It’s healthy, non-addictive, gives you energy and doesn’t contain caffeine. And best of all, it’s entirely legal.
It’s mate, pronounced “ma-tay” or “mah-tay.” Various cultures and peoples throughout the recorded history of the South American continent have claimed the small tree — an evergreen member of the holly family — as their own. However, none of these claims are definite.
One prevalent origin story relates to the Guaraní, a South American tribal group that once resided in the territory between Uruguay and lower Paraguay’s rivers, according to the Web site, “Yerba Mate Online,” at http://incognita.net/oldsanjuangrocery/mate. “They looked forward to the coming of a tall, fair-skinned, blue eyed, bearded God (Pa’i Shume). He unlocked the secrets of health and medicine and revealed the healing qualities of native plants,” the Web site states.
“Yerba Mate: For Better Health,” a paper authored by Daniel Mowrey, explores the health benefits of the drink made from the leaves: “The plant is classified vaguely, according to Western herbal medicine, as aromatic, stimulant, bitter, aperient (laxative), astringent, diuretic, purgative, sudorific (sweat inducing), and febrifuge (fever reducing). Mate contains numerous vitamins and minerals.”
Mowrey’s paper goes into more detail about these minerals and vitamins. However, in a summary of these benefits, he writes, “In 1964, one group of investigators from the Pasteur Institute and the Paris Scientific Society concluded that mate contains practically all of the vitamins necessary to sustain life.”
University student Ashlee Harrison said she drinks mate nearly every morning instead of coffee.
“I dig it for its medicinal properties,” she said. “It’s a stimulant, not dehydrating and bad for you like coffee.”
There are many different ways to drink mate, but using a gourd and bombilla — a straw which strains the tea leaves — or brewing it like a regular cup of tea are two commonplace methods of consumption. The gourd is commonly known as “mate,” while the actual mate itself is referred to as “yerba,” which translates to herb in English.
University graduate student Cecilia Lopez Badano, who taught as a professor of linguistics and
semiotics at the University of Buenos Aires, said that there are many ways to serve the drink. “Tereré” is mate served cold, while “mate cocido” is served hot. Badano emphasized that the serving water should be hot, but not boiling. “Mate amargo” is served without sugar. Orange, mandarin and tangerine peels can also add flavor to the tea.
Visiting Assistant Professor Christian Gundermann, who teaches in the University’s romance language department, taught at schools in Buenos Aires and Tucumán in Argentina.
He said mate has a strong cultural connection to rural life in
the country.
“It’s much more common in lower-class environments. You won’t find the jet-set class drinking it,” he said. “It’s a little bit like a country bumpkin kind of thing.”
Badano said that while mate is available in larger cities such as Buenos Aires, it is mainly consumed by farmers and peasants.
“Mate isn’t an urban tradition. You need time to drink mate — it’s a tradition of little cities, not big cities,” she said. “It’s not a common tradition for people who work in the office.”
Traditionally, when people gather to drink mate from a gourd, one person distributes the water, filling up the gourd each time it is emptied. This person is called the “cebador,” and Badano said a talented cebador can refill a mate gourd 20 to 30 times and still make the flavor last.
“Pouring the water is like a language,” she said. “If you are
a good cebador, it doesn’t lose
the taste.”
Gundermann added that consuming mate goes beyond the simple act of drinking.
“In Argentina, there’s a strong culture of conversation,” he said. “It’s about sitting down and talking together and taking the mate together.”