Our national drink

An afternoon meeting with friends would not be a proper meeting if the Argentinean national drink was not present. I imagine that you know what I am talking about. That loyal companion that must have been part of many unforgettable moments in your life as well as it is in my life: the mate.
The mate, as I said, is the national drink and one of our most established cultural traditions. When a friend of yours enters your house, the most likely thing to say is: shall I prepare mate? And a high percentage of the answers are positive. The mate is so established and popular that no matter where you are, it is likely to find somebody drinking it.
Mate can be bitter or sweet; there is a tendency to say that bitter mate in much preferred by men, while sweet mate by women. I do not agree with that since, in my opinion, there’s nothing better than drinking bitter mate and relaxing. And, as you know I’m a girl.
There is a Guarani myth that explains the origin of yerba mate. It says that one day the Goddess of the Moon and the Goddess of the cloud decided to visit the Earth but, in their visit they encountered a Yaguareté who tried to attack them. A man protected the two goddesses and, to express their thanks, they gave this man a new plant to prepare a “drink of friendship”.
Preparing mate can be considered a ritual; a careless prepared mate won’t taste as good as one which is prepared with love and devotion. Mate is considered safe by the United States Food and Drug Administration. Studies show that yerba mate exhibits significant cancer-fighting activity.
So, what else can we ask to this companion? Mate has been with us in our worst and best moments in life. It acts as psychology and friend whenever you need to calm down and think about something. It is a good fellow when you have to spend hours sitting and studying. It is part of our lives and culture, we cannot deny it.

Enjoy this video about a peculiar mate drinker.