page_title: Mate (drink)
section_title: Variants
hierarchical_section_title: Mate (drink) / Variants
caption_attribution_description: English: A bottle of an ice tea variataion of mate and a glass of it. Mate is consumed as an ice tea in various regions of Brazil and widely sold at supermarkets.
context_page_description: 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 made from calabash gourd.
  Mate was consumed by the Guaraní and Tupí peoples. It is the national beverage of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay and is also consumed in the Bolivian Chaco, Southern Chile, Southern Brazil, Syria and Lebanon, where it was brought from Argentina by immigrants.
  The yerba mate plant contains caffeine. Its leaves are dried, chopped, ground into a powdery mixture called yerba, which is then soaked in hot water.
  The metal straw is known as a bombilla and is traditionally made of silver. Modern straws are typically made of nickel silver, stainless steel, or hollow-stemmed cane. The bombilla functions both as a straw and as a sieve. The submerged end is flared, with small holes or slots that allow the brewed liquid in, but block the chunky matter that makes up much of the mixture. A modern bombilla design uses a straight tube with holes, or a spring sleeve to act as a sieve.
  The container the mate is served in is also known as mate.
context_section_description: Another drink can be prepared with specially cut dry leaves, very cold water, and, optionally, lemon or another fruit juice, called tereré. It is very common in Paraguay, northeastern Argentina and in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. After pouring the water, it is considered proper to "wait while the saint has a sip" before the first person takes a drink. In southern Brazil, tererê is sometimes used as a derogatory term for a not hot enough chimarrão.
  In Uruguay and Brazil, the traditional gourd is usually big with a corresponding large hole. In Argentina (especially in the capital Buenos Aires), the gourd is small and has a small hole and people sometimes add sugar for flavor.
  In Uruguay, people commonly walk around the streets toting a mate and a thermos with hot water. In some parts of Argentina, gas stations sponsored by yerba mate producers provide free hot water to travelers, specifically for the purpose of drinking during the journey. Disposable mate sets with a plastic mate and straw and sets with a thermos flask and stacking containers for the yerba and sugar inside a fitted case are available.
  In Argentina, mate cocido (boiled mate), in Brazil, chá mate, is made with a teabag or leaves and drunk from a cup or mug, with or without sugar and milk. Companies such as Cabrales from Mar del Plata and Establecimiento Las Marías produce teabags for export to Europe.
  Travel narratives, such as Maria Graham's Journal of a Residence in Chile, show a long history of mate drinking in central Chile. Many rural Chileans drink mate, in particular in the southern regions, particularly Magallanes, Aysén and Chiloé.
  In Peru, mate is widespread throughout the north and south, first being introduced to Lima in the 17th century. It is widespread in rural zones, and it is prepared with coca (plant) or in a sweetened tea form with small slices of lemon or orange.
  In some parts of Syria, Lebanon and other Eastern Mediterranean countries, drinking mate is common. The custom came from Syrians and Lebanese who moved to South America during the late 19th and early parts of the 20th century, adopted the tradition, and kept it after returning to Western Asia. Syria is the biggest importer of yerba-mate in the world, importing 15,000 tons a year. Mostly, the Druze communities in Syria and Lebanon maintain the culture and practice of mate.
  According to a major retailer of mate in San Luis Obispo, California, by 2004, mate had grown to about 5% of the overall natural tea market in North America. Loose mate is commercially available in much of North America. Bottled mate is increasingly available in the United States. Canadian bottlers have introduced a cane sugar-sweetened, carbonated variety, similar to soda pop. One brand, Sol Mate, produces 10-ounce glass bottles available at Canadian and U.S. retailers, making use of the translingual pun (English 'soul mate'; Spanish/Portuguese 'sun mate') for the sake of marketing.
  In some parts of the Southern Cone they prefer to drink bitter mate, especially in Paraguay, Uruguay, the south of Brazil, and parts of Argentina and Bolivia. This is referred to in Brazil and a large part of Argentina as cimarrón – which also an archaic name for wild cattle, especially, to a horse that was very attached to a cowboy—which is understood as unsweetened mate. Many people are of the opinion that mate should be drunk in this form.
  Unlike bitter mate, in every preparation of mate dulce, or sweet mate, sugar is incorporated according to the taste of the drinker. This form of preparation is very widespread in various regions of Argentina, like in the Santiago del Estero province, Córdoba (Argentina), Cuyo, and the metropolitan region of Buenos Aires, among others. In Chile, this form of mate preparation is widespread in mostly rural zones. The spoonful of sugar or honey should fall on the edge of the cavity that the straw forms in the yerba, not all over the mate. One variation is to sweeten only the first mate preparation in order to cut the bitterness of the first sip, thus softening the rest. In Paraguay, a v
caption: Mate is consumed as an ice tea in various regions of Brazil, in both artisanal and industrial forms. This is a bottle of industrialized mate ice tea, bought from a local supermarket in Rio de Janeiro.
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