Sunday, November 28, 2004
A word about Yerba Mate
Ignacio's posted some pictures from his birthday party on his blog. The one that features me prominently is titled “Raja Doesn't like Mate So Much”; in the zoomed-out picture, it vaguely looks like I'm smiling; in the zoomed in, you can tell that I'm squinching my eyes fiercely and sticking my tongue out as far as it can go.
I was happy to find out about yerba mate. Yerba mate (pronounced closer to “SHER-ba MAH-tay“) is a popular(ish) drink in Argentina; it's like a super-concentrated tea with orange and tastes like orange dirt (as our friend Simms said). It's chock full of caffeine. There are special containers used for drinking it; one is a bag made from a bull's testicle (!); the container Ignacio and Ana gave us to use was much more like a traditional ceramic mug, but it came with a complicated metal “straw” (which you can't quite make out in Ignacio's photo captioned “Kate tries MATE and finds it good!”. You can find a little more information in the Wikipedia's article on yerba mate.
I was happy because this cleared up a long-standing mystery for me. A few minutes after I tried the mate, I remembered where I'd heard of it:
This is from “A Martian Odyssey”, Stanley G. Weinbaum's classic
1934 short story. I'd always thought that “Yerba Mate” was someone's name (and pronounced the way it's spelled); it was fun to find out what it really is!
I was happy to find out about yerba mate. Yerba mate (pronounced closer to “SHER-ba MAH-tay“) is a popular(ish) drink in Argentina; it's like a super-concentrated tea with orange and tastes like orange dirt (as our friend Simms said). It's chock full of caffeine. There are special containers used for drinking it; one is a bag made from a bull's testicle (!); the container Ignacio and Ana gave us to use was much more like a traditional ceramic mug, but it came with a complicated metal “straw” (which you can't quite make out in Ignacio's photo captioned “Kate tries MATE and finds it good!”. You can find a little more information in the Wikipedia's article on yerba mate.
I was happy because this cleared up a long-standing mystery for me. A few minutes after I tried the mate, I remembered where I'd heard of it:
“I was tired, as I said. I kept thinking of a good hot meal, and then from that I jumped to reflections of how nice and home—like even Borneo would seem after this crazy planet, and from that, to thoughts of little old New York, and then to thinking about a girl I know there—Fancy Long. Know her?”
“Vision entertainer,” said Harrison. “I've tuned her in. Nice blonde—dances and sings on the Yerba Mate hour.”
This is from “A Martian Odyssey”, Stanley G. Weinbaum's classic
1934 short story. I'd always thought that “Yerba Mate” was someone's name (and pronounced the way it's spelled); it was fun to find out what it really is!
Comments:
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Some obsevations! :)
1. Popular(ish): You don't need the (ish) at all! Almost everybody drinks it, and in some occasions it could be regarded as lack of etiquette to decline drinking one...
2. Tastes like orange dirt: Simms was repeating a remark I made about the first drink. It's usual to spit the first one, which carries some dust. The orange flavor was particular of the brand Ana and I prefer lately and is by no means the standard. (I didn't give Kate the first mate, but I didn't spit it either)
3. The container (also called mate!) you saw was an enameled metal one.
4. Here's another page about mate made by someone we know: http://www.infj.ulst.ac.uk/~jcaug/mate.htm
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1. Popular(ish): You don't need the (ish) at all! Almost everybody drinks it, and in some occasions it could be regarded as lack of etiquette to decline drinking one...
2. Tastes like orange dirt: Simms was repeating a remark I made about the first drink. It's usual to spit the first one, which carries some dust. The orange flavor was particular of the brand Ana and I prefer lately and is by no means the standard. (I didn't give Kate the first mate, but I didn't spit it either)
3. The container (also called mate!) you saw was an enameled metal one.
4. Here's another page about mate made by someone we know: http://www.infj.ulst.ac.uk/~jcaug/mate.htm
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