Ted Roche wrote:
> Ooo. I've been out-Pc'd! What do you use to brew it? A ball or a
> strainer or do you make your own bags? I've tried to get Yerba Mate
> working with a ball, but mostly just make a mess.
>
You heathen!!! You DO NOT do that to yerba mate.
Two ways to prepare it.
1st. (and better) You get yourself a proper "mate" (gourd?), water at
about 70-75°C and..... let's see, you fill the gourd up to about half
with yerba (no bombilla yet), then you put the palm of your hand
covering the top of the gourd and you shake it with the gourd over your
palm (I mean the gourd should have an inclination of about 45° with the
opening looking down), just a couple of shakes, this makes the dust come
on top. After shaking it you must let the yerba inside the gourd with a
slope of about 45° from the bottom of the gourd up to the border of the
gourd's mouth. Then you gently pour the hot water on the lower side of
the yerba slope letting the yerba slowly absorb some water and get
temperature. Now you keep pouring water till about half full (the gourd)
, and you put the bombilla in (through the lower side of the yerba
slope) to the bottom. So you have the yerba slope going one way and your
bombilla going down the other way. You finally finish filling your mate
and there you go. The purpose of all this hassle is to have a part of
your yerba dry and that will be getting wet along the way (you will fill
your gourd with water many times) avoiding too strong mates at first and
too weak mates shortly after. I drink it with no sugar ("amargo", only
for men ;c) ) but it's not uncommon to put some sugar and even some
lemon or orange gratings to give it some touch of taste (though it is
not the traditional way). In Uruguay they drink it cold but not here.
As for gourd sizes there are quite a few, you take your pick based on
how comfortable you feel with it and how "long" you want your mate (how
much water). You usually share your mate, that means you drink one, then
you fill the gourd and pass it on in a circle (no, you don't get
individual bombillas or gourds, that's for gringos), if you are drinking
it is good manners to offer a drink if someone is with you, if you are
by yourself then you drink it alone.
I usually drink 1 and a half liters per day at work (no sugar), that
keeps me up with the recommended daily water consumption. I use those
half liter steel thermos bottles, easy to grip and just about the amount
of water for one person. At home when I'm sharing with other people the
liter bottles work better for me.
2nd. (usually for kids here) you put some yerba mate with water in a
cooking pot, get it to boiling point, then you filter it and you get
"mate cocido" which you drink like tea (straight or with some milk,
PLEASE do not add lemon to it, or you'll be sorry).
HTH
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