Drinking Mate in Spanish Class

One of the few things that I've always remembered about middle school has been my fifth and sixth grade Spanish/History teacher. She let us call her anything, as long as a "Ms" was present, and she is probably the most energetic person I'll ever meet in my entire life. But as the title suggests, I'm not planning on writing about this teacher, rather, about the traditional South American drink she introduced me to: Mate.

So why is it that five years after having this teacher, I'm finally writing about this drink? Well, recently, we learned about how to prepare it and drank an excessive amount in HL Spanish. It's a tea, but unlike most, it is not simply put into a steeping bag and stuck into a mug full of hot water. Rather, the tradition behind preparing it is quite extensive, and finally achieving the point of drinking the mate is much more enjoyable because of it.

Mate

What do you need?

• Yerba Mate
• Mate - the container in which the yerba mate is prepared; this can be made from hollowed calabaza, stainless steal, wood... the list goes on and on.
• Bombilla - the straw used; the side which is inserted into the mate has little holes in it so to filter the actual herbs and prevent them from entering the straw
• Hot Water
• Extra things you may or may not choose to add: sugar, cinnamon, honey, milk, small orange slices...

How do you prepare it?

1. Fill the mate two-thirds full of yerba mate.
2. Place your hand on top of the mate and gently turn it upside down. Turn it back over and repeat this step several times. By doing this, you're getting rid of the fine pieces of the yerba mate so that later on, when you're drinking, nothing enters through the small holes in the bombilla. 
3. After you're finished with step two, carefully flip the mate so that the yerba stays on a vertical half of the mate. Slowly pour some hot water until about the half way mark. 
4. Cover the top of your bombilla with your thumb and insert it, making sure that it reaches the bottom. Now you can fill the mate almost full with water.
5. Mix the yerba mate with the bombilla. 
6. You're now ready to drink it! If you want, this is the point at which you can add the extra ingredients to sweeten the taste.

 

I initially tried the mate just plain;it has a strong bitter taste. So if you're a fan of such tastes, you may want to stick to the yerba mate without any additions. However, if you're like me and the rest of my friends, adding a little something sweet is never bad. I added some sugar as well as cinnamon, and the taste was absolutely divine. So much so that I kept adding hot water until the end of class. This meant that come chemistry (my next class), I was highly caffeinated and could barely sit still.