[HN Gopher] Yerba mate, from Paraguay to Syria
___________________________________________________________________
Yerba mate, from Paraguay to Syria
Author : PaulHoule
Score : 93 points
Date : 2024-05-27 13:58 UTC (9 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (globalvoices.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (globalvoices.org)
| ElectricBoogie wrote:
| Tisane.
| bhako wrote:
| I'm from Argentina, it's normal to do both, its a very social
| drink with friends. Not too higienical
| ElectricBoogie wrote:
| I tried it, it's quite bitter and grassy. Not sure if it was
| the brand or how I made it, or if that's how it's supposed to
| be.
| Jtsummers wrote:
| Straight mate is bitter. My wife and some people I've
| shared it with have said the same about it being grassy, I
| don't taste that myself though. You can also get it with
| mint or orange or other things if you don't want straight
| mate (I have these and plain mate so I can pick what I want
| each day). Some people add sugar or honey to it as well.
|
| EDIT: Also, the first steeping and drink is the most
| bitter. After that it's much, much less bitter. Comparable
| to other teas and black coffee.
| Projectiboga wrote:
| Ah that is why it is rebrewed. I do a mixed brew in a
| pair of quart jars. I fill about 2/3 w mate and water.
| Then I brew oolong tea and mix that strained tea w the
| mate that still has the mate leaves in it. I drink it w
| sugar. It's popular for the health and mood benefits it
| isn't consumed for flavor.
| soneca wrote:
| > _"sipping a hot, slightly bitter infusion of caffeinated leaves
| from a dried gourd through a filtered metal straw, before passing
| the gourd to their friends to share"_
|
| Someone might correct me, but I believe it is only in Brazil
| south that "chimarrao" (how they call this drink) is drank like
| this, hot and shared.
|
| In Argentina and Uruguay you drink it individually. You can share
| the recipient with the mate in it, but once you added a refill of
| hot water and took the first sip, you have to drink it until the
| end before returning.
|
| And in Paraguay they drink the "terere" with cold water.
| lanecwagner wrote:
| In Paraguay it is indeed cold terere but it is absolutely
| shared, rarely drank solo
| tamiral wrote:
| in the middle east it is generally not shared, everyone has
| their own and the host will refill your gourd with water.
| ibotty wrote:
| In Argentina the mate (the gourd) was usually shared (when I
| was there a decade ago). In Uruguay usually only the thermo was
| passed around.
| yazantapuz wrote:
| Argentinian here. Yes, you drink all the mate (preferably in
| three sips) before returning it to the "cebador" (the one who
| is in charge of refilling it).
| SwiftyBug wrote:
| The Brazilian tradition is to drink the whole mate before
| passing to your friend. They will then refill it with hot water
| and so on.
| _3u10 wrote:
| It really depends, if you are with people for sure, but I see
| Ubers and concierge drinking it solo all the time.
|
| Plus there is always San Pedro's or San Jaun's cup. I forget
| the guys name it's the guy who saved the Indios, when you first
| make terere you leave it sit and this is for that guy and also
| to let the horrible first taste soak into the first sip.
|
| Also as I found out it's really bad manners to stir the spoon /
| straw thing.
| cassianoleal wrote:
| > Also as I found out it's really bad manners to stir the
| spoon / straw thing.
|
| It is as it ruins the experience. The "bomba" (Portuguese),
| or "bombilla" (Spanish) (the straw) is generally placed in a
| way that tries to ensure a smooth flow. Moving it means the
| leaves near the bottom of the "cuia" (Portuguese), or "mate"
| (Spanish) (the gourd, or cup), potentially blocking the flow
| of water. That ruins the experience for everybody in the
| circle.
| cblum wrote:
| Correct, that's a thing only in Rio Grande do Sul.
|
| Source: born and raised there :)
| cassianoleal wrote:
| Incorrect. Gaucho here, born and raised - but with many many
| friends and relatives in the other mate-drinking countries
| and across our (unfortunately currently under a lot of
| distress) state.
|
| Everywhere in the Pampas region - Uruguay, Paraguay,
| Argentina and Rio Grande do Sul -, the "roda de chimarrao" is
| pretty much the same. (Apparently in some part of Uruguay
| it's a bit less shared, more personal).
|
| One person holds the thermos and generally owns the mate.
| They usually have the first drink as both a way of validating
| the drink and as a niceness to the rest of the group, since
| it's the coldest. Gourd is refilled and passed on to the next
| person, who drinks all of it and passes it back to the
| "cevador", who again refills it and passes on to the next
| person. So on and so forth.
