Recipes
Everybody can learn how to brew mate, and, if desired, even to achieve mastery in the ceremony of mate drinking. It is believed that good mate is made when the person, who prepares and serves it, has sufficient amount of time and internal surplus. Unlike tea, cooking mate is not only to pour hot water into a gourd with yerba, but also to maintain the drink in correct condition for further drinking.
Mate is drunk from a calabash gourd – a vessel made from pear shaped pumpkin. The porous inner surface of the vessel strengthens the flavour and complements the taste properties of the drink. A bombilla (tube for drinking) is used for convenient drinking of the infusion; it prevents small particles of yerba from getting in the mouth.
Methods for preparing mate with or without calabash gourd are interesting and uncomplicated.
If brewing the drink in a glass or a ceramic bowl (there are calabash gourds made from these materials), one will also get a healthy and tasty drink.
1. Gourd is filled with dried leaves of Yerba Mate for about 2/3 of the volume. Proportion should be such so that there is not too little and at the same time not too much of yerba mate.
2. Then the neck is covered with palm, gourd is flipped upside down and shaken several times. By doing that, the larger portion of leaves is moved to the bottom - that prevents bombilla from clogging, and getting fine particles of yerba in the mouth.
3. When turning the gourd back, it is slightly tilted so that mate goes down to one side of the vessel. During the whole preparation process you should try to keep the leaves in a pile. Then some cold or hot water is added, no more than 70º - 80º C (158º - 176º F), and left to brew for a few minutes. If the upper part of the leaves has lost its shape, one can gently pressed it with bombilla to the edge of the vessel.
4. Then bombilla is inserted, so that the end with small holes touches the bottom. The other end is tightly sealed with a finger in order not to let the air in. Bombilla is positioned this way once, so that it is not moving during the ceremony. During the process of mate drinking it should not be removed nor the drink stirred.
After bombillia is installed, hot water is carefully poured by the side of bombilla. When adding water, one should be careful not to destroy the "hill" and not to moisten all the grass at once. No need to fill the gourd completely (maximum fill 4/5 of the vessel).
After pouring hot water, one can start drinking mate almost immediately, infusion time ranges from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Mate does not need to be brewed for a long time like tea – one can drink the infusion immediately and until the vessel is empty. Then again hot water is poured. And so on, as long as the drink doesn’t lose its flavour - usually after 7-8 infusions.
A very important factor in preparation of mate is the quality of water, as it has strong influence on the flavour of infusion.
Mate is drunk from a calabash gourd – a vessel made from pear shaped pumpkin. The porous inner surface of the vessel strengthens the flavour and complements the taste properties of the drink. A bombilla (tube for drinking) is used for convenient drinking of the infusion; it prevents small particles of yerba from getting in the mouth.
Methods for preparing mate with or without calabash gourd are interesting and uncomplicated.
If brewing the drink in a glass or a ceramic bowl (there are calabash gourds made from these materials), one will also get a healthy and tasty drink.
The classic way
2. Then the neck is covered with palm, gourd is flipped upside down and shaken several times. By doing that, the larger portion of leaves is moved to the bottom - that prevents bombilla from clogging, and getting fine particles of yerba in the mouth.
After pouring hot water, one can start drinking mate almost immediately, infusion time ranges from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Mate does not need to be brewed for a long time like tea – one can drink the infusion immediately and until the vessel is empty. Then again hot water is poured. And so on, as long as the drink doesn’t lose its flavour - usually after 7-8 infusions.
A very important factor in preparation of mate is the quality of water, as it has strong influence on the flavour of infusion.