“They drink this foul drink called mate in Argentina!” my friend cautioned me before I left for Buenos Aires.
I had read about mate in my travel guidebooks, and I was curious to try it. Mate (pronounced: maa-tay) is an infusion made by steeping mate leaves in hot water in a hollowed out gourd. The person then sips the drink through a metal straw called a bombilla (which has a sieve-like contraption at the bottom end to prevent bits of the leaves from getting sucked up).
It wasn’t the drink that fascinated me, but the communal ritual behind it. According to my guidebook, drinking mate in Argentina is a social activity with its own set of revered rules. The host prepares the infusion by pouring hot, but not boiling, water into the gourd which is already filled with mate leaves, and then proceeds to drink it up. Once finished, the host refills the gourd with hot water and passes it to the next person in the group. When that person drinks up all the liquid, the person hands the gourd back to the host, and the process continues with the third person. This stops only when a person says “gracias” signifying that he has had enough.
In Argentina, it is not uncommon to see people walking around with mate cups in their hands, and a flask hanging on their shoulder. Throughout our travel in the vast country, we saw families and groups of friends congregating in parks to drink mate. It was wholesome and heartwarming and reminded me of the old days when we’d have picnics at the beach in Penang, huddled over tiffin carriers filled with nasi lemak and sambal ikan bilis cooked by mum earlier in the day, as bits of fried peanuts spilled into the white sand.
“When a person offers you mate, you take it, because it signifies an offer of friendship.”
With only two weeks in the country, and because of our inability to communicate in Spanish, I knew that the chances of building lasting friendships in Argentina was slim, and with it, the opportunity to drink mate faded.
It was at a restaurant where I first tried mate. I was offered coffee, tea or mate. I grinned happily and chose mate. It came in a teabag in a cup of hot water. It didn’t look anything like the pictures. I drank it anyway, expecting a life altering experience, a moment that I would remember for eternity, if you will. I blinked. It tasted like green tea. Was that it? I felt cheated.
We were in a bus one day with a bunch of twenty-something Argentinians (and a Swedish) when one of them, a petite girl with long glossy brown hair, hopped over to where we were seated and introduced herself. “I’m Giuliana,” she said. Little did she know that those two words would be my redemption.
“Would you like to drink mate?” she asked.
“Would I like to drink mate? Would I?? Would I?!?!” I screamed hysterically within. My long wait was over.
“Yes, please,” I said aloud, with typical gentle Asian politeness. She didn’t sense my desperation.
She brought over a cup brimming with a thick sludge of tea and water. As I sucked on the straw, the full flavour of the mate hit me. It was bitter, but there was also a strong grassy flavour. I loved it. I smiled and handed over the cup to Giuliana. We drank mate for the remaining part of our journey with our new friends and shared stories about our travels, Malaysia, our food, our people, our Twin Towers.
I brought home a couple of kilograms of mate leaves together with my very own mate gourd and bombilla with the intention of carrying on this ritual of social interaction. Nowadays, I drink it often with friends. There is no fixed time. After dinner. After a dip in the pool. Before lunch. While singing along to Spanish songs till the wee hours of the morning. And we share stories of our lives.
A friend once remarked that if you open yourself up to the possibility that even the vagrant on the street is able to surprise you with tales of his life’s journey, your own life will be richly enhanced. I believe it to be true. And these mate days, these mate nights, they’re fuel for the camaraderie we share as our lives subtly weave into each other’s to create new memories.
Voy a extrañar tomar mates con vos.
Have fun for me in Buenos Aires 😀
hmm..it really is a very special ritual. I’m thinking…meeting up with old friends, chatting about life, catching up, reminiscing the past while sharing a cup: its really nice!
Thanks for sharing 😀
This is a beautiful story about a beautiful woman sharing stories with others, some of the stories about sharing yet more stories. Layer upon layer, yet so simple all the same the message being delivered:
“When we share our stories, we are sharing our lives.”
And what a beautiful (there’s that word again, we know it goes beyond the skin-surface definition now) thing this is.
