Dealing with Maté

One of the other presents I received for the holidays this year was a bombilla set and a large amount of Yerba Maté. For those who are unaware, Yerba Maté is an African drink, made from an herb found locally there. It is very powdery and is available for fairly cheap in a lot of places. It also comes in a wide variety of flavours.

The traditional way to make Yerba Maté is quite a complicated process, but the short version is to add the tea to a gourd (called a Maté), place a special straining spoon (called a bombilla) in the gourd, add a little bit of cold water to clump the tea, then under-boiling water to make the tea. Sounds simple enough, right?

My first attempt at making this tea was not very successful. I tried to make the cold version of the tea, but ended up adding the water too quickly. This ended with more than a little bit of the tea to make its way up the straw. Because I didn't want to waste the tea, I ended up simply placing the straw inside of a tea bag and then into the cup. This worked to keep the leaves out of the straw, but is definitely not the right way to do it. More research on the process will probably help.

The little research I have done on Yerba Maté has revealed a little of the culture behind the drink. Drinking Yerba Maté is apparently a common social component of a gathering. The person who is making the tea makes the first cup, and drinks it quickly. Yerba Maté is not a sipping drink. After finishing their first cup, they make the tea again, using the same leaves, cup, and straw. They hand this to the next person, who quickly drinks it, and so on until everyone has had some. Seems to me like the person making the tea becomes very busy for the duration of whatever event is happening.

Mishaps aside, once I wasn't spitting out pieces of tea, it was a very nice drink. The bag I received is a mint blend, and tasted very refreshing as a cold drink. The hot version will be tried at a later date. It had a distinct mint taste, but also has the caffeine taste that coffee has, albeit a lot less intense. Overall, a nice tea, with a process that will take some mastering.