but not as good as Mate!

The Coke ("Coca") in Argentina is so much better tasting than in the states. Now that I'm home, I keep getting soda, expecting to enjoy it, forgetting that it's sweetened with High Fructose Corn Syrup and not Cane Suga, and being sadly disappointed. The natural sweet is so much better, and the Sprite even tasted like lemon.

But Maté is even better. I actually brought this stuff home. It's sort of a tea, made from the dried leaves and stems of a rainforest evergreen. Basically, you fill a hollowed out calabash gourd with herbs (Yerba, pronounced "sherba"), pour sugar water (agua con Azúcar) over the top, and drink it from the bottom using a metal straw with a filter on the end, called a Bombilla (pronounced "Bombeesha"). The water falling over the Yerba is the brewing process.

I tried it without sugar, expecting an acquired, but more pure and rewarding taste, much like black coffee. The Yerba, though, truly felt like it was missing something, as if the sugar brought out a facet that really makes maté what it is.

I could go on and on about the nutritional profile of Maté that blows coffee and tea out of the water, I could mention how it makes you feel both relaxed and energetic simultaneously (unlike caffeine jitters and headaches from coffee) and I could tell you how wonderful it is not to have to deal with a caffeine crash because Maté has not only caffeine, but an array of other natural stimulants that promote wellbeing, but I won't bore you with details. I will stress, though, how healthy everyone in Argentina looks at every age, and I'll bet that it's not in small part due to this delicious tea they drink on a daily basis.

In American coffee culture, cream and sugar are something yuppies add to coffee to make it as bland as their puritan tastes. A cup of coffee in the morning says "Leave me alone, I haven't woken up yet." Maté, on the other hand, keeps the people of Argentina in a perpetual good mood. It's comon for an entire group of people to share the same maté, even for strangers to share a maté. Wiles and I looked like a couple stoners the first day we tried it though. We were sitting around with our shirts off because it was hot out, passing the Maté back and forth, and getting giggly from the caffeine because we were tired. Good times :D

So that's what really turned me on about Maté, that it's a group activity. It's not like every person walking around with their own little Maté. In fact, when I said I bought Maté gourds for everyone in my family, they laughed at me, because you're not supposed to need more than one for any group of people. What happens is one person drinks a cup full, pours more water in, then passes it to the next person. They take turns, and if you say anything about how "unsanitary" that is, I'm going to slap you ;) Sharing a maté is a sign of friendship, of camaraderie. It brings people together. That's why it's special :D

Leave Kudos,
Chris

One Liner: To say of me "He's not doing anything" or "He doesn't know" is to be ignorant of my higher purpose.