Mate (drink)

Mate ( MAH-tay; Spanish: mate [ˈmate], Brazilian Portuguese: [ˈmatʃi]) is a caffeine-rich infused herbal drink made with yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis), a plant which originates in the Southern Cone of South America. It is especially popular in South America and the Levant. It is also known as chimarrão in Portuguese, cimarrón in Spanish, and ka'ay in Guarani. It is made by soaking dried yerba mate leaves in hot water and is traditionally served with a metal straw (bombilla) in a container typically made from a calabash gourd (also called the mate), from water-resistant hardwoods such as Handroanthus impetiginosus or Palo Santo, and also made from a cattle horn (guampa) in some areas. A very similar preparation, known as mate cocido, removes some of the plant material and sometimes comes in tea bags. Today, mate is also sold commercially in tea bags and as bottled iced tea. Mate has been originally consumed by the Guaraní and Tupi peoples native to Paraguay, north-east of Argentina and South of Brazil. After European colonization, it was spread across the Southern Cone countries, namely Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, but it is also consumed in the South of Brazil and the Bolivian Chaco. Mate is the national beverage of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. In Chile, mate is predominantly consumed in the central and southern regions. Mate is also common in Lebanon, Syria, Israel — where it was brought by immigrants from Argentina.

Accessories The metal straw is known as a bombilla or bomba and is traditionally made of silver. Modern straws are typically made of nickel silver, stainless steel, or hollow-stemmed cane. The bombilla functions both as a straw and as a sieve. The submerged end is flared, with small holes or slots that allow the brewed liquid in, but block the chunky yerba mate leaves that make up much of the mixture. A modern bombilla design uses a straight tube with holes or a spring sleeve to act as a sieve. The container the mate is served in is also known as mate. It is commonly made from calabash gourd but may also be made out of other materials.

History

Mate was first consumed by the indigenous Guaraní who live in what is now Paraguay, southeastern Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay, and the Tupí people who lived in neighbouring areas. Later, it spread to parts of southern Brazil and northeast Argentina, particularly areas that were Paraguayan territory before the Paraguayan War. Therefore, the scientific name of the yerba mate is Ilex paraguariensis. With the Spanish colonization of Paraguay in the late 16th century the consumption of yerba mate spread to Spanish settlers, and in the 17th century to the Río de la Plata and from there to Peru and Chile. This widespread consumption turned it into Paraguay's main commodity above other wares such as tobacco, cotton and beef. Aboriginal labour was originally used to harvest wild stands of yerba mate. In the mid-17th century, Jesuits managed to domesticate the plant and establish plantations in their Indian reductions in the Argentine province of Misiones, sparking severe competition with the Paraguayan harvesters of wild stands. After their expulsion in the 1770s, the Jesuit missions – along with the yerba mate plantations – fell into ruins. The industry continued to be of prime importance for the Paraguayan economy after independence, but development in benefit of the Paraguayan state halted after the Paraguayan War (1864–1870) that devastated the country both economically and demographically. Brazil then became the largest producer of mate. In Brazilian and Argentine projects in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the plant was domesticated once again, opening the way for plantation systems. When Brazilian entrepreneurs turned their attention to coffee in the 1930s, Argentina, which had long been the prime consumer, took over as the largest producer, resurrecting the economy of Misiones Province, where the Jesuits had once had most of their plantations. For years, the status of largest producer shifted between Brazil and Argentina. As of 2018, Argentina was the largest producer with 56–62%, followed by Brazil, 34–36%, and Paraguay, 5%. Uruguay is the largest per capita consumer, consuming around 19 liters per person per year.

Name The English word comes from the French maté and the American Spanish mate, which means both mate and the vessel for drinking it, from the Quechua word mati for the calabash gourd used to make it. Both the spellings "mate" and "maté" are used in English. The acute accent indicates that the word is pronounced with two syllables, like café, rather than like the one-syllable English word "mate". An acute accent is not used in the Spanish spelling, because the first syllable is stressed; "maté" with the stress on the second syllable means "I killed". In Brazil, traditionally prepared mate is known as chimarrão, although the Portuguese word mate and the expression "mate amargo" (bitter mate) are also used in Argentina and Uruguay. The Spanish cimarrón means "rough", "brute", or "barbarian", but is most widely understood to mean "feral", and is used in almost all of Latin America for domesticated animals that have become wild. The word was then used by the people who colonized the region of the Río de la Plata to describe the natives' rough and sour drink, drunk with no other ingredient to sweeten the taste.

Culture

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