mate 

Sharing mate with people is an Argentine cultural experience. You drink it out of a wood gourd, sometimes elaborately decorated, with a metal straw. We’ve had mate with gauchos in Salta in northwestern Argentina, farmers in Buenos Aires province, and portenos (Argentines who live in BA).

At first we didn’t know what all the fuss was about… Mate is very bitter. The first couple sips from the gourd are like drinking boiling grass water. But once you learn to deal with the bitterness, mate is really quite rewarding. There are the social rewards of bonding with other people while sharing mate, but also a noted feeling of well-being after drinking it. It makes you alert yet relaxed…

My wife and I have taken to having mate, like tea time, around 4-6pm… It’s an acquired taste, for sure. But, little rituals like having mate are special in that they make you slow-down, talk, and reflect… something most of us should probably do more of…