Hello, dear reader. If you here, there's a fairly good chance someone gave you a link to this page when you showed some curiosity to their drinking mate.
In this short post, we'll shed some light and answer questions.
Mate (or yerba mate) is a traditional drink from South America - particularly Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil. The yerba ("herb") is the dried leaves that are then soaked in hot water.
Mate is also the name of the container, traditionally made from a calabash gourd but also available in other materials such as wood or, more modernly, glass or plastic.
The traditional preparation is to fill a container (the mate) with yerba (about two-thirds of the way), then pour hot water (not boiling) over the leaves, and drinknig it through a straw (bombilla).
The container isn't filled with water, but instead enough water is poured for about four sips or so.
There is quite a bit of etiquette when drinking mate in a group setting, which is very common. The same mate is used by everyone, with a single person (the cebador) taking on the task to pour water and pass it around (usually in the same direction when people sit in a circle).
There is some amount of skill to controlling how much water is poured and which side of the mate it's poured on, to control for intensity of flavor and duration before it's washed out. They will also have the first mate serving, which is often too cold/hot or might be too strong.
Those receiving the mate might remark on the flavor as a gesture of appreciation, but thanking the cebador is used as a signal that they've had their fill and don't want any more. Only the cebador will move the bombilla - otherwise, it gives the appearence that others are correcting their technique.
Variations include adding herbs for flavor, adding sugar, or preparing the drink cold in summer - usually with some citrus - at which point it's known as terere.
These days you can also get it in tea bag form as well.
There are usually multiple reasons, and here are a few.
Happy mate drinking!