate
Las Cabras (Fitz Roy 1795, Palermo) and Las Cholas (Arce 306, Las Cañitas) have outdoor tables where you can sit and enjoy your mate.
Mate Bars
Many foreigners to Buenos Aires want to try yerba mate but are hesitant to invest in the necessary supplies. The solution? Mate bars. Herbalists use mate to treat everything from arthritis to hypertension. Scientific research supports its traditional usage.
Experience of Drinking Mate
Maté has a character wholly, deliciously its own. It’s best shared as it’s communal and ritualistic. An older man on a public boat offered his mate to my friend and me, two strangers. It wasn’t long before everyone felt like friends.
Health Benefits
Yerba mate is rich in antioxidants, helps reduce cholesterol and contains minerals and vitamins. Its caffeine content makes it an energy drink. The caffeine is different from that in coffee or tea.
Argentinians drink 14 pounds of yerba mate per capita each year. Recently it has become common to drink from cans, bottles and energy drinks.
Cultural Significance
Sharing mate forges emotional links between people and takes Argentinians back to their roots. It’s valuable beyond just drinking something together.
Mate vs Other Drinks
Drinking yerba mate is common in South America. Unlike coffee or tea, it’s nutritious, full of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. It contains mateine.
Preparing Mate
Preparing mate has rules.
- First, fill the cup with yerba.
- Cover it with your hand, turn it twice.
- Put in the bombilla.
- Pour water near the bombilla until saturated.
- Never stir with bombilla or touch it.
Mate in Argentine Culture
Yerba mate is a popular drink in Argentina. Argentines drink yerba mate daily. It represents sharing and brings people together. Mate is beneficial for health. It contains antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.
Argentines usually drink mate hot for breakfast or before sunset. They drink it cold depending on weather. Mate brings people together across society. Argentina defines yerba mate as the national infusion.
Foreigners’ Experience
Most foreigners find yerba mate bitter but Argentines adore it. Consuming mate brings a group closer together. Yerba mate is drunk through a screened straw called bombilla from a hollowed out gourd.
Personal Experience
Our year in Argentina taught us that mate is so much more than a pale green, milky drink. In fact, what we drink in the US is really mate cocido but I’m getting ahead of myself. Mate is pronounced mah-tay.
What is Yerba Mate?
Yerba Mate is a small bush that produces evergreen leaves used to make yerba mate tea. It’s said to increase concentration, boost energy, and even help with weight control. Mate can be served hot in the traditional manner described below, in tea bag form, or even cold as a sort of iced tea. I would say it’s an acquired taste.
Where to Try Mate
Where to Try Mate: Las Cabras (Fitz Roy 1795, Palermo).
Mate Rituals
One person will act as the servidora (server) and will be responsible for preparing the mate cup, filling it with water, and passing it around to members of the group in the same order every single time.
What is Yerba Mate?
Pronounced “yer-bah mah-tay,” this drink comes from the leaves of a holly plant found in the South American rainforest. The Pasteur Institute concluded in 1964 that with 24 vitamins and minerals, along with 15 amino acids and antioxidants, it would be difficult to find another plant that could equal mate in nutritional value.
Preparing Mate
Preparing the maté is not just putting the yerba in the cup and drink it. There are some rules for it.