The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1893-03-24
A NATIVE AMERICAN TEA.
Mate Is Its Name, and Hosts of People
Like 1t.

Mate Is Its Name, and Hosts of People
Like 1t.
"Taste that" said tea merchant to
Tribune reporter the other day, as he
handed him a curiously-shaped bowl,
full of thin, brownish liquor, with
something that looked like tobacco
pipe resting in it, bowl downward. The
reporter put his lips to the stem of the
pipe and sucked at it cautiously.
"What is it?n he asked. at tastes
like weak tea"
That's just what it Is" answered
the merchant, "but it's brand of tea
I'm pretty sure you never tasted before.
That's genuine American tea; grown
In America, cured in America, indigen-
GUS to America and consumed in large
quantities for years by hundreds of
thousands of Americans; and yet I'll be
bound you never heard of it."
perhaps not" admitted the reporter
guardedly. ''What state is it raised in?
Is some four-story brick tea farm down
here in Water street responsible for 1t?
Willow leaves, arsenic and patent es-
sence of theme, or something of that
sort, eh?'
mot at ALL" said the merchant, lit
tie indignant. 'It's perfectly genuine
and unadulterated article. Its native
state is Paraguay, and that country
raises enough for its own consumption
and five millions pounds annually for
export to other South American coun-
tries"
go, South American" exclaimed the
reporter. You misled me by saying
American"
did 70" said the merchant sarcas-
tically. "And why, pray? That's one
of the annoying peculiarities of this
people. They're too oonceited to get
themselves distinctive name, but in
lordly way dub themselves Americans
They speak of Braziliaps, Canadians,
Chilians, Paraguayans and the other
millions of Americans as if they had no
right to that title at all"
But about the tea" interrupted the
reporter apprehensively. what do you
call it?''
Mate is the name of it." replied the
merchant, pronounced match And
many South Americans are very fond
of it You have just had the pleasure
of drinking it in the native manner.
That curious bowl is not made of papier-
mache, as you may think, but is a gourd,
trained into that shape while growing.
The natives are experts in that line,
and by binding the green gourd here
and there with cords, or bending it one
way and another. they make it take
diversity of shapes before it becomes
ripe enough to be cut, dried, scooped
out and used as a utensil. 1t will not
stand fire. of course; but the mate is
first put in the gourd, and then boiling
water is poured on it. After few mo-
ments a pipe or tube is inserted, and
the liquor is drawn off by suction.
What looks like the bowl of the
pipe" continued the tea merchant, as
he lifted it from the liquid and allowed
the reporter to examine it, sis in reality
a strainer, which prevents the grounds
from reaching the mouth. 1t is made
in the shape of bulb or ball, and this
one is curiosity in its way, for it is all
woven by hand, in very fine meshes,
from species of dried grass Metal
ones are more common. and the rich
have silver strainers. This is an old
style one, and value it on that account
1t is called bombilla. The natives
like their mate, rs we would say, red
hot. Its effects is much the same as
that of tea You are accustomed to, slim
ulating and restorative, and, of course,
has its enemies, who pronounce it slow
poison, and its friends, who call it the
Paraguayan equivalent for the cup that
cheers but not. etc
rs it real tea, botanically con-
sidered?" persisted the skeptical re-
porter.
We'll" if you come down to botany"
admitted the merchant. Its really
species of holly, Hex Paraguayensis, but !
it contains in large proportions the con-
stituent which makes other teas useful, |
that of theme. Its leaves and green |
shoots are collected, dried and ground |
up unevenly: that is, some of it gets to |
be fine powder in the rough method |
of preparation, and then again you will |
find twigs in it an inch long. A large |
number of people get employment in its
growth. preparation and export, but 1 |
am not aware that it finds market in |
any but South American countries. -
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