Mate (pronounced mah-teh) or chimarrão is a traditional South American drink. It is made with dried yerba leaves that are, like tea, soaked in warm water. There are specific things to drink mate out of, like gourds with steel or silver straws. Usually served in family gatherings, mate is served by a cebador
(in Spanish, a server), and passed around, everyone drinking out of the same gourd. When the gourd has been refilled about 10 times, and everyone one is considered "full", the ritual ends. Some people will put sugar or honey in their mate (in spanish mate dulce).
My mom makes mate instead of tea or coffee every morning because it is high in antioxidants, has a portion of caffeine to wake you up, and as much potassium as a banana. She gets the leaves at Whole Foods, and then brews it at home. She made me some mate so I could try it, and put a bit of honey in it so it wouldn't be as bitter.
The mate I had smelled herbal and...bitter. I know it isn't natural to smell a taste, but when you smell mate you will understand. It is a light green shade, and has a bitter and somewhat sweet flavor. It is really interesting to have a drink have a bitter and sweet taste. Sweet when you drink, bitter after. Take into account I am having mate dulce, so if you drink straight mate, like my mom, the taste would be grassy, herbal and bitter, as she describes it. Mate is an interesting drink that I have been lucky (or am I?) enough to try. Not a flavor I crave, but definitely a flavor that I am happy to have tasted. So not a great tasting love at first bite, but an interesting one.
