Mate
Yerba mate, native to the jungles of Paraguay and the surrounding areas and long known to the local peoples, has its own culture of drinking in a special way, repeatedly pouring water over the dried leaves and sipping the resulting drink through a bombilla (drinking straw). Scientifically, this method is called percolation and implies the following sequence of actions.
Pour the mate into a vessel up to 3/4 of its volume. Cover the vessel with a lid or palm and shake several times to make the leaves compact. Tilt the vessel horizontally and place the bombilla on the bottom. Return it to the vertical position, pour a small amount of hot (60-80°C) water. Let the leaves on the bottom soak up moisture within 1-2 minutes. Add more water, filling the vessel to the level of the leaves, but not covering them. The water extract should be drunk immediately. Pour the next portion of water and drink without delay. After a few minutes, add more water and drink; repeat up to 15-20 times.
For proper preparation, the volume of the vessel is important; the bigger it is, the more leaves of the yerba are required. It is equally important to follow all the rules of cooking: after placing the bombilla on the bottom of the vessel, do not remove it, do not mix leaves while drinking and do not let them swim in the water.
With the above sequence of actions, each new portion of water reveals the yerba mate's taste, which varies from rich and strong to soft and dense.
