Tea Stories N°6
a journey into the world of tea and beyond
In this series, I write about travels on which I have learned more about tea and have experienced warmth and hospitality. There is surprising diversity in traditions and tastes revolving around tea. In case you haven’t read the preceding stories, here they are: N°1, N°2, N°3, N°4 and N°5. Enjoy!
6th Cup
Mate tea is a beverage very commonly consumed in many parts of South America. It is made of dried leaves of the plant Ilex paraguaiensis. Drinking mate is an important part of life for many South Americans. So, only naturally, they bring it with them once they come to live somewhere abroad. You could say it is a piece of home you can carry with you wherever you go. And it’s precisely these expatriates from whom I got to know this tea here in Europe.
Mate in South America is not just a caffeinated drink. It is so much more: mate is a social event, a gathering time for family and friends. Be it at home, with family, at professional meetings or at get-togethers of friends, somebody will always pass around some mate!
How to prepare mate
It is prepared in a special way:
Guampa, the recipient from which the tea is drank, is half filled with shredded Ilex paraguaiensis leaves, filled up with boiling water from a thermos bottle. Sinceyou can carry the bottle everywhere, you can prepare this beverage wherever you go. When the first cup is ready, the host or the one preparing the tea drinks from it, using a special kind of straw called bombilla. While doing so, it’s important not to touch or move the bombilla (don’t ask me why…). The cup is then refilled with boiling water and passed on to the next person. In this way, the round is continued until the water is empty.
If a person doesn’t wish to continue drinking at one point, he or she has to say thank you, and the guampa will be passed on to the next person. So, watch out not to say thank you when you’re handed over the guampa and still want to drink from it!
A round of drinking can take a considerable amount of time if many people are involved. And importantly: the person drinking mate at that moment is not supposed to talk, just listen. Otherwise, the water would get cold, and this makes some people unhappy… When you travel to countries like Paraguay and Uruguay, you will find people very commonly drinking this tea when getting together, while traveling through the wide countryside or simply as part of a morning routine.
So much more than tea
Again, there is the beautiful gift of time hidden in this tea. The gift of wisdom and community too, because you’ll be prompted to listen to what others, especially the elders in South American culture, have to say. There is no shame, no isolation, everybody drinks from the same cup and with the same straw. And through passing on the guampa to the next person, to the next generation, a sense of connectedness, a close-knit community is created.
Even though I don’t drink mate anymore for the sake of the strong, bitter-sweet memories tied to it, this herbal tea still stands as a symbol of tradition transcending generations. A symbol of community, of stories long-ago, and maybe of stories which are yet to be told…
This has been the last tea story… for now! Because, who knows where I end up coming across another “tea story”? Maybe you find me connecting with the land and the people over a cup of tea again, somewhere, some day.
May you experience that same warmth and hospitality in your life!
