One Saturday a few weeks ago in Buenos Aires, I was strolling the handicraft booths in the centre of the Palermo Soho neighbourhood and the sky was threatening rain (fortunately, I only felt a few drops). Many of the vendors were calm, however, despite the rain and slight autumn chill. I quickly realized why: most were prepared with thermoses, cups and gourds in their hands, filled with the comforting, warm yerba mate tea. Watching the vendors contentedly sip their beloved drink while chatting with shoppers made for a charming ambiance.

Yerba mate is considered in Argentina to be somewhat of a national drink. It is also widely consumed in Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, southern Brasil, and here in northern Chile.

I first encountered mate in the highlands of San Pedro de Atacama, where it was sold at the souvenir market and small grocery stores in both loose leaf and tea bag form. In San Pedro  I also saw a variation of mate mixed with the coca leaf, called coca mate.

Here in Antofagasta, I occasionally see street vendors selling the traditional mate drinking vessel: a small hollowed-out gourd decorated with silver accents and a “silver” metal straw. Mate tea can be purchased at the grocery store.

The modest success of mate in Northern Chile is nothing compared to Argentina, where mate seems to be a part of daily life: mate cafes are common and it’s typical for people to observe “mate time” in the afternoon.

I couldn’t resist a funky store called Artentino in Buenos Aires and its colourful display of trendy mate cups. They had silicone collapsable mate cups for the mate lover on the go, funky metal cups and charming little decorated ceramic cups.

To prepare mate, the loose leaves are placed in the bottom of the cup. Then, warm water (not boiling) is added to the cup. Important to the whole experience is the silver (or metal) straw: this has a filter on the bottom end, so you can begin to drink your mate without extracting the mate leaves first. The metal straw is great for hot liquids because it doesn’t cool off the liquid or leave a strange aftertaste. I love the cute purple straw I got from Artentino (and it would be handy for regular tea as well)!

I like the taste of mate, but then again I love pretty much any tea. It is milder and slightly more bitter than your typical black tea. The flavour ever-so-vaguely reminds me of Chinese oolong.

The mate plant is native to Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay and southern Brasil. I noticed that Whole Foods in the U.S. sells packages of mate (for roughly 8 times the cost of a package here)! I also enjoy the Rainforest Mate from Mighty Leaf, sold in the U.S. and Canada, which has the nice addition of a fruity/floral flavour. I haven’t seen the cute mate cups in North America, though, have you? I suppose you’ll have to visit South America to pick up one of those!

{Mate pictured in traditional gourd cup: photo from Wikimedia Commons/Jorge Alfonso Hernández}