Yerba Mate

Yerba Mate is a strong and bitter tea most common in Uruguay and Argentina. In Uruguay, it is common to see people carrying their mate (cup made of a gourd) with a thermos of hot water the way people in the US carry around water bottles. Well, maybe not the same way. They often carry a 1-2 liter thermos tucked under their arm which is carrying their mate to provide a free hand.

The yerba (herb) in yerba mate is actually a sapling of a type of evergreen tree. The flavor is closest compared to a bitter version of strongly brewed green tea. The drink is often simply referred to as mate, as is the gourd itself. Yerba mate is drank through a metal straw (bombilla) with many small straining holes at the bottom to prevent the bits of tea from getting in your mouth. Genius! I suppose you can drink any loose leaf tea in a mate through a bombilla. For now I'll stick with my Uruguayan yerba mate:

Yerba Mate from Uruguay

My mate I bought in Uruguay, fashioned from a gourd and wrapped with leather. This style was the most common I saw while in Uruguay.

I find it oddly fun to drink out of a gourd and straw. It seems timeless and I like the habitual and social aspect as well. Families and friends will often take turns emptying a single gourd, filling it back up and passing it onto the next person in the circle. Yerba mate also provides a decent, yet steady dose of caffeine without the dehydration or anxiousness coffee can often induce.

Mate y Bombilla