Thank you for sharing, dear. And may you have more stories in your life. 🙂
sounds like mai tai to me 😛 i’m liking this bombilla contraption more. BOMBILLAAA!!!!
I’m wondering are they bring the Mate wherever they go? As you said Giulina offered you mate when you were in the bus 😀
it sounds potty…or grassy… does it have hallucinogenic effects? where there apparitions of Madonna singing dont cry for me argentina in the bathroom mirror?
Kiran: Hehe…I’m back already, but I think I left a part of me there.
Kristine: Yes, it’s special for me. Beats getting drunk and suffering memory loss! hehe.
Kenny: I’m glad you get it. Thank you. Hugs. (I cried when I wrote this)
Jun: Hahahaha! You’re crazy, girlfriend! I shall snap a pic of bombilla for you. That’s the best I can do for now, I’m afraid!
Chris: Yep, you’re right…they bring a packet of mate leaves, a mate cup and a flask of hot water wherever they go. I’ve even seen special backpacks for carrying mate! How cool is that! 🙂
TangeCYI: I haven’t suffered anything I didn’t want to suffer through drinking mate. 😀 If I saw Madonna in my bathroom mirror, I’d have called you and sung Like a Virgin. So….I guess the answer’s no.
Beautiful post. So poignant. Why haven’t you offered me any mate mate?!
Paps: Coz you’re on a diet! 😛 Okok…we shall go makan and minum soon! 😀
ooo.. so the first person who drinks it, gets the most potent/bitter shot.. i want to try!! 😛
What a beautiful post.. i like how such a simple gesture can bind folks together eternally. Where is ur mate flask.. how come I have not seen it yet – looking forward to seeing u with it, soon:)
You know, this story brings me back to a time when I first joined my company and the joy of launching a new brand to the market. At that time this New York brand was virtually unknown and therefore do not have much “friends” in the market. So inspired by one of our iconic range, the yerba mate, we adopted the communal ritual and passed the traditional gourds (imported from Argentina no less) and passed them around. Everybody sipped from the same metal straw and the ice was broken. Now look at us – a happy cheerie bunch.
ciki: The first person who drinks it gets the sediments too! hehe! Oh, I carry my mate in my car. Come and get it, girlfriend!
A Lil’ Fat Monkey: Coolios! You know exactly what I’m talking about then! We must drink mate together then. Oh, can sapu some of the leftover mate from your company or not? I only have 1kg left leh. 😛 By the way, I LOVE Kiehl’s Yerba Mate face cream. LOVE!! Soooo gooooood! Not sticky and fast absorbing. Very nice.
Phew! Thank goodness this ritual doesn’t constitute sipping the drink, then spitting into the container and passing it on to the next person 😀
I hope you also got to partake in the coffee ritual paired with mini sweets while you were there. Your post makes me miss that part of the world tremendously.
What a friendly way to yum cha! 😀 I love it!
Woah, you gals have strong bladders. After drinking so much in the bus, how did y’all “tahan” for the rest of the journey?
Since I was not offered any mate from you, I guess I know where I stand lah…sigh…*pathetically sipping my tongba alone*
Happy blogoversary 🙂
I actually quite like Matte.. had some in Latvia and got it home. But the process and the taste you describe is kinda diff. Mine tastes sort of like coffee/ chocolate… dunno what.. but nice… lets meet up one day and compare! 🙂
So I’m an Englishman living and working in Germany, and stumbled across your blog researching Malaysian eating habits for my job… but then I got reading this.
Here in Berlin they sell an iced tea called “Club Mate” made from the plant. http://www.clubmate.de/cws/en/home.55.html It is quite a studenty, trendy drink, and since moving here I have fallen in love with it. I drink one every morning, to wake me up, and also when I go out with friends, we drink it with jägermeister. We buy one on our way to a club and a little bottle of jägermeister, and then pass the bottle between us to drink as we walk there. The quotes you used on the thread really fitted to the moments I share Club Mate, and made me even a little emotional about how this drink has brought me and friends from New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Italy etc. together in this big city.
Keep on enjoying it, and if you ever visit Germany, make sure to try a bottle of the iced stuff! 🙂