Today I have bought MATE. Very nice taste, really good. I would like to know if any one of you have some experience with this kind of infusion. I know it is not a tea, but I think a tea drink should like it. About quantity: how much MATE do you use for a cup? The instruction are not really clear. They sei 3/4 of a particuar pumpkin they use in Brasil to drink it. I don't owe any pumpkin like that, but only a poor, simple tea cup. 3/4 of a cup looks really a lot. Levy Strauss (it is written on the package) used an handful of it for one person. I poured it by rough estimate. The taste was good, but I am not sure I made a good mate. How many tea spoons do you use usually? The MATE I bought has broken lieves inside: any quality has so? Do you know any site or book about this drink? I am sorry if I am off topic: i wish I don't. Thanks
Mate is traditionally consumed from a gourd (pumpkin) through a bombilla (straw with a filter screen at the bottom). Traditionally/historically, bombillas were wooden. These days, they're mostly metal.
The gourd is filled 3/4 full with loose mate, sometimes sugar, and then topped off with boiling water. It is then consumed through the bombilla, which keeps the leaves in the gourd. When the mate water is completely drained, more water is added. This process is repeated several times with no appreciable decrease in flavor - although the steeping time gets longer. (at least that's my experience).
As you noted, the amount used is typically dependent upon the size of the container. And it's likely that, outside of a gourd, you're not going to do the heavy infusions that are traditionally consumed.
You already answered to your own question, in my opinion. You said your mate tasted good. If it tastes good to you, that's what really counts. It may not be the typical way of making it, but it works for you.
Otherwise, you'll need to get yourself a gourd and bombilla and try it the "traditional" way. :)
You can find more information at:
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-- Derek
The journey of a thousand miles sometimes ends very, very badly.
Yes, I agree with you. The only doubt I had was if I have tried the real taste of MATE or not. Maybe it can be a nonsense question, but thinking to green tea it cannot. If you try a Sencha using boiling water, it's probable you won't obtain the real Sencha taste. Isn't true? How many time have you repeated infusion without loosing quality? I think I am going in the Amazonic forest to take my gourd and cut it in the right way to drink MATE. Maybe it would be simplier to buy it. How did you got it? Did you found the gourd and bombilla in some tea store?
True. My experience with Mate was with a friend who brought it up to the US from Argentina. He had his own gourd and bombilla.
I think we got three refills of the gourd before my friend restocked it.
I think it's simpler to buy it. You can probably find it online by searching for bombilla. Here's one, for example (I searched on bombilla mate gourd):
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Derek
-- Derek
"An honor is not diminished for being shared." -- Lois McMaster Bujold ("Shards of Honor", 1986)
Mate comes as green and as roasted tea. The green one is drunk from a gourd and filter-straw, the roasted one is much like a black tea. The green one is quickly bitter. Thr roasted Mate has flakey leaves, about 1 -
For some real good yerba mate, and information, check out
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You can probably find their tea bags and bulk mate at you local natural food co-op or at Whole Foods, places like that.
It's shade-grown, in the rainforest. It's better. Not that mate, in the gourd, in a traditional way is something that will appeal to everyone. It's certainly not anywhere near as tasty as good tea is, but it is a traditional drink, and there is a history and a culture behind it, and studies have shown that mate has all the necessary nutrients in it to sustain life. It's a food, not just a beverage.
The active ingredient is called mateine, which is a close relative to caffeine.
It is said to energize the cerebral cortex. In any case, less precise analysis of the caffeine content detects mateine as caffeine, and there is
750-1000mg in each gourd (if you fill up the gourd 1/2 way). It's definitely a very, very strong pick-me-up. Stratospheric.
In any case, Guayaki's website will explain it much better than I can.
Aside from the gourd, actually, an easier way to do it is to use a french press. Often times, the ratio of stems to leaf segments isn't right, and the bombilla (the straw you put inside the gourd) gets clogged and it just turns into a nasty, muddy mess. With a french press, you can avoid these problems, but then again, with a french press, it's the difference between drinking a thick, heavy-duty shot of espresso and a more watery standard cup of coffee. But the french press does work, it's probably not a bad idea to get a mini french-press, use more mate, and get more infusions out of it. You can probably get 10 infusions or so, maybe more depending on how much you put into the press to begin with.
But definitely try the Guayaki, it's probably one of the only brands that can give you a feel for what it's supposed to taste like. It's the way they dry it, the way they age for 6 months in a cedar-lined room, you can make an incredibly, incredibly thick, strong beverage with a stratospheric buzz and not get the bitterness, but just a smooth, smoky, juicy, overwhelmingly energizing experience.
Personally, I like good pu-erh tea better. But I have a lot of respect for mate, I have several gourds, etc..
P.S. If you do get the gourds, be careful with the mold. Depending on where you live, etc... There is a way that the gourds are "seasoned", by soaking with mate overnight, but be careful - let them dry out in the sun, if possible. You can also consider nuking them if it's really humid, provided you have a gourd that doesn't have the metal rim around it. Make sure they dry out between uses (buy two or three and rotate). Otherwise you may end up with a nasty, slimy mold problem.
I am an avid mate drinker and this is what I have to say:
I use approx 1/3 of a gourd (or can buy them online for couple of bucks do not buy fancy ones, but do buy the ones with a simple metal rim. I recommend metal ones for beginners to help evade the mouth burns the rule is: "If the bombillia is hot for your lips the mate is too hot to drink!" Otherwise if you use my favorite bamboo ones you will often have your lips burned at the beginning of your mate experience I love mate and drink it at least twice a week.
