On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 02:53:36 +0000, Alex Chaihorsky wrote:

> I am an avid mate drinker and this is what I have to say:
>
> I use approx 1/3 of a gourd (or can buy them online for couple of bucks do
> not buy fancy ones, but do buy the ones with a simple metal rim. I
> recommend metal ones for beginners to help evade the mouth burns the rule
> is: "If the bombillia is hot for your lips the mate is too hot to drink!"
> Otherwise if you use my favorite bamboo ones you will often have your lips
> burned at the beginning of your mate experience I love mate and drink it
> at least twice a week.
>
> Now, brewing. Several points:
>
> 1. NEVER fill mate gourd with boiling water - it will bitter. In Latin
> America they say that you "burned it". Actually the target temp should be
> around 65-70 Celsius. ADD boiling water when the gourd is half-empty so
> that the mix would be around that temperature again. I refill many times.
> In LA (Latin America) they drink one for the whole day.
>
> 2. Use 1/4 to 1/2 of your "cup"/gourd of dry mate depending on how many
> times you refill. For whole day (or whole night) drinking fill 2/3 of your
> gourd. For 3-4 evening refills - 1/4.
>
> 3. I like to sieve the "dust" off - loosing about 1/3 of the volume. This
> is just me - it was never taught to me.
>
> 4. The sign of a well-prepared mate is some foam on the top. If you do not
> have foam - you screwed up (too hot water). Even after 10 refills you will
> still have some foam if you do it right.
>
> 5. Th ebest way to brew the first gourd is quite complicated:
>
> a). Put the dry mate inside the gourd so it forms a pile aside the wall -
> you will pour water aiming at the other side so mate is as much
> undisturbed as possible. Place the bombilla inside mate, well covered by
> it. Never take it out in-between refills. Let it sit there, on the same
> place till the very end.
>
> b) Put your teapot on the stove. After it barely warms put some water from
> it onto the gourd. Just enough to barely wet the powder.
>
> c) Repeat that several times so that the gourd is filled by more and more
> hot water until the pot boils. That way the temperature inside the gourd
> will be around 60-65 C. Now your water is boiled and cools slowly.
> Re-heat it and add to the gourd. The mate inside is soaked in cooler water
> so you need to use approx 80-90 new water to keep the temperature within
> 65-70. You may gradually increase the temperature after 4-5th brew.
>
> As soon as you failed to have foam - you know you burned the mate.
>
> Couple of months later you will start noticing how your usual thoughts are
> becoming longer and deeper than usual without any effort.
>
> Some add orange peel, some add honey. I do take occasionally some tupelo
> raw honey or Hawaiian white (kiawe) honey with my mate (tiny amounts eaten
> from a tiny silver spoon) no more that 5-15 grams a night. But I do not
> sweeten the drink itself.
>
> Mate offers a nice "in-between" for green puerhs and strong large leaf
> ceylons that I drink many times every day. I do not care about coffein,
> get sleepy from it but some of you may be interested that matein is much
> milder than coffein and actually help some folks to get sleepy.
>
> Burning your tongue is what almost always happens to beginners. Hot tea
> that you drink using your lips with an air intake off the cup ream is much
> less likely to burn you than a 75 centigrade mate (far from boiling!)
> drawn through the bombillia right inside your mouth. Be very careful.
> Drinking too hot a mate is a leading cause for sarcophagus cancer in Latin
> America, where truckers drink mate days and nights during their
> trans-American routes.
>
> Sasha.
>
>
> "Dada" > wrote in message
> news
>> [quoted text muted]

Did burn my tongue a couple times, but I never really (still don't) have
all the patience necessary to watch the pot come to a boil...

I was taught to fill up the gourd about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way, then flip
it upside down and shake - or kind of a circular shake; gently up and down
and around in circles. What this does is it lets the dust settle to the
bottom (on your hand covering the opening) and the stems stay on the top
which becomes the bottom when you flip it right side up.

This way the bombilla, when you insert it carefully, is surrounded by the
stems and won't clog. Of course, this doesn't really work when you're at
the bottom of a 5 pound bag, unfortunately, because by that time, most of
the stems are gone. Or worse yet, if your 5 pound bag is from the bottom
of a larger 50 pound or whatever bag. Then it's probably french press time.

For gourds, the ratio of stems vs powdered leaf is critical to keep the
bombilla from clogging.

But then yes, it's been a while, but I do remember - wet the mate down
with cold water, then heat up the water and fill it up the rest of the way.

I bet if the water had been sitting in the sun in South America somewhere
for a few hours it would totally be hot enough, it really doesn't need to
be that hot.