Yerba mate
| Yerba mate | ||||||||||||||
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| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
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| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||
| Ilex paraguariensis A. St. Hil. |
Yerba mate (pronounced /jE@b{ ma:tE/), Ilex paraguariensis, or hierba mate, or erva mate in Portuguese, sometimes called simply "mate", is a shrub in the holly family Aquifoliaceae, native to South America, used as a tea. Like other teas, it is dried, chopped, and ground into a powderous mixture. Unlike other teas, mate is traditionally sipped from of a hollow gourd, through a special metal straw (traditionally silver) called a bombilla (bom-BEE-ya or bom-BEE-zha in Argentinian pronunciation). "Bombilla" means, literally, "little pump" or "straw" in Spanish.
After placing an abundant (1/2 of gourd or more) amount of mate in the gourd, hot milk or water is added. Sugar may be added if desired. The bombilla acts as both a straw and sieve. The submerged end is flared with small holes or slots to allow the tea in, but block the chunky matter that makes up much of the mixture. A modern bombilla design uses a straight tube with holes, or spring sleeve to act as a sieve. Natural gourds are used, traditionally, though gourd-shaped vessels made of metal or ceramic are also common. Gourds are commonly decorated with silver, sporting decorative or heraldic designs with floral motifs.
Mate is traditionally drunk in a particular social setting. One individual assumes the task of server. This person typically fills the gourd and drinks its contents completely. The server subsequently refills the gourd and passes it to the next drinker who likewise drinks it all. The ritual proceeds around the circle in this fashion until the mate is exhausted, typically after the gourd has been filled about ten times.
Nowadays, however, mate is also prepared and drunk in a similar manner to black tea, with "tea bag" packaging and prepacked "iced tea" packages and bottles easily found in Brazil.
The plant is grown mainly in South America, more specifically in Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay and South Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul). The Guarani are reputed to be the first people who cultivated the plant; the first Europeans doing this were Jesuit missionaries. The drink has a pungent taste like a cross between green tea and coffee.
Mate contains xanthines, which are alkaloids in the same family as caffeine, theophylline, and theobromine, well-known stimulants also found in coffee and chocolate. Sellers of mate products often claim that the primary active xanthine in mate is "mateine", which they say is similar to caffeine but with fewer of its negative effects. Indeed some mate products are marketed as "caffeine-free" alternatives to traditional coffee and tea. There is little scientific support for these beliefs. Researchers at Florida International University in Miami have found that yerba mate does contain caffeine, but some people seem to tolerate it better than coffee or tea. Further research is underway to determine why it bothers people less than other caffeine-containing beverages.
The consumption of mate is considered to be an indicator of low social standing, particularly in Mexico. This is probably due to the rural nature of the tradition.
Mate is lawful to import to the United States and is occasionally sold in stores catering to Latinos.
There have been numerous epidemiologic studies on the association between mate drinking and cancer in humans. There is limited evidence that drinking hot mate causes esophageal cancer in humans.
There are extremely unreliable anecdotal reports that mate may induce very light hallucinogenic effects (on the order of nutmeg in some especially sensitive individuals.
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