| sometinsome wrote:
| Argentinian here, if you are alone, you drink alone, if you are
| with other people, you share. Sometimes there are more than one
| mate in the round.
|
| People from the north of Argentina also drink terere, with cold
| water or juice.
|
| What's different from Brasil is the yerba they use, here is
| dried, there is not.
| mc32 wrote:
| Does it contain antibacterials?
|
| Seems like an easy vector to spread sickness or disease. Or am
| I misunderstanding things? Is it like bums sharing a nighttrain
| [though alcohol helps here] or is there some hygiene involved?
| Anarch157a wrote:
| The pipe used to drink it is made of silver and the thing is
| really hot. Drinkers believe it sterilizes the liquid,
| unfortunately, the Hep-B virus is tolerant to both. Brazil's
| Minister of Health records frequent outbreaks of the disease
| in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, where this habit is
| more common.
| sombragris wrote:
| Paraguayan here.
|
| With hot water = mate.
|
| Brewed as tea or coffee and drank with a teacup = cocido.
|
| With ice-cold water = terere.
|
| Both mate and terere are shared if appropriate, but after COVID
| this is seriously restricted.
|
| People who drink their mate only to themselves are usually the
| Uruguayans.
| pizzafeelsright wrote:
| As a kid I tried hanging with adults doing this.
|
| That social circle was fun. I do miss it.
|
| The idea of sitting in a circle today for four hours between
| meals seems unattainable today.
| Izikiel43 wrote:
| No, that's not correct at all.
|
| In meetings, you share the mate across, I've only seen 1:1
| people:mate relations in American shows (grace and Frankie for
| example) and we consider that very weird.
|
| The social point of mate is to meet and chat with other people,
| and spend some time together, sharing mate and food
| cassianoleal wrote:
| In Brazil, each person drinks a whole cup before returning it
| to the cevador (the owner of the circle, normally the person
| who made the drink and holds the thermos). It's bad form to
| send it back partially drank.
| swah wrote:
| Interesting that its basically caffeine - but the culture of
| drinking mate is more similar to "smoking a cigar" ie slow time
| for deep thinking.
|
| (I know that is supposed to hit slowly due to whatever other
| compounds, but its not my experience)
| SwiftyBug wrote:
| Also, it differs from coffee in that it contains many mineral
| salts that avoid the process of dehydration caused by coffee,
| which just makes you pee a lot and doesn't have these
| beneficial mineral salts.
| hombre_fatal wrote:
| Kinda seems like two myths here.
|
| 1. Coffee doesn't have a net negative hydration effect.
|
| 2. Both coffee and yerba mate appear to contain "mineral
| salts". And you certainly piss drinking the latter just like
| you do drinking any liquid.
| cassianoleal wrote:
| Gaucho (Brazilian from Rio Grande do Sul) here. I drink
| mate (chimarrao) daily. I certainly piss _a lot_ during the
| first hours.
| cess11 wrote:
| This part is rather easily explained, I think:
|
| "how did it captivate so many millions of daily drinkers around
| the world?"
|
| Unlike coffee beans it's trivial to produce, you basically just
| chop leaves and dry them, possibly with smoke.
|
| Unlike coffee there are no adrenergic heebie-jeebies, only a
| rather strong and 'pure' caffeine high. Supposedly there's a
| mineral content that'll be nice to the nervous system too.
|
| There are rumours about it causing stomach and mouth cancer, with
| some studies seemingly supporting this and some countering that
| it might just be the practice of drinking a very hot infusion.
| Making a cold infusion works fine, at least with regards to the
| drug effects.
|
| I'm not too worried about the cancer stuff and usually keep a
| kilogram or so in the cupboard in case I run out of more
| expensive caffeine sources.
| freefaler wrote:
| There is some evidence of prolonged use and cancer:
| https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/integrative-medicine/herbs...
| cess11 wrote:
| This study, https://sci-hub.wf/10.1007/s10552-012-9968-z ?
|
| If so they just decided that alcohol and tobacco don't have
| any effect on prostate cancer prevalence and then went on and
| crunched some numbers on threehundred or so cases, out of
| which a third said they'd been smokers for more than fifty
| years.
|
| I think it's very hard to generalise from that study alone.
