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Denton Record Chronicle - Yerba Mate
Trends: An exotic sip
Get your bombilla ready - a South
American favorite called yerba maté
is gaining fans in North America
06/18/2003
By SUSAN TAYLOR /
Special Contributor
Yerba maté, the herbal
drink popular in South American countries, is making its way to America via Argentine immigrants and health-conscious
people looking for a pick-me-up alternative to coffee.
According to Luis
Belozerco, an Argentine and a food scientist in the United States, the drink contains mateine, a
close relative of caffeine, which provides the alertness of caffeine
without the jitters or sleeplessness.
Because maté has a
reputation as an energizer, a number of companies are marketing it to
North Americans in the form of tea bags and specially designed "pods"
for use in espresso machines. The drink can be made with hot or cold
water, so it can substitute for iced tea. Internet sites also suggest
preparing the herbal drink in a French press.
Although yerba maté looks
like tea, the traditional way to prepare the brew is quite different
from the way we prepare and drink tea.
The traditional maté cup is
made from a gourd; the drink is sipped through a
bombilla, a stainless steel
straw with a filter on the end. It's very common to see people in
Argentina walking in parks and plazas drinking from a
bombilla and gourd.
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The perfect maté |
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Preparing a new gourd:
Fill a gourd with maté leaves and hot water. Let it stand
overnight. Wash and gently scrape the inside of the gourd. Let it
dry thoroughly.
Preparing maté in a gourd:
Have a pitcher of hot (not boiling) water handy. Fill a maté gourd
with leaves, leaving at least an inch of space at the top. Add
sugar, honey or artificial sweetener (optional).
Wet the leaves with cold water and then push the bombilla into the
center of the gourd at an angle with the top leaning against the
side of the gourd. This mixes the sweetener into the leaves.
Pour in enough hot water to bring the mixture to the brim; the
water is then absorbed by the expanding leaves. (If the water is
boiling, it will foam and the water will not sink into the
expanding leaves until it is cooler.) Let it steep for a minute or
two and then sip from the bombilla.
There will be enough liquid for two or three sips. Pour more hot
water into the gourd, sip and repeat, adding sweetener as
necessary, until there is no flavor left. This could take 15
pourings.
SOURCE: Diana Maraslioglu |
Diana Maraslioglu, who
moved to America last year with her
family from Argentina, says that the drink is at least as popular as
coffee in Argentina. But, she adds, it's not a drink of high society.
The Guarani Indians of
Paraguay and Uruguay introduced the drink – considered to be the
national drink of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay – to the colonizing
Europeans.
In Uruguay, according to Ms.
Maraslioglu, the drink is so popular that special over-the-shoulder
leather cases with compartments for a thermos, a gourd and a
bombilla are a common sight.
Truck stops in Uruguay have places for truck drivers to recharge the
batteries that keep their thermoses of water hot.
Mr. Belozerco, who left
Argentina 15 years ago, has a collection of maté containers that he
keeps in a cabinet, and he drinks maté a couple times a week with his
wife.
But, he reflects, "It's more
of a ceremony," which can take an hour to share.
In South America, maté is often shared by
farmers, gauchos, urban teenage musicians and groups of friends. The
gourd is passed around using specific rules of conduct.
For many people, much of the
enjoyment of the drink comes from the ritual of drinking the ancient
beverage in the traditional way.
Susan Taylor is a freelance writer for
The Dallas Morning News.
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