Discover how to prepare mate in a gourd. You’ll need a gourd, loose leaf tea, hot water, and a bombilla for filtering leaves. Things to consider: mate contains caffeine, causing insomnia, nervousness, nausea.
Preparing Mate Like a Professional
By reading this post, you’ll learn to prepare mate like a professional server. The traditional method requires care and attention. But you’re rewarded with a delicious infusion. You’ll need a gourd, bombilla, and hot water.
I’ll describe how to prepare mate in three common ways:
- With a gourd and bombilla (traditional)
- Fill 2⁄3 of a gourd with loose leaves. Tap leaves to one side, creating a pit. Moisten pit with cool water. Insert bombilla into pit. Pour small sips of 150°F water into pit.
- Share the gourd in a circle of friends, old and new!
The Gourd
The gourd is the traditional cup used. Customarily made from a gourd vine, usually a calabash squash. Gourds come in shapes like round, cylinder, or neck. Materials include wood, calabash, and more.
While traditional, some find gourds messy. Alternatives can be used. Add hot water throughout the day.
Gourds have benefits like ensuring full extraction. You’ll repeatedly steep leaves, agitating with bombilla sips. Materials for gourds include calabash, wood, and more.
Types of Gourds
What kind of gourd is used?
Gourds come in a lot more different shapes, sizes, materials, etc. And deciding which one to buy can be very stressful as they all have their own pros and cons. We’re about to go over all the 7 types of gourds below.
One of the main benefits of drinking your mate the traditional way is that you can be sure you are extracting all the goodness your mate has to offer. You will be repeatedly steeping your mate and agitating the herb with the sucking action from your bombilla sips.
Grab your gourd, and fill up two-thirds of it with some loose-leaf mate. Cover the entire top of the gourd, and give it 2-3 good shakes to get the polvo out. It can clog up your bombilla. Do your best to make a half-moon of mate sitting on the bottom and free space at the top. Pour a small amount of cold water over the leaves, to help protect the nutrients from the hot water you’re going to pour in.
When people gather to drink tea from a gourd, there is even some degree of ceremony associated with this gathering.
History of the Gourd
Let’s talk a little about this gourd and bombilla, since I’m pretty sure you’re confused by it. Well, it turns out that mate is old – at least 400 years old. Four hundred years ago was when it was introduced to other countries in South America. And back them pottery was a thing, but not very well developed.
Mate is a drink made by steeping dried leaves from the mate plant in hot water. It tastes like green tea with hints of tobacco and oak. Use the bombilla to drink the mate through the filtered end. Mate can also be made using a French press or infuser. Adjust strength by changing steeping time from 1-3 minutes. Tereré is a cold brewed iced mate drink.
Benefits of the Gourd
The gourd provides a natural experience. It keeps the mate warm for longer periods. Add hot water to the gourd, wait 20 minutes, scrape, and let it dry before using. Using a gourd enhances taste and aroma.