This is not an alcoholic drink, however we have made an exception to include it in our drinks review as it is a national obsession in both Argentina and Uruguay. Everywhere we have went we have seen people carrying around these strange looking wooden cups with metal rims called gourds.
These are filled to the brim with a suspicious looking green herb mixture into which is placed what looks like a silver pipe. On first seeing it we thought it was some sort of illegal drug so became curious to find out more.
We later found out that the green mixture is not cannabis but the dried leaves of yerba mate. Yerba is a species of holly found in South America which is naturally high in caffeine. The high is claimed to be smoother than coffee without any 'jitters'.
The dried leaves are piled into the cup and then hot water is pored over allowing the water to be infused. The drinker carries with them a flask of hot water so that they can refill the gourd when they want another.
In order to drink it without choking on the leaves a special metal straw is used called a bombilla. This has small holes in the bottom allowing the water to flow through.
Initially the drink smells and tastes a bit like drinking infused tobacco. Once you get over the bitter flavour it became quite pleasant. Its unusual taste mixed with the caffeine hit makes you want more.
There are tons of articles on the internet promoting its various health benefits and risks, from aiding weight loss to causing cancer this is certainly a controversial drink. What is clear is that the Argentinians and Uruguayans love it and the people we have spoken to about it only have positive things to say.
Alternative combinations of mate include mixing the yerba with cold water and lemon juice or with cold orange juice which is supposedly popular in Paraguay.
After spending months throughout Central America drinking bucket loads of coffee we are happy to embrace this local drink for the rest of our South America travels. We only hope it isn’t as addictive as it seems as we would certainly get some strange looks drinking this at our desks in England.
