Picture by Heinz Kunick / Album “Testimonios del Sur”

Review of the Mate
The word “mate” stands for the china jar and the bulb. Respect to the bulb, there are some people who say that it has got a pre-Columbian origin, whereas some others assure that its origin is Spaniard, even that the Creoles invented it.
Since pre-Colombian times, the Guarany Indians knew the hierba mate. They also attributed it some erotic and magic tonic powers.
The chemical analysis of the components of the Illex paraguayensis, have demonstrated its medical and stimulating properties.

Kind of Mate Infusions

Jesuit’s tea in the first decades of the XVII century, competing with the tea commercialized by the English, began to diffuse in Europe, specifically in Spain. The infusion arriving from America, which was prepared with smart herbs sent by the Jesuits from the Guarany Missions and which was well-known as the “Jesuit’s Tea”, what we nowadays know as Mate. With the expulsion the Jesuits in 1767, that economic-cultural exchange was lost.

Bitter Mate (Mate amargo)

It is the most popular of our area. It is prepared with hot water, almost boiled, with herb without sugar and any other kind of herb (meant, etc). It is also well-known as Macho mate or Botany Mate.

Sweet Mate (Mate dulce)

It is prepared just the same as the bitter one, but sugar, orange peel and all kind of herbs are added.

Mate con Punta

Sweet or bitter mate accompanied with liquor (pisco, gin or agua ardiente).

Boiled Mate (Mate cocido)

Another kind of mate, specially drunk during ship shearer, is the boiled mate. It is prepared in a big pot or teakettle, 1liter of water and 350 grams of Yerba mate. It is heated until gets boiled. Then, it is filtered and it can be drunk cold or hot with sugar.

The social meaning of Mate

To share a mate has become one of the south American symbols of communication. There are people who have acquired the “art of feeding mate” giving a particular characteristic to this particular task. For example

To feed bitter mate symbolizes strength, value and life.

To feed sweet mate (by a man or a woman) is a sample of love, and also interest to get married.

To feed it sweet and hot stands for a demonstration of passionate love.

To feed a mate without much taste stands for despise.

To feed it with cinnamon sends a message of “I think of you”.

To feed it with orange peel means “I will wait for you”.

To feed a mate with lots of water and a few yerba mate means not to be interested to the person who drinks it.