The Ritual of Drinking Mate! 🧉
What is Mate?
Mate or maté also known as chimarrão or cimarrón, is
a traditional South American caffeine-rich infused drink. It is made by
soaking dried leaves of the yerba mate plant in hot water and is served
with a metal straw in a container typically made from calabash gourd.
Mate was consumed by the Guaranà and Tupà people.
It is the national beverage of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay and is
also consumed in the Bolivian Chaco, Southern Chile, Southern Brazil,
Syria (the largest importer in the world) and Lebanon, where it was
brought from
Argentina by immigrants.
I started drinking mate when I was 6 years old and I never stop. I
remember having mate with my grandmother during the winter. She got up
really early in the morning to bake some fresh bread, lite the fire in
the fireplace and got the mate ready. I usually woke up round 8:30 am
and we sat together close to the fire and enjoyed our breakfast. It was
marvelous, literally like a ritual. 🙂