| o_____________o wrote:
| > some countering that it might just be the practice of
| drinking a very hot infusion
|
| Yeah and from what I remember, frequently cited studies were
| looking at the combination of mate with tobacco and alcohol,
| others didn't control for the delivery style. Mate, especially
| when consumed in a tiny gourd that's constantly refreshed with
| boiling water, can make the tissues in your mouth and neck more
| vulnerable to subsequent cigarettes.
|
| On top of that, mate leaves are often smoke dried, which
| carries some self-evident risks. My conclusion was to get air
| dried leaves and be mindful of how hot the water is.
| alwillis wrote:
| My understanding is the cancer risk is from smoked Yerba mate
| only.
| reducesuffering wrote:
| That or having the water at extremely high temperatures is my
| understanding too.
| Projectiboga wrote:
| I've read the stems have something bad in them. Higher end mate
| has less stems included.
| hereaiham wrote:
| I've visited Syria back in the days and I was shocked how popular
| Yerba Mate is there, I tried it with the locals and I love it
| since then, it is amusing to consume slowly with a hint of sugar
| while chatting with neighbor and friends or simply while thinking
| and contemplating, I also think the caffeine makes it a little
| addictive.
| dudeinjapan wrote:
| Wow, I was introduced to Yerba Mate by a Syrian guy. So this is
| why.
| comfrey11 wrote:
| It's interesting to see the love for yerba mate here! Fun fact:
| until the 1800s, yaupon holly was the go-to caffeinated beverage
| in the USA. Native Americans and early settlers drank it
| regularly, much like how yerba mate is enjoyed in South America.
| It was called "black drink" and was prized for its stimulating
| effects and health benefits. However, coffee's rise in popularity
| pushed yaupon holly out of the spotlight. It's now making a
| comeback as people rediscover its unique flavor and benefits. If
| you're curious, check out some of the stories about yaupon
| holly's history and resurgence!
| pfdietz wrote:
| > yaupon holly
|
| Its Latin name is unfortunate, though.
| IndrekR wrote:
| Ilex vomitoria
| baerrie wrote:
| It was named this way because colonialists thought it was
| what was primarily used in Cherokee medicine that caused
| vomiting. In reality it may have merely just have been one
| ingredient or not used at all. The berries also cause
| stomach upset
| mmmBacon wrote:
| According to Wikipedia the Latin name was given for a reason.
|
| * Historically the ceremonial consumption often included
| vomiting, and Europeans deduced that yaupon caused it (hence
| the Latin name - Ilex vomitoria).[11] The active ingredients,
| like those of the related yerba mate and guayusa plants, are
| caffeine, theobromine, and theophylline;[12][13] the vomiting
| may have resulted from the great quantities in which they
| drank the beverage, coupled with fasting.[6][14]*
| pantalaimon wrote:
| Mate softdrinks are what fuels the German IT industry, with
| Club Mate being the most popular example.
| sombragris wrote:
| Paraguayan here. Nice to see a good article talking about Yerba
| Mate.
|
| A nitpick on Terere. Terere is usually the ice-cold version of
| mate. You drink mate with hot water, terere with ice-cold water
| as a refreshment.
|
| The practice of drinking it with fruit juice or some sweet
| beverage is mostly prevalent on northern Argentina. Here it is
| mostly viewed as a sacrilege. You drink your yerba mate, whether
| hot or cold, unsweetened (unless brewed as in cocido; in that
| case, sweetening it is accepted).
|
| Terere is something almost essential here in our scorching hot
| days. What a blessing!
|
| In case you wonder, if you want to get an idea of yerba mate's
| taste, think green tea. They're not equal, of course, but there's
| some similarity.
| gota wrote:
| Parts of southern and central-western Brazil also drink Terere
| ("Terere") with fruit juice, most tipically lemonade, so I'd
| guess there may be some other places here and there in South
| America where that's also regionally true
|
| In those same regions a sort of sweetened hot mate drink is
| typically made for children. Do you have that in Paraguay? It's
| called "Mate-doce", and I'm pretty sure it's not related to
| what you described as "cocido", which I've never heard of and
| sounds like it prepares the leaves in a different way
|
| Does anyone have a 'recipe' for this cocido? I'm curious to
| check it out
| pelagicAustral wrote:
| Mate cocido is indeed a known concept, at least in southern
| Patagonia. It's a Mate infusion that is generally
| sweetened... I still do drink Mate Cocido every now and
| again...
