Mate (beverage) - Variants

Variants

There is another drink that can be prepared with specially cut dry leaves, very cold water and, optionally, lemon or another fruit juice, called tereré. It is very common in Paraguay, northeastern Argentina and in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. After pouring the water, it is considered proper to "wait while the saint has a sip" before the first person takes a drink. In Southern Brazil, tererê is sometimes used as a derogatory term for a not hot enough chimarrão.

In Uruguay and Brazil the traditional gourd is usually big with a corresponding large hole. In Argentina (especially in the capital, Buenos Aires) the gourd is small and has a small hole, and people sometimes add sugar for flavor.

In Uruguay it is common to see people walking around the streets toting a mate and a thermos with hot water. In some parts of Argentina, gas stations sponsored by yerba mate producers provide free hot water to travelers, specifically for the purpose of drinking during the journey. There are disposable mate sets with a plastic mate and straw, and sets with a thermos flask and stacking containers for the yerba and sugar inside a fitted case. There is a national law In Uruguay that prohibits drinking mate while driving, because it caused many accidents of people getting scalded with hot water while driving.

In Argentina, mate cocido (boiled mate) is made with a teabag or leaves and drunk from a cup or mug, with or without sugar and milk. Companies such as Mar del Plata and Establecimiento Las Marías produce teabags for export to Europe.

Most urban Chileans do not drink mate, but travel narratives such as Maria Graham's Journal of a Residence in Chile, show that there is a long history of mate drinking in central Chile. Many rural Chileans drink mate, in particular in the southern regions, particularly Chiloé and Magallanes, perhaps due to the influence of neighboring areas of Argentina.

In some provinces of the Middle Eastern countries of Syria and Lebanon it is also common to drink mate. There, the custom of drinking mate came from Arabs who moved to South America during the early twentieth century, adopted the habit, and kept it after returning home. Syria is the biggest importer of yerba mate in the world, importing 15,000 tons a year. It is mostly the Druze and Alawite communities in Syria and Lebanon who maintain the culture and practice of mate.

According to a major retailer of mate in San Luis Obispo, California, by 2004 mate had grown to about 5% of the overall natural tea market in North America. Loose Mate is commercially available in much of North America. Bottled mate is increasingly available in the United States. Canadian bottlers have introduced a cane sugar-sweetened carbonated variety, remarkably similar to soda-pop, less the fructose, added caffeine and chemically-extracted preservatives. One brand, Sol Mate, produces 10-ounce glass bottles available at Canadian and U.S. retailers, making use of this clever pun for the sake of marketing.