05/14/2021
Yerba Maté, or just Maté, is a drink made from the dried leaves of a plant indigenous to South America. It has a high caffeine level. Traditionally it is offered and shared as a social connection like tea is offered and shared. The hollowed out gourd and the metal straw w a filtered end is traditional and has personal value like a favorite tea set or coffee cup. It is always shared between friends, one gourd full passed around. At least, that was my experience.
When I was playing music on a Royal Caribbean Cruise ship in 2003, my roommate was from Argentina. One day, when we pulled back into port in Florida off boarding old passengers from one cruise and on boarding passengers for the next cruise, my roommate received a package. It was a bag of Yerba and his setup from home. He was so excited and he waxed poetic about the gourd/straw—obviously a very personal thing—the drink, and the tradition. Once we had embarked and the ship was under way, he "brewed" some Maté and shared it with me. Now, I'm a big coffee drinker, and a bit of a caffeine professional, brewing my coffee very strong. The more caffeine the better in my book. And so I had a high tolerance. Or so I thought.
I can remember taking the gourd and taking a big sip through the filter straw (the Yerba leaves are loose in the gourd, continually steeping and growing stronger) and almost immediately my lips began to tingle. Only a few shared sips into it I knew that I was hitting my caffeine max. 😳
I enjoyed it, but I think what I enjoyed even more was his pride of culture and country. It was very important to him that he was sent his Maté set up, and I loved to hear him describe Argentina, it's people, culture and history.
I met people from all over the world on ship, and learning about everyone's home and listening to them talk about it was the best part of the whole gig. I was struck by our similarities and came to love and celebrate the differences. We are all the same, but different. 💯