How to drink yerba mate

Fill kettle with water

Bring water to 160-175 degrees

Choose a gourd

Choose your yerba

Fill gourd 2/3 - 3/4 full of loose-leaf yerba mate

I know, it might seem like a lot. But it is!

Wet your palm

Cover the gourd with your palm & invert

Shake, shake, shake

The goal is to separate the powder, leaf & stems (palos) to create a natural filtration so that your bombilla doesn't get clogged

Tilt the gourd to less than 45 degrees & don't let all the yerba fall to the bottom

The result is a wall of yerba mate that looks like this

Then, fill the space you've created with cold water to protect all of yerba mate's antioxidants

Cover the bombilla with your thumb & place the straw underneath the wall of yerba

Wedge the bombilla underneath the "montanita" of yerba mate

Cut the kettle when your water hits 160 degrees, or when little bubbles have started to form

Pour hot water, making sure you pour directly over the bombilla, as not to wet all the yerba mate

It should look like this: about 65% of the yerba mate is still dry

The person making the mate (cebadora/cebador) drinks the first round to make sure the bombilla isn't clogged & the water isn't too hot

Then they re-fill a 2nd round

And pass the gourd to a friend

They drink the entire gourd (which ends up only being 3-5 oz.)

After it's been all sipped, pass back to the cebadora, who then re-fills and passes to the next matero/matera (yerba mate drinker). Salud!

Learn more at strikingly.com/gourdin