An acquired taste
In Argentina, yerba mate (pronounced sherba mah-tay) is a way of life, a social ritual enjoyed by everyone right across all walks of life and stratas of society.What is it? A bitter herb tea is probably the best description - made from the young leaves of a member of the holly family and definitely an acquired taste for those not born to it. And if you thought English tea had its little rituals, mate leaves that brew for dead. So what are these rituals? Apart from the paraphenalia - a mate (the bowl you drink from, often made from a small gourd, more expensively from silver) and a bombilla (the metal straw/filter you drink through - everyone from the same bombilla and mate) you must observe the following niceties -Number 1 - Mate is a social drink, always shared and never drunk alone.Number 2 - one person is the server. When you finish drinking, the bowl is passed back to the server who...