| gota wrote:
| The way you describe it is similar to what I know of 'Mate-
| doce. From the parent post I got the impression it was
| something different in its preparation and I was curious to
| understand exactly if/how it differs
| pelagicAustral wrote:
| Agree, sounds exactly the same... Also forgot to mention
| that you can indeed find Mate Cocido in individual bags:
| https://es.pampadirect.com/rosamonte-mate-cocido-yerba-
| mate-...
| sombragris wrote:
| > In those same regions a sort of sweetened hot mate drink is
| typically made for children. Do you have that in Paraguay?
| It's called "Mate-doce", and I'm pretty sure it's not related
| to what you described as "cocido", which I've never heard of
|
| We also have "mate dulce" but it's mate usually only in name.
| It's made with coconut and other stuff, but drank in a mate
| gourd. As far as I can tell (I'm no expert, never made or
| drank the stuff) it does not carry yerba mate at all.
| is_true wrote:
| I'm drinking mate cocido right now.
|
| It's basically milk tea but with yerba mate instead of tea.
| jcmontx wrote:
| I'm a daily mate drinker (from Argentina). It's like a milder
| coffee. Great beverage, I recommend it.
| Izikiel43 wrote:
| It's not mild, you just developed tolerance.
|
| Source: an Argentinian who drinks more coffee than mate
| reducesuffering wrote:
| It's milder in the sense it has less caffeine than coffee and
| is also more approachable to tea drinkers because it doesn't
| have as strong of a darker roasted taste.
|
| Not sure if the other xanthines make up for that.
| dep_b wrote:
| It definitely makes me less jittery than coffee. I stopped
| drinking coffee, except for a cup in the morning and I have
| mate the rest of the day.
|
| It's still a stimulant but in a more relaxing way
| ansgri wrote:
| Yerba mate is good, but even if you're not into it, consider
| getting a bombilla (that filtering metal straw). They are
| exceptionally convenient for drinking all kinds of herb-based
| beverage: tea, roiboos, whatever.
| dep_b wrote:
| I drink it a lot, about twice per day with my wife. It's a nice
| moment to share with friends and family. Less jittery than
| coffee.
| julianeon wrote:
| It's American too. Native Americans drank a Yaupon holly drink,
| as did Mormons (hence "Mormon tea"). It's not really prevalent
| here but you can raise your own native plant here in the USA if
| you want to and make your own tea.
| scotteric wrote:
| I've always heard ephedra called Mormon tea.
| inDigiNeous wrote:
| I love mate. It has probably saved my life as a software
| developer, not tolerating the strong effect of coffee on my
| sleep, but yerba mate, and especially freshly stored in vacuum
| bags, slightly dried but not smoked is my favorite.
|
| Meta Mate (https://metamate.cc/) makes a total bomb of a mate
| product, can highly recommend if you are in Europe and want to
| try out their refreshing Meta Mate 23.
|
| Have to order another batch from them now, I've tested many mates
| but theirs just tastes and works the best for me.
|
| Was introduced to mate by a fellow software developer back in the
| day, happy that he did, would not have figure out it otherwise.
| glonq wrote:
| I visited Uruguay a couple years ago and got into drinking mate.
| Even brought a colorful cup and bombilla [metal drinking straw]
| back home with me as souvenirs. This was during the tail end of
| covid restrictions, so yeah I don't think there was as much
| sharing as there normally is.
| dokka wrote:
| I've tried all the popular yerba mate brands, smoked, flavored,
| Uruguayan, Argentinian, but I still prefer organic unsmoked Yerba
| Mate with stems. I brew 1/2 cup of mate with 2 cups of 150F water
| and a splash of lemon juice for 30 minutes, then pour the whole
| thing through a chemex coffee filter. It takes a few minutes to
| filter, but the result is a delicious, very caffinated, slightly
| lemony tea.
| penguin_booze wrote:
| Until a while ago, I didn't realize that the Linux Mint Mate
| desktop was named after the tea, not as in "hello mate".
| rasengan0 wrote:
| Had an ex who did Peace Corp in Paraguay and first introduced me
| to it. Hated it: bitter, astringent; didn't really care for the
| green version. Later in life came across mate again from
| Argentine culture and fell hard. While I liked sharing, I did
| enjoy drinking solo more. It really made me super productive at
| work during problem solving and was an all-day drink unlike tea
| or coffee. Moderation is key:
| https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es303494s I had to attenuate
| my drinking after 3 yrs of my favorite brand, Rosamonte Seleccion
| Especial. I've since moved more to coffee but there is still a
| lingering tender spot for my beloved mate.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2024-05-27 23:02 UTC)