Drinking mate daily is a habit of many Argentines, Uruguayans, and southern Brazilians.
But tourists visiting Argentina will notice Argentines are living a new love story with the drink.
In the subway, on the streets, in the malls, and even in the coffee shops, the thermos bottles and the mates – which is also what the Argentineans call the container that receives the mate infusion, commonly called “chimarrão” in the south of Brazil – are being protagonists all the time.
GASTRONOMY IS CULTURE
Elaborated in several colors, shapes, and materials, the thermal and mate kits in Buenos Aires are everywhere, accompanying Argentineans of the most diverse profiles, age groups, and social classes.
Some new brands make much money with more modern versions of the duo. And the variety of mate herbs in specialty stores, coffee shops, and supermarkets has never been greater.
Besides the many brands historically available, new ones appeared during the pandemic, and now more and more premium versions of the drink are appearing, made with the noblest herbs (including options flavored with flowers and fruits to please different palates).
FOR INFLUENCE AND HEALTH
The new mate boom in Argentina in recent years, intensified during the pandemic, is believed to be a result of the infusion’s advancing presence on social networks such as Instagram and TikTok.
Many Argentine celebrities and sports icons – notably the player Leonel Messi – often share how mate is part of their daily lives.
In addition, yerba mate consumption is now believed to be beneficial to health as it contains B vitamins, antioxidant power, provides energy, and helps reduce bad cholesterol.
Even mate powder, long believed to be harmful, is considered one of the noblest components of the infusion, making it generally smoother and more sparkling.
NEW COOL WAVE
Surfing this new wave, different companies have launched new gourds, thermoses, and brands of mate herbs with great success.
Designers Nicolas Tiferes and Mercedes Buey Fernandez are a good example: they created Mathienzo to develop different products linked to the mate culture.
The name has its meaning: MATHI in Quechua means pumpkin, and Mathienzo is a slang from Río de la Plata to say ‘give me a mate’ in an affectionate way – ‘give me a ‘mathienzo’,” Nicolás explains.
They started with a drink container made of silicone, the same kind used in baby-bottle nipples, totally flexible and resistant, and in flashy neon colors (quite different from traditional models, such as the rigid ones made of pumpkin peel).
The product sold more than half a million units in its first four years.
In 2016, seeing the consumption data of the drink increasing nationwide, Nicolás and Mercedes decided to focus on producing a truly premium brand of yerba mate.
The yerba mate produced by Mathienzo comes from a special hand-harvested selection, without preservatives or chemical additives, with a low powder position and lower acidity, and is also suitable for celiacs.
A 500-gram package of Mathienzo yerba mate costs about ARS 1,000 (US$6.26), almost double the price of the more commercial and popular brands.
The versions flavored with fruits and flowers, called Botanicas, cost ARS 1,500 in 250-gram packages.
The company’s primary market is still domestic, but they already export to Chile, Mexico, Germany, Russia, Australia, and soon the USA.
Each package of yerba mate is converted into a tree planted by Mathienzo’s project with the NGO ReforestArg.
FOR TOURISTS TO SEE
Recently, they have also created workshops for travelers who want to better understand this deep-rooted cultural aspect of the country – and they have been a big hit in Buenos Aires.
The experience, which takes place in small groups for about an hour and a half and costs US$17 per person, tells the history of mate over the centuries, teaches how to cure mate, suggests different ways to enjoy the drink (also by adding flowers and spices directly to the infusion).
It includes a brief tasting of Argentine gin flavored with mate (created by the award-winning bar Florería Atlántico) at the end.
The activity, which takes place on the top floor of a store in the Belgrano neighborhood, has been so successful among foreign tourists – including Brazilians – that it is already listed as the #1 activity of the “Airbnb experiences” in Buenos Aires.
Argentina is now the world’s leading producer and exporter of yerba mate.
In 2019 alone, ground and bagged yerba mate production for the domestic market was almost 280 trillion kilos – and figures related to the pandemic years, not yet officially released, are estimated to be higher.
The latest surveys reveal a consumption of about 100 liters of mate (or 6.4 kg of yerba mate) per year per inhabitant in the country.
The production of yerba mate in the provinces of Misiones and Corrientes is so significant that a “mate route” is being established there, with the idea of joining, in the coming years, gastronomic activities and rural tourism to the production and consumption of the drink.
A SECULAR PASSION
The native yerba mate tree, with the scientific name Ilex paraguariensis, can reach up to 16 meters in height and is usually pruned only twice a year.
Its consumption in Argentine territory dates back centuries.
The “rodas de mate” (“mate circle”) ritual as we know it today comes from the Guaraní natives, who are credited with the “discovery” of using mate herb as an infusion for drinking.
The Guarani shared mate similarly to today because their lives were based on the principle of sharing.
They used yerba mate leaves as a beverage and an object of worship (they considered their tree a divine gift) and even as currency for barter.
But the consumption of yerba mate was only really spread in the country by the Spanish conquistadors and, later and mainly, by the Jesuits, who started cultivating the herb in their own missions.
For this reason, the yerba mate infusion was known in Argentina for a long time as “Jesuit tea”.
Later, mate became consumed more frequently by poorer segments of the population, including as a substitute for food in times of scarcity.
More affluent sectors of Argentina began to “look the other way,” and the drink was partially marginalized for quite some time – until it began to gain national attention again a little more than ten years ago.
The mate ritual has now crossed over to different social strata in Argentina. As the Argentinians often say, “frente al mate somos iguales” (“in front of the mate, we are all equal”).
The rescue of the history of Argentinean love for mate has been so successful that it became national law.
Law 26.871 was passed in Argentina in 2013, declaring the mate a national heritage and infusion.
Since 2015, November 30 has been converted into National Mate Day (the date was chosen because it was also the birth of Andrés Guacurari y Artigas, the only indigenous governor in Argentine history responsible for a significant promotion, production, and distribution of mate herb nationally).
HOW TO PREPARE THE MATE THE ARGENTINE WAY
According to experts in Argentine yerba mate, the secret to good preparation is to fill only 3/4 of the container with yerba mate and shake it well, covering the mouth with the palm of the hand.
That is how you can see the “trace” left by the herb on your hand, proving its quality (the less powder, the better).
Then, skew the container and leave one side free, with less herb, to receive the water right there.
Then water is placed near the bombilla (a metal straw), avoiding ” soaking” all the herb at once to preserve its flavor for longer.
The next step is to begin the ritual of “cebar o mate” (sharing the mate among those present, one by one).
The figure of the “cebador”, responsible for “refilling” the water container with each round of mate and giving it to another person in the group, is seen as caring, hospitable, and dedicated.
With information from UOL