MATE or PARAGUAY TEA, the dried leaves of Ilex paraguay ensis (and some other species), an evergreen shrub or small tree belonging to the same genus as the common holly. The leaves are from 6 to 8 in. long, shortly stalked, with a somewhat acute tip and finely toothed at the margin. The small white flowers grow in forked clusters in the arils of the leaves; the sepals, petals and stamens are four in number, or occasionally five; and the berry is 4-seeded. The plant grows abundantly in Para guay, and the south of Brazil, forming woods called yerbales.
Although mate appears to have been used from time im memorial by the Indians, the Jesuits were the first to attempt its cultivation. This was begun at their branch missions in Para guay and the province of Rio Grande de San Pedro, where some plantations still exist, and yield the best tea that is made. From this circumstance the names Jesuits' tea, tea of the Missions, St. Bartholomew's tea, etc., are sometimes applied to mate. Under cultivation the quality of the tea improves, but the plant re mains a small shrub with numerous stems, instead of forming, as in the wild state, a tree with a rounded head. From cultivated plants the leaves are gathered every two or three years, that in terval being necessary for restoration to vigorous growth.
The collection of mate is chiefly effected by Indians employed for that purpose by merchants, who pay a money consideration to the government for the privilege. The Indians usually travel in companies of about twenty-five in number, build wigwams and settle down to the work for about six months. Their first operation is to prepare an open space, called a tatacua, about 6 ft. square, in which the surface of the soil is beaten hard and smooth with mallets. The leafy branches of the irate are then cut down and placed on the tatacua, where they undergo a pre liminary roasting from a fire kindled around it. An arch of poles,
or of hurdles, is then erected above it, on which the mate is placed, a fire being lighted underneath. Af ter drying, the leaves are reduced to coarse powder in mortars formed of pits in the earth well rammed. Mate so prepared is called cad gaze or yerva do polos, and is chiefly used in Brazil. In Paraguay and the vicin ity of Parana in the Argentine Republic, the leaves are deprived of the midrib before roasting; this is called caa-miri. A very superior quality, or caa-cuys, is also prepared in Paraguay from the scarcely expanded buds. Another method of drying mate has been adopted, the leaves being heated in large cast-iron pans set in brickwork, in the same way that tea is dried in China.
The tea is prepared in a small silver-mounted calabash, the tapering end of which serves for a handle. In the top, there is a hole and the tea is sucked by means of a bombilla. This instru ment consists of a small tube 6 or 7 in. long, formed either of metal or a reed, which has at one end a bulb made either of extremely fine basketwork or of metal perforated with minute holes, so as to prevent the particles of the tea-leaves from being drawn up into the mouth. Some sugar and a little hot water are first placed in the gourd, the yerba is then added, and finally the vessel is filled to the brim with boiling water, or milk previously heated by a spirit lamp. A little burnt sugar or lemon juice is sometimes added instead of milk. Mate, like tea and coffee, con tains caffeine, but in less quantity. It is also less astringent. Mate retains its flavour against exposure to the air and damp.