I am an avid mate drinker and this is what I have to say:
I use approx 1/3 of a gourd (or can buy them online for couple of bucks do
not buy fancy ones, but do buy the ones with a simple metal rim. I recommend
metal ones for beginners to help evade the mouth burns the rule is: "If the
bombillia is hot for your lips the mate is too hot to drink!" Otherwise if
you use my favorite bamboo ones you will often have your lips burned at the
beginning of your mate experience I love mate and drink it at least twice a
week.
Now, brewing. Several points:
1. NEVER fill mate gourd with boiling water - it will bitter. In Latin
America they say that you "burned it". Actually the target temp should be
around 65-70 Celsius. ADD boiling water when the gourd is half-empty so that
the mix would be around that temperature again. I refill many times. In LA
(Latin America) they drink one for the whole day.
2. Use 1/4 to 1/2 of your "cup"/gourd of dry mate depending on how many
times you refill. For whole day (or whole night) drinking fill 2/3 of your
gourd. For 3-4 evening refills - 1/4.
3. I like to sieve the "dust" off - loosing about 1/3 of the volume. This is
just me - it was never taught to me.
4. The sign of a well-prepared mate is some foam on the top. If you do not
have foam - you screwed up (too hot water). Even after 10 refills you will
still have some foam if you do it right.
5. Th ebest way to brew the first gourd is quite complicated:
a). Put the dry mate inside the gourd so it forms a pile aside the wall -
you will pour water aiming at the other side so mate is as much undisturbed
as possible. Place the bombilla inside mate, well covered by it. Never take
it out in-between refills. Let it sit there, on the same place till the very
end.
b) Put your teapot on the stove. After it barely warms put some water from
it onto the gourd. Just enough to barely wet the powder.
c) Repeat that several times so that the gourd is filled by more and more
hot water until the pot boils. That way the temperature inside the gourd
will be around 60-65 C. Now your water is boiled and cools slowly. Re-heat
it and add to the gourd. The mate inside is soaked in cooler water so you
need to use approx 80-90 new water to keep the temperature within 65-70. You
may gradually increase the temperature after 4-5th brew.
As soon as you failed to have foam - you know you burned the mate.
Couple of months later you will start noticing how your usual thoughts are
becoming longer and deeper than usual without any effort.
Some add orange peel, some add honey. I do take occasionally some tupelo raw
honey or Hawaiian white (kiawe) honey with my mate (tiny amounts eaten from
a tiny silver spoon) no more that 5-15 grams a night. But I do not sweeten
the drink itself.
Mate offers a nice "in-between" for green puerhs and strong large leaf
ceylons that I drink many times every day. I do not care about coffein, get
sleepy from it but some of you may be interested that matein is much milder
than coffein and actually help some folks to get sleepy.
Burning your tongue is what almost always happens to beginners. Hot tea that
you drink using your lips with an air intake off the cup ream is much less
likely to burn you than a 75 centigrade mate (far from boiling!) drawn
through the bombillia right inside your mouth. Be very careful. Drinking too
hot a mate is a leading cause for sarcophagus cancer in Latin America, where
truckers drink mate days and nights during their trans-American routes.
Sasha.
"Dada" > wrote in message
news
> On Sat, 10 Sep 2005 11:35:15 -0400, Derek > wrote:
>
> Yes, I agree with you. The only doubt I had was if I have tried the
> real taste of MATE or not. Maybe it can be a nonsense question, but
> thinking to green tea it cannot. If you try a Sencha using boiling
> water, it's probable you won't obtain the real Sencha taste. Isn't
> true?
> How many time have you repeated infusion without loosing quality?
> I think I am going in the Amazonic forest to take my gourd and cut it
> in the right way to drink MATE. Maybe it would be simplier to buy it.
> How did you got it? Did you found the gourd and bombilla in some tea
> store?
>
>>On Sat, 10 Sep 2005 14:30:21 GMT, Dada wrote:
>>
>>> Today I have bought MATE. Very nice taste, really good.
>>> I would like to know if any one of you have some experience with this
>>> kind of infusion. I know it is not a tea, but I think a tea drink
>>> should like it.
>>> About quantity: how much MATE do you use for a cup? The instruction
>>> are not really clear. They sei 3/4 of a particuar pumpkin they use in
>>> Brasil to drink it. I don't owe any pumpkin like that, but only a
>>> poor, simple tea cup. 3/4 of a cup looks really a lot. Levy Strauss
>>> (it is written on the package) used an handful of it for one person. I
>>> poured it by rough estimate. The taste was good, but I am not sure I
>>> made a good mate. How many tea spoons do you use usually?
>>> The MATE I bought has broken lieves inside: any quality has so? Do you
>>> know any site or book about this drink?
>>> I am sorry if I am off topic: i wish I don't.
>>> Thanks
>>
>>Mate is traditionally consumed from a gourd (pumpkin) through a
>>bombilla (straw with a filter screen at the bottom).
>>Traditionally/historically, bombillas were wooden. These days, they're
>>mostly metal.
>>
>>The gourd is filled 3/4 full with loose mate, sometimes sugar, and
>>then topped off with boiling water. It is then consumed through the
>>bombilla, which keeps the leaves in the gourd. When the mate water is
>>completely drained, more water is added. This process is repeated
>>several times with no appreciable decrease in flavor - although the
>>steeping time gets longer. (at least that's my experience).
>>
>>As you noted, the amount used is typically dependent upon the size of
>>the container. And it's likely that, outside of a gourd, you're not
>>going to do the heavy infusions that are traditionally consumed.
>>
>>You already answered to your own question, in my opinion. You said
>>your mate tasted good. If it tastes good to you, that's what really
>>counts. It may not be the typical way of making it, but it works for
>>you.
>>
>>Otherwise, you'll need to get yourself a gourd and bombilla and try it
>>the "traditional" way. 
>>
>>You can find more information at: http://www.noborders.net/mate/
>>
>