Mate

Despite what the title of this post may make you think, I am not writing about “mate” as the word would be pronounced in English.  This post isn’t about a new British friend, or an Argentinian boyfriend, but rather about máte (MAH-tay), as it is pronounced in Spanish.

Mate is a kind of tea that is very popular in Uruguay, Argentina, and Southern Brazil.  I think it might even be more popular than beer.  It is the staple of all social gatherings that take place before 10pm, for people of all ages, both genders, and all classes.  Everyone has at least one mate pot, which is about the size of a tennis ball, made from wood, and either painted, polished, covered in leather, or decorated in some other way.  Along with a mate pot, you need a drinking rod, which has a small, hollow, metal bulb about the size of a very large lima bean at the bottom. This bulb has several tiny holes in it, and is connected to a metal rod with a narrow oboe-reed-shaped opening at the top to drink from.  This way the bulb on the drinking rod also serves as a filter so you don’t drink the tea leaves.  Dry, loose-leaf tea leaves are used, and are available for purchase at all stores.

To make mate, first you boil water and put it in a thermos.  Many people have matching thermos and mate pot sets, along with specific bags for carrying all mate-related items with them on walks, to work, to the park, to visit friends, and everywhere else they go.  While your water is boiling, you can go ahead and fill your mate pot up to the brim with the loose, dried leaves, and then pour the boiled water in when it’s ready.  Some people like to add sugar, depending on the kind of leaves they have.  When drinking mate in a group, only one mate pot is used.  It is filled with hot water, given to someone to drink, then refilled (without changing the tea leaves or cleaning the drinking rod), and passed to someone else. Multiple pots are never used, even in large groups, because drinking mate is a social activity, so sharing is part of the culture of it.  Drinking mate is always a suggested activity for future hangouts, although I don’t know why they bother saying it because it is always offered to visitors anyway. 

I was visiting some friends who work at a hostel here today, and there were four people from Buenos Aires staying there.  Obviously they had brought their mate supplies with them on their trip, so during some down time they made mate, and of course offered it to everyone there.  You can’t really drink mate in front of someone and not offer it to them; it’s not like coke or juice or any other beverage.  There were probably about 8-10 of us there, and half of us had just met the other half right then, but we all shared some mate and drank out of the same drinking rod and became friends on the spot.