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Dear AnnaStrophic: I am reading Smithsonian magazine for Dec. 2001. An article about paleontologists finding whale skeletons in Andes Mountains of Chile mentions their being served "green tea - maté". I found a URL about it: http://www.1planetyerbamatetea.com/index.html?mgiToken=2KGA7OFQNI35D957F Since it is a product of Brazil, I thought you might be able to tell us about it. It sounds good, but does it taste good? And can it be bought in U.S.?
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Dr. Bill, I tried maté in Mexico and wasn't too thrilled by the taste. A Columbian friend brought some from Bogotá. You should be able to purchase it at your local food co-op, though. I don't think you will find it in the A&P. It seems to be an aquired taste. As far as I know, it is drunk more for the buzz than the taste . If you have trouble finding it, pm me and I'll try to find you some. Here is another URL http://www.guayaki.com/ It is a commercial site, but has some cool links. Buen aprovecho.
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Dear Connie: I finally found a Yahoo site about alleged health food stores having maté in addition to all the other perilously perfumed potions they purvey. The prices on small packages were not too bad. The claims about the vitamins and anti-oxidants and essential proteins I take as nature nuts nonsense. I would be more in a hurry go get some if you had been able to praise its palatability. But variety adds spice to life, so I can easily get my daughter who buys a lot of health junk to get some for me. Hope you have been having fun,
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Maté is the "official" drink of Argentina. My parents have been living there for a couple of years now, and have gotten used to the very bitter, gritty taste. It is served in little almost-teardrop-shaped cups called a cuia that are often very decorative and it is drunk through a unique little metal straw called a bombilla with a strainer built into the end that goes into the cup (to strain out the leaves, I assume). I didn't try it, myself (coffee is too bitter for me), I stuck to the "submarino" -- hot milk with a small bar of rich chocolate dropped into it to melt. Mmmmm. EDIT: Here's a good site for more in depth info:http://agronomy.ucdavis.edu/gepts/pb143/crop/mate/mate.htm
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enthusiast
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My parents love the stuff - they used to get it at German delicatessens in Toronto. And then they'd try to make ME drink it too! Not exactly my cup of tea, though.
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Speaking of that buzz from tea reminds me of a friend in Boston who had a book called "The Book of Tea." It was all about how to drink properly in China. One of the goals in drinking tea was to get a buzz or an altered mental state.
Haven't taken a look into that book for almost thirty years, but it sure made the drinking of tea sound like an art form.
Best regards, Wine'sWoozier!
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In Spanish, maté is "I killed".
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In Portuguese it's the imperative of "to kill." But I suspect the *origin of the word is Tupi-Guarani.
Dr. Bill, Flatlander did such a good job of replying that I have nothing more to add, except maybe that it is also, as you noted, popular in (the south of) Brazil. And I don't think it has much to do with the green tea most of us know.
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But I suspect the *origin of the word is Tupi-Guarani.
So is maté anything like guarana???
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