mate (drink)

A type of infusion/tea drink native to the Southern Cone region in South America, including Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and the south of Brazil, invented by the Guaraní people.

Typically, it is made by soaking dried leaves of yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) in hot water, and is drunk through a metal straw with a filter (bombilla) in a container typically made from a calabash gourd (also called Mate), but also in some areas made from a cattle horn (guampa). Although the traditional container are still widely use, now days is common to see containers made of metal, ceramics or glass.