Tereré or Mate - What is it?

I have been asked in some recent comments what Mate or Terere is. Since I posted about this on my previous blog, I thought I would re-post it. Sorry to those that have already seen it.

I´ll try to explain what it is and why we drink it. You know how when you go to visit a friend and she offers you some coffee and you visit over coffee? Or when you go out with your friends or family just for coffee? Well that´s how it is with Tereré and Mate here in Paraguay. Tereré is an important part of Paraguayan society and culture. It is an ice cold variant of mate, a tea made from the leaves of the Yerba Mate plant, a species of holly native to the region. In Paraguay the tradition is to carry your Tereré with you to all occasions, and in order to keep the water cold most people carry it in a thermos. Some of these thermoses are bound in hand worked leather that is decorated with a variety of images. The traditional drinking gourds are made from hollowed out bull horns (yes this is true! but they have been well cleaned), wood or stainless steel. The chopped leaves of the Yerba Mate are placed in the gourd, cold water is poured in and the Tereré sipped through a metal straw called a bombilla. Tereré is not only best served cold, it is best shared, so the gourd is passed around and everyone takes a sip. Occasionally the water is flavored with lime juice or chopped lemon. I love this variety on a hot summer´s day. A lot of people buy the Yerba´s that have herbs added, but I don´t like these that much, because of the medicinal taste. Yerba Mate contains a stimulant similar to caffeine and I really like it to control my hunger pains. Often when I feel like eating, I see if my neighbor or a friend is home and I go to her house for some Tereré. After a while my hunger is more manageable. Lots of students use it to keep themselves awake as well, so they have the needed energy to study into the night....(you know who you are) Mate (pronounced "mahtay") is what the hot variety is called. The same leaves are used, except you serve it with hot water. The gourd is usually a little smaller than for Tereré, because it is drunk more for keeping warm, rather than satisfying your thirst. We drink Mate everyday, first thing in the morning. Hubby and me get up at 5:30 and we enjoy our Mate and talk about things that we want to do during the day, or stuff that we never have time to talk about. This has been the best thing we did for our marriage. We only started this tradition about 5 years ago and it has been so beneficial for our communication. Sometimes it´s hard to get up so early, but I wouldn´t want to miss these hours. Not everybody likes Tereré or Mate. It is an acquired taste and I guess it´s something you grow up with too. Even small children and baby´s love Tereré. When I was growing up this was a tabu drink for kids. But nowadays it has become so integrated into our lives they even allow it in the schools. Well I hope I didn´t make this too long. I just wanted to relay how much Tereré and Mate are apart of our lives. All Paraguayens, even if they are living somewhere else in the world (like in China where my sister gets monthly packages of Yerba) love their Tereré and Mate!