Mate

Did burn my tongue a couple times, but I never really (still don't) have all the patience necessary to watch the pot come to a boil...

I was taught to fill up the gourd about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way, then flip it upside down and shake - or kind of a circular shake; gently up and down and around in circles. What this does is it lets the dust settle to the bottom (on your hand covering the opening) and the stems stay on the top which becomes the bottom when you flip it right side up.

This way the bombilla, when you insert it carefully, is surrounded by the stems and won't clog. Of course, this doesn't really work when you're at the bottom of a 5 pound bag, unfortunately, because by that time, most of the stems are gone. Or worse yet, if your 5 pound bag is from the bottom of a larger 50 pound or whatever bag. Then it's probably french press time.

For gourds, the ratio of stems vs powdered leaf is critical to keep the bombilla from clogging.

But then yes, it's been a while, but I do remember - wet the mate down with cold water, then heat up the water and fill it up the rest of the way.

I bet if the water had been sitting in the sun in South America somewhere for a few hours it would totally be hot enough, it really doesn't need to be that hot.

One school of thought that involves money is that it's the quality of the mate that counts. And also the eco-friendliness of the mate. Mate (ilex paraguariensis) -- a member of the holly family -- occurs naturally in the shade of the tropical rainforest. Many of the commercial brands are grown in the sun for mass consumption, and not only are they not organic, they aren't eco-friendly, and they aren't grown in the environment where they ought to be grown (in the shade, not in the sun).

That's kind of why Guayaki is "where it's at" to a certain extent. It's sustainably grown, the money you pay for it goes to help protect a rainforest preserve, etc...

If I were to suggest anything to anyone, it would be to try Guayaki.

I think, for what I know, it is a good one. I bought it in a biological shop where they have rare products and this is, in addiction, from the transfair trade. I think this is the link. Unfortunately only in italian

But they talk more about the social problem then the MATE quality. I don't have any experience to understand in what consist: shade or sun one. I think with a little experience you can distinguish, isn't? What makes you say one has grown in shade and another not? For exemple, green japanese teas have a "sea-test" that oder don't. Is it something similar with MATE? For now I'll do my experience with that, and after I wish to try this Guayaki or something of the same quality.

I humbly submit that I screwed up on the water temperature part, because, now that Alex mentions it, that's exactly what my friend said about it.

So don't listen to me when it comes to Mate. Listen to Alex.

-- Derek

'On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time." -- George Orwell

Yes, you are probably right there. Guayaki has really made inroads into the U.S., they are based in California. Here in the U.S. (I live in the U.S.), it can be found in more and more places as time moves forward. Whether or not it can be found in Italy, I don't know. Certainly you could probably order it from them in California over the internet, but it seems to me that the situation, realistically, is that there are probably many, many quite good brands of yerba mate that are available in South America and other places that are not available in the U.S.

It's difficult here in the states because there isn't really a lot of selection. It's Guayaki or else some unknown (more or less). Not sure how popular Guayaki is in Europe, or if it's available at all. When I first started drinking it here about 5 years ago or so, it wasn't really available anywhere - I had to mail order it. Now it's everywhere and I don't really drink it much anymore.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if there is a larger selection of high-quality yerba mate available in Europe. It does sound like from what you describe that you have a fairly good quality one.

I am curious what happens when the Mate that heats the metal straw comes into contact with your mouth...

These damn spell checkers :) ...

Alex.

Linda,

It is GOOD that metal bambilla is getting hot - it is a warning sign that your mate is way too hot... It is the burning from too hot a mate that suddenly is being sucked into your mouth that is dangerous (which happens precisely because your glass straw DO NOT GET HOT, not a slight heat nip on the lip from your bombilla.... And the price for this thingy.... And the audacity of "The Most Remarkable Tea Accessory Ever Invented"... I have to say that this provokes a huge PA-LEE-ASE.

Also (IMHO) if regular green or black tea would have benefited from such way of drinking it would at least be found somewhere in Chinese or other tea-drinking cultures. My opinion - the aroma and the taste of C. Sinensis teas opens up better when drunk "with air" and the supporting evidence is the fact that tea masters always slurp the tea to mix tea with air while tasting tea. Mate is different in many ways and mate drinkers developed the straw-drinking technique also for the variety of reasons, no doubt.

Sasha.

Well. Yesterday I tried MATE prepared with 70*C water. The drink taste is something really lighter then the same quantity prepared with nearly boiled water. Actualy I noticed a little "burned leaves" taste with boiling water (too near to tobacco), but it looks like more to intensify the natural quality of MATE than to burn it. That's my opinion and what my short experience told me. For what concern quantity, I noticed that, preparing MATE with a tea pot, you just need two very-heaped tea-spoons per person. That's all I can say. I wish I will try MATE with Expresso Machine soon.