Drink Mate tea in South America

“Our respective first sips each drew the same scrunching up of our faces and retching gag reflex; it tasted bloody awful. Not just an 'oh I'm not too keen on this flavour' taste, but more of an 'oh my god, why the hell are we drinking this!!!' sensation. Each draw on the straw elicited the same response. Emily put it best: "it's like drinking green tea that's been left to brew for three days in a used ashtray." And yet, we kept on sipping. Initially, it was just to save face and to avoid leaving our hostess thinking that we hated her country's favourite drink. But, after half an hour, we both started to want another sip. It was still awful, but after the initial taste of bitterness and stale fags dissipated, we wanted more.”

“The only place I could try Mate was at the hotel in Iguazu. It was one of the things they served at the breakfast buffet. I am not sure if I prepared it correctly, but the taste was very bitter and a bit similar to tobacco. I learned later that apparently I chose the most bitter kind among the ones on the table. By the way, I had another Mate later at a cafe in Brazil. This one was totally different. It was cold and sweet and very easy to drink.”