is a drink made from the dried leaves of the yerba, Ilex paraguariensis, indigenous to Paraguay and other parts of Latin America. Its use appears to go back to pre-Columbian times; later, it was adopted by the Spanish settlers. The name comes from the Inca word for a calabash: traditionally, gourds were used to make vesssels for the tea. Emerson (1908) writes:
The maté, speaking now of the vessel, is among the natives a small gourd [Crescentia cujete-cuca or Curcurbita lagenaria-cabaco] usually about the size of a large orange, the tapering end of the gourd serving as a handle. The top of the gourd is cut off, leaving a hole about an inch or so in diameter, through which the tea is sucked by means of a tube called a bombilla. These vessels are often silver-mounted and handsomely carved, and are prized accordingly. The bombilla is a tube seven or eight inches long and is either metal—silver—or a reed. At one end it is equipped either with a finely woven basket-work bulb or one of metal perforated with minute holes, so as to prevent the particles of the tea leaves from being drawn up into the mouth. The native method of serving it is to place a small quantity of the powdered leaves in the vessel and then pour boiling water upon them till the gourd is filled. It is necessary to drink the tea while it is hot, and until one learns how to manipulate the bombilla he runs a good chance of burning his lips and mouth, which of course furnishes much amusement for the spectators.
Early methods of production involved drying the twigs on frames called barbracuras erected over fires, which were kept going for 36–48 hours. The process completed, the dried substance was then pounded and packed in hide bales, still moist, which dried to form a compact packaging. Emerson explains how these early techniques were replaced in the course of time by more efficient ones, leading to a better product. Cultivation on a large scale was begun by the Jesuits, which is how maté came to be known as Jesuit tea. The cultivated plant is a small shrub with numerous stems (not a tree with a rounded head as it grows in the wild).
Maté is usually drunk amargo, i.e. bitter, without sugar, but can be taken like ordinary tea. Burnt sugar or orange peelings are sometimes added.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
Emerson, Edward R. (1908), Beverages, Past and Present, vols i and ii, New York: The Knickerbocker Press.
