Seth Mindwell.
MATE, OR PARAGUAY TEA.
It is a trite saying, but a very true one, that one-half the world does not know how the other half lives. This will apply to food and drink, as well as to other things, so widely do customs vary in different regions.
While tea, coffee and chocolate, all products of warm climates, have come into general use as table drinks over the greater portion of the globe, so as to be universally known, there is a beverage of similar use, the favorite of millions, which is practically unknown to the world at large.
Mate (two syllables) is the name of the prepared leaves of a shrub or tree belonging to the Rhamses family, and has the scientific name of Cassine gonhonha, but is more generally known as Ilex paraguayensis, as it was first used by the Indians of Paraguay. It belongs to the natural order of the holly, to which it bears much resemblance. Its leaves are six to eight inches long, short stalked, oblong, wedge-shaped, and finely toothed at the margin. The small white flowers are borne in clusters at the axils of the leaves. It bears a four-seeded berry, but the leaves are used for decoction, except for a very fine quality, which is made from the dried flower buds.
It abounds in the forests of Paraguay and Brazil, where it is a tree of considerable size. It is cultivated to some extent, but in this state remains a shrub, and the quality is finer. It may be gathered at any season of the year, and the leaves must become dry enough to pulverize before they are fit for use.
Where it is cultivated it is dried in metal pans, after the manner of Chinese tea, but far greater quantities are gathered in the forests and dried in the primitive method adopted from the Indians.
A drying floor is prepared by clearing a space of ground and pounding it hard with a mallet. On this a fire is built, and after the ground is well heated, it is swept off clean and branches from the neighboring forests spread upon it. Afterwards they are placed upon a rude arbor made of hurdles and a slow fire beneath completes the drying process.
When quite brittle the leaves are pounded in a mortar and reduced to small particles, but not to a powder. The preparation of it consists in placing a small quantity of it in a vessel, with sugar if desired, and adding a little cold water. After a little while boiling water is poured on and it is then ready for use. As the leaf particles do not settle well, it must be sipped through a tube. The natives for steeping it used a calabash gourd called mate, whence its common name, mate yerba, or calabash plant. These gourds are still often used, and are convenient, as they have a handle. Cocoa-nut shells, with handles of silver or other metal, are also popular. A reed or a metal tube, with a small perforated bowl at the bottom is used to sip it through. This is called a bombilla.
It is customary with the Spaniards and Portuguese to offer mate to visitors.