Now, brewing. Several points:
NEVER fill mate gourd with boiling water - it will bitter. In Latin America they say that you "burned it". Actually the target temp should be around 65-70 Celsius. ADD boiling water when the gourd is half-empty so that the mix would be around that temperature again. I refill many times. In LA (Latin America) they drink one for the whole day.
Use 1/4 to 1/2 of your "cup"/gourd of dry mate depending on how many times you refill. For whole day (or whole night) drinking fill 2/3 of your gourd. For 3-4 evening refills - 1/4.
I like to sieve the "dust" off - loosing about 1/3 of the volume. This is just me - it was never taught to me.
The sign of a well-prepared mate is some foam on the top. If you do not have foam - you screwed up (too hot water). Even after 10 refills you will still have some foam if you do it right.
Th ebest way to brew the first gourd is quite complicated:
a). Put the dry mate inside the gourd so it forms a pile aside the wall - you will pour water aiming at the other side so mate is as much undisturbed as possible. Place the bombilla inside mate, well covered by it. Never take it out in-between refills. Let it sit there, on the same place till the very end.
b) Put your teapot on the stove. After it barely warms put some water from it onto the gourd. Just enough to barely wet the powder.
c) Repeat that several times so that the gourd is filled by more and more hot water until the pot boils. That way the temperature inside the gourd will be around 60-65 C. Now your water is boiled and cools slowly. Re-heat it and add to the gourd. The mate inside is soaked in cooler water so you need to use approx 80-90 new water to keep the temperature within 65-70. You may gradually increase the temperature after 4-5th brew.
As soon as you failed to have foam - you know you burned the mate.
Couple of months later you will start noticing how your usual thoughts are becoming longer and deeper than usual without any effort.
Some add orange peel, some add honey. I do take occasionally some tupelo raw honey or Hawaiian white (kiawe) honey with my mate (tiny amounts eaten from a tiny silver spoon) no more that 5-15 grams a night. But I do not sweeten the drink itself.
Mate offers a nice "in-between" for green puerhs and strong large leaf ceylons that I drink many times every day. I do not care about coffein, get sleepy from it but some of you may be interested that matein is much milder than coffein and actually help some folks to get sleepy.
Burning your tongue is what almost always happens to beginners. Hot tea that you drink using your lips with an air intake off the cup ream is much less likely to burn you than a 75 centigrade mate (far from boiling!) drawn through the bombillia right inside your mouth. Be very careful. Drinking too hot a mate is a leading cause for sarcophagus cancer in Latin America, where truckers drink mate days and nights during their trans-American routes.
they have a glass straw that is perfect for mate as well as other teas. It is much better for you than the metal straws. The glass straw is heat resistant and will not burn your lips like the metal straw. I use it for other teas as well and it is a very convenient way to brew tea in a cup.
they have a glass straw that is perfect for mate as well as other teas. It is much better for you than the metal straws. The glass straw is heat resistant and will not burn your lips like the metal straw. I use it for other teas as well and it is a very convenient way to brew tea in a cup.
they have a glass straw that is perfect for mate as well as other teas. It is much better for you than the metal straws. The glass straw is heat resistant and will not burn your lips like the metal straw. I use it for other teas as well and it is a very convenient way to brew tea in a cup.
they have a glass straw that is perfect for mate as well as other teas. It is much better for you than the metal straws. The glass straw is heat resistant and will not burn your lips like the metal straw. I use it for other teas as well and it is a very convenient way to brew tea in a cup.
they have a glass straw that is perfect for mate as well as other teas. It is much better for you than the metal straws. The glass straw is heat resistant and will not burn your lips like the metal straw. I use it for other teas as well and it is a very convenient way to brew tea in a cup.
they have a glass straw that is perfect for mate as well as other teas. It is much better for you than the metal straws. The glass straw is heat resistant and will not burn your lips like the metal straw. I use it for other teas as well and it is a very convenient way to brew tea in a cup.
they have a glass straw that is perfect for mate as well as other teas. It is much better for you than the metal straws. The glass straw is heat resistant and will not burn your lips like the metal straw. I use it for other teas as well and it is a very convenient way to brew tea in a cup.
they have a glass straw that is perfect for mate as well as other teas. It is much better for you than the metal straws. The glass straw is heat resistant and will not burn your lips like the metal straw. I use it for other teas as well and it is a very convenient way to brew tea in a cup.
they have a glass straw that is perfect for mate as well as other teas. It is much better for you than the metal straws. The glass straw is heat resistant and will not burn your lips like the metal straw. I use it for other teas as well and it is a very convenient way to brew tea in a cup.
they have a glass straw that is perfect for mate as well as other teas. It is much better for you than the metal straws. The glass straw is heat resistant and will not burn your lips like the metal straw. I use it for other teas as well and it is a very convenient way to brew tea in a cup.
they have a glass straw that is perfect for mate as well as other teas. It is much better for you than the metal straws. The glass straw is heat resistant and will not burn your lips like the metal straw. I use it for other teas as well and it is a very convenient way to brew tea in a cup.
they have a glass straw that is perfect for mate as well as other teas. It is much better for you than the metal straws. The glass straw is heat resistant and will not burn your lips like the metal straw. I use it for other teas as well and it is a very convenient way to brew tea in a cup.
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