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Mate

Posted on April 12, 2007
Filed Under Food and Drink, Culture, Vocabulary | 11 Comments

Sooner of later, any blog about Uruguay must talk about mate. Although I am not Uruguayan, I grew up in Southern Brazil where the mate culture is strong and where mate drinkers abound. In spite of being very familiar with the custom, the extent of the mate culture in Uruguay surprises even Argentinian and Brazilian gauchos. The sight of people carrying a thermos bottle and a mate everywhere is almost uniquely Uruguayan. And it is common to see people drinking mate in public at all hours. To illustrate how prevalent the habit is I actually witnessed a homeless man drinking mate, a policeman in a moving cruiser drinking mate and a moped driver somehow carrying a thermos under one arm, mate in one hand and steering with the other.

If you never heard of mate before, it is an infusion much like a strong green tea, brewed by pouring hot water into a gourd more than half full with the ground leaves of the Ilex Paraguariensis plant. The concoction is drunk through a special metal straw with a strainer at the end. Uruguayans of all ages drink it throughout the day and often in the afternoon with bizcochos. Mate is so popular in Uruguay that you will see it being consumed by teenagers and old people alike. Because of the demand, supermarkets reserve a good part of an aisle for the different brands of yerba mate, which are sold in packages ranging from 250g to 5 kilos!

Mate is also common in Argentina, parts of Chile, parts of Brazil and Paraguay. However, only in Uruguay and Paraguay it is a national passion to be consumed everywhere, at all times. Due to the heat, in Paraguay mate is most often drunk cold with ice cubes. Terere, as it is called, is drunk with a bombilla like mate but often in a guampa (cow horn) instead of a gourd. While in Uruguay it is common to see people carrying a thermos bottle under one arm and a mate on the other, in Paraguay an even bigger thermos with ice water is carried around. In parts of Brazil near Paraguay, terere is almost as popular as in Paraguay.

In Southern Brazil mate is usually is associated with farmers, ranchers and tradicionalistas and mate drinking is a group activity where people sit around in a circle to talk or to tell tall tales. The mate gourd is passed around following a ritual. The very thought of adding sugar to the mate (as is sometimes done in Uruguay) is enough to make a gaucho from Brazil gasp and reach for his knife.

Since it is a very regional thing, the mate drinker in Brazil is automatically making a statement of traditional gaucho-ness. Maybe because of this, in Brazil mate is spurned by high society or anybody wishing to give airs of sophistication. For the record, I do drink mate, actually I am drinking it right now, with yerba imported from Argentina, macanuda tchê.

Mate Custom and Protocol

The ideal temperature for mate is 80C or 176F. It is recommended to heat it to 85C or 185F so that by the time it is placed in the thermos it is perfect.

It is polite to offer the first mate to a newcomer.

It is impolite to refuse.

The mate is always handed with the right hand. If for some reason he/she cannot use the right hand, he/she will say: perdóneme que tome el mate con esta mano or forgive me for taking the mate with this hand. The other person will politely reply: no importa, es la misma que la del corazón or no matter, it is the one of the side of the heart.

One drinks the mate until there is no more water. There is no hurry. It is yours until you are done with it.

Nobody should have fewer than two mates.

The invitee should NEVER reset the bombilla. It is considered a criticism of the way it is being cebado. If it gets clogged, return it to the cebador. This rule is hard on newbies since that metal thingy is begging to be moved. Resist the temptation.

The invitee should not opine on the manner in which the mate is prepared, additives, water temperature, etc

In a group the mate is always replenished by one person, the cebador (the one adding water) which hands it to the next person in the circle. It always moves clockwise.

The first mate is for the spirits and the last for the cebador

When you had enough just say gracias to the cebador and he will make sure the mate will skip you next time.

Vocabulary:

Bizcocho - No exact translation, the best approximation is baked goods, since it encompasses a number of things that are sweet or savory.
Bombilla - Metal straw used to drink mate.
Calabaza - Gourd
Cebar - To add water to the mate in the appropriate way, to steep the mate.
Curar el mate - Process required to break in a new calabaza or mate. Involves filling the calabaza 3/4 full with yerba and leaving it steep for 12 hours and then cleaning and scraping it thoroughly with a spoon.
Dar vuelta el mate - To carefully reset the bombilla so as to be closer to unused areas of the yerba.
Ensillar el mate - To replace artfully part of the weakened yerba with a new one
Estirar el Mate - To reshuffle or to replace part of the yerba to revive it.
Mate - Word that can mean the drink, the gourd or the whole act of drinking mate.
Porongo - Gourd
Preparar el mate - To assemble the mate i.e. place the yerba in the calabaza and to steep it for the first drink. It is a somewhat involved process.
Torta frita - Fried dough
Yerba mate - The ground mate tea, often called just yerba
Yuyos - Herbal teas sometimes added to the mate

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