How Mate is Served in Argentina

Posted on | December 1, 2009 | No Comments

Mate is served by El Cebador. This person  is the one who will be making the mate by putting the Mate herbs inside of a pumpkin like shell (previously cured and dried) and hot water is poured in it. Some people like to have sweet mate so some sugar is added before the water. The shell is passed to the first person who will be drinking it, they suck out of the straw and when done – handed back to the cebador.

Mate can be served in two ways primarily, either in the shell with a straw or as a tea in a cup called Mate Cocido (cooked mate), which was the popular drink for all social classes. The middle class would have breakfast if alone in its tea form with milk or if with company then in its straw like form with crackers or bread. In the higher class, mate would reunite the ladies for the daily gossip in mid-morning and commercial owners with their businesses too. The same would happen in mid-afternoon at 5.

The tacuara straw was later replaced by a metal straw with a replaceable filter that lasts a very long time.

The tradition of the mate is that of sharing a moment, a conversation or an intimate exchange between a group of people.

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