Mate

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Buenos Aires and Uruguay are known for Mate (pronounced: mah-tae). Everyone you see has a thermose in one hand and their mate in the other; while they are biking, on buses, subway, walking, etc... Mate is everywhere and everyone is drinking it.

The Mate cup is made from calabaza which is dried squash, and the herb kinda looks like dried oregano or basil. 

How you make and drink mate the proper way:

• 1.       Put your bombilla in your mate cup, yes you have a cup just for mate; a bombilla is a metal straw that has a filter on the bottom of it which permits the calabaza from entering your mouth

• 2     You pour the calabza in your “mate cup”

• 3.       Add sugar if you want; without sugar it is very bitter which many prefer

• 4.       Add hot water

• 5.       Drink until you hear a gurgling sound at the bottom letting you know that more water needs to be added

• 6.       Do not touch your bombilla (straw) when drinking

• 7.       Do not stir your mate

8.       Mate is a tradition in which you sit around talk and drink. Usually multiple people will all share the same cup, once you are done drinking you will pass your cup to the host they will add water and pass it to the next person. The cup gets passed around the circle multiple times. Mate is drunk all day long.

Mike and I experience our first Mate while walking through the streets of San Telmo. We were offered some mate by a guy on the street selling mate cups and so we and another passer by shared our first cup of mate together. Argentines are very friendly and will share with